Stress

We all feel stress at one time or another — at work, at home, and on the road. It’s hard not to get overwhelmed once and a while. Stress is a normal psychological and physical reaction to the demands of life. A small amount of stress can be good, motivating you to perform well. But stress that goes on for more than a few weeks can affect your health.

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Negative stress can keep you from feeling and performing your best — mentally, physically, and emotionally. But no one’s life is completely stress-free. It’s important to know how to identify the symptoms of too much stress as well as how to manage the stress in your life.

Symptoms of Stress

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Symptoms of stress can take many forms:

• Physical complaints, such as tension headaches, back pain, upset stomach, insomnia, nervousness and shaking, or chest pains and rapid heartbeat.

• Emotional symptoms, including agitation, irritability, edginess, feeling overwhelmed, low self-esteem, depression, and avoiding others.

• Cognitive symptoms, such as constant worrying, racing thoughts, forgetfulness and disorganization, inability to focus, poor judgement, being pessimistic.

• Behavioral symptoms, including changes in appetite, procrastinating, increased use of alcohol, drug, or cigarettes, exhibiting nervous behaviours, such as nail biting, fidgeting, or pacing.

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Managing Stress

Approaches to stress management include:

• Learning skills such as problem-solving, prioritization and time management.

• Enhancing your ability to cope with adversity. This might involve improving your emotional flexibility, increasing your sense of control, finding greater meaning in life and cultivating optimism.

• Practicing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, yoga, meditation, tai chi, exercise and prayer.

• Improving your personal relationships.

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Stress Management Treatments

• Acupuncture. Insertion of extremely thin needles through your skin at strategic points in your body might help boost your body’s natural painkillers and increase blood flow.

• Holistic Counselling. Discussing life and health-related stresses with a medical professional can help you develop coping skills for challenging situations.

• Deep breathing. Breathing from a muscle under your rib cage (diaphragm) can establish a pattern of slower, deeper and more-efficient breathing.

• Guided imagery (visualization). Picturing calming mental images of relaxing places and situations can help you cope with negative emotions, feelings or circumstances.

• Massage therapy. A trained and certified medical professional manipulates the soft tissues of your body — muscle, connective tissue, tendons, ligaments and skin — using varying degrees of pressure and movement.

• Meditation. Developing intentional focus — minimizing random thoughts about the past or future — can help with relaxation and stress reduction.

• Mindfulness exercises. This form of meditation teaches you to be intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling at every moment, without interpretation or judgment.

• Progressive muscle relaxation. Tensing and relaxing the muscle groups throughout your body can help to calm anxious feelings.

• Resilience training. Learning to be more intentional about your perceptions can decrease negative thoughts and help you develop resilience — the ability to recover quickly after stress.

• Yoga. Various types of mind-body practices that combine a series of precise postures with controlled breathing can help relax your mind as well as increase strength and flexibility.