Stress Management: Healthy And Unhealthy Ways To Combat Stress
The first definition of stress was created in 1936 by Hans Selye. His definition explains that stress is not necessarily a reaction to something bad, but a reaction to a change in the situation. Here are some tips on stress and stress management.
What causes stress?
Stress works differently for every individual. What causes stress to someone may not cause to another person. For example, many people faint or palpitate when they see blood or they are in a hospital due to stress. But the same situation might not cause any reaction to another person. Stress is nothing but your body’s response to deal with tough or demanding situations. Stress can cause palpitations, panting, irregular breathing, sweat and tense up.
Signs of stress include:-
- Panic attacks
- Dependence on alcohol
- Worrying all the time
- Insomnia
- Binge eating
- Depression
Stress Management
Stress is usually a condition that can be reversed by taking the following health and stress management measures:-
1) Seeking help from a therapist:
A trained therapist or counsellor has several innovative ways to help you overcome your symptoms of stress. They engage in conversations and have measures like CBT and in some extreme cases; patients are prescribed sleeping pills or minor tranquilizer to help manage stress.
2) Meditation:
Meditation is a well known and common way to reduce stress in a healthy way. Most meditation focuses on breathing techniques that control the mind and helps reduce stress. A set routine of meditation or yoga definitely helps in keeping the mind busy and active.
3) Exercise:
The benefits of exercise are well known. A 15 to 20-minute run, walk, dance session, or swim in a stressful mind can give an instant effect and works as a stress buster that can last for hours.
4) Eliminate the stressor:
Once the cause of stress is ascertained, the ways to eliminate it has to be focused on. You can do it yourself or seek the help of a trained therapist who is well known to deal with situations like these.
5) Spend time with nature:
We all are leading a monotonous stressful life which focuses mainly on work, food and sleep. A break from the regular routine and spending time in the open air, or in a garden or in nature’s lap helps the mind in taking a break and therefore reduces the stress from the mind.
Unfortunately, a few people resort to unhealthy ways to deal with stress. Some of these are:
1) Smoking –
The simplest excuse that most smokers give for smoking is to cut down on stress or anxiety. It’s the worst possible method to go to since nicotine is highly addictive and is well known for its side effects. Cancer is one of them. It also causes COPD, lung-related health issues and much more.
2) Alcohol abuse –
Stress can lead your mind to believe some dangerous things like alcohol can fix the mood and so on. It is true that alcohol can make you feel better temporarily, but for repeated abuse of alcohol can, later on, cause alcohol withdrawal symptoms like loss of appetite, sweating, agitation, irritability, nausea, disorientation, tremors and in worst case scenarios damage of liver and kidney, etc.
3) Drugs –
Drugs are easily available these days and more often it’s consumed by youngsters when they are stressed or want to have some fun. These drugs are hazardous, and one must make informed choices about to inhale the substance or to avoid it completely. The dangers and dependency on drugs can be more than you can imagine. Few chemicals in our brain are responsible for feeling emotions of joy, happiness, pain and anger. Some drugs impart a chemical that can cause the same reaction and therefore, without drugs, you feel constantly unhappy. So later on, a drug addict forgets to react on any emotion having without having a drug.
Stress Management
Everyone has stress in their lives. This psychological and physiological imbalance caused due to the circumstances can be effectively dealt with proper stress management. But this is not at all advised to take the temporary stress-buster and unhealthy ways to overcome the stress. Be healthy and stay fit.
