Definition of Stress Management Skills

We are all familiar with the word ‘stress’; nowadays, it has become a fashionable concept. The mental stress that doesn’t get noticed leads to physical stress. Most people cannot cope with their stress properly or deal with it sufficiently. Doctors, scientist, psychologist confirm that a high percentage of diseases have a psychosomatic cause; these diseases are induced by tensions, pressures or a negative attitude towards life that influence the body and the mind and, in due course of time, lead to a medical disorder. In addition, a highly stressed mind lose the ethical values like humaneness, respect, compassion and caring for others. So stress is a very high-risk factor we are dealing with in our day to day life. It is important to understand the cause of stress and learn effective measures to make our stress as eustress rather than distress. In this topic, we are going to learn about Stress Management Skills.

What is Stress and Stress Management?

Stress is a mental reaction to our body experiences due to the demanding circumstance or event that requires immediate action and attention. This reaction initiates our nervous system to produce adrenaline and cortisol hormone and release it in our blood system; gradually, it suppresses the functions of our immune, digestive and reproductive system. That is why it becomes essential to handle our stress level effectively to keep ourselves physically and mentally fit.

Stress management is a process that helps an individual to control stress level by practicing self-care, relaxation and also imparts some techniques to handle stress when it occurs. It is a “set of techniques and programs intended to help people to deal more effectively with stress in their lives by analyzing the specific stressors and taking positive actions to minimize their effect” (Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine).

Causes of Stress

The actual cause of stress varies from person to person; a situation may be stressful for an individual, but for others, it may consider as challenging. The various stressful conditions and situations which plague the mind of many people are called ‘stressors’. The stressors are generated by our own perception depending on our personal traits, thought process, habits, available resources and so on. Some people consider financial issues, health problem, conflict in the relationship, job satisfaction, etc., as the source of conflict while another person becomes stressed for some mundane issues like a busy schedule, time pressure. Actually, when the challenges are greater than our ability to encounter them, we feel stress.

Effects of Stress

We always consider stress as a negative impression on our mind. But a certain amount of tension is helpful for triggering a stimulus to overcome the challenging situation. A certain amount of positive stress, which is known as eustress, is vital to enhance our positive energy. On the other hand, the negative stress, which we call distress, is responsible for all kinds of physical, mental, behavioral problem. The below diagram clarifies the various patterns of stress level on ourselves.

Importance of stress management

If we start to live with a high level of stress, it impacts on our mental equilibrium as well as physical health. We detract from a healthy lifestyle, and even a high amount of stress hampers our productivity level also. The ultimate purpose of our life is to enjoy a balanced life with timely work, healthy relationships, relaxation, and fun. That is why effective stress management is essential to handle our stress level efficiently when it occurs, that we can think clearly, perform our professional role productively and relish healthy life.

Various skills or techniques to handle stress

In the process of stress management, it is our skill to find the source from where the stress begins; in order to prevent the stress from occurring at the outset, we should follow some strategies. But the strategies of stress management varies from person to person based on the individual’s stressors. There are various stress management techniques that can implement to handle the stress effectively. Some approaches address stress physically and psychologically and help to develop the skill of resilience.

Some useful stress management techniques include:

Time Management: Time limitations can elicit stress in people’s lives. Work schedules sometimes become overloaded, which causes some individuals to feel overwhelmed. In order to manage this kind of situation, one can make a plan of priorities to do the work accordingly. This will help to reduce the stress and even a manageable schedule which can complete within the time frame.
Self-limitations: Knowing your own limitation and performing your work accordingly helps to alleviate the unnecessary stress. Creating your own boundaries is essential for healthy, stress-free living. Boundaries mean we create some internal rules for ourselves to take care of our well-being. Sometimes it is good not to involve in any kind of racing thoughts which may also aggravate stress. It is suggestible to deviate your mind from that kind of thought and involve yourself with some activities which give relaxation and refreshment to your mind.
Friendly social network: Sometimes, a supportive network of friends and relatives help to face the challenging situation with stability and less stress. Their encouraging words and listening ears become supportive.
Reduce the noise: You may try to distract yourself from all kinds of technologically advanced gadget and manage some time to stay in quiet. You can notice that those things which you consider most important for day to day life are very trivial.
ABC technique: The well-known ABC (A – Adversity or stressful situation, B – Beliefs or the way response to the situation, C – Consequences or the result of your belief) technique was first introduced by psychiatrist DR. Albert Ellis, and later it was adopted by Martin Seligman. The purpose of the technique is to think optimistically.
Healthy Diet: A healthy balanced diet gives fuel to the body and mind function; it helps us to cope up with any stressful situation. Reducing the consumption of alcohol, caffeine, and sugar is a proven way of decreasing stress or anxiety. If our body gets proper nutrients, stress can likely occur in our everyday life.
Exercise: Maintaining a consistent routine exercise is a sign of following a healthy lifestyle. Exercise helps our body to reduce tensions and relax muscles.
Meditation: Use the techniques of deep breathing, breathing exercise, yoga, yogic sleep, meditation to control our physical and mental being. Meditation helps to calm down our body and mind to awaken our inner power.
Sleep habit: Adequate sleep is necessary to rejuvenate ourselves. It is helpful to boost our immune power and also increases mental alertness, memory, and concentration.

Conclusion

Actually, stress comes about because our mind is everywhere, either regretting the past or glorifying the future. That is why we should develop certain stress management skill to cope up with stress in our daily activities and be able to adore healthy life.