Stress is truly present in our society. The following tips will help you manage it better.It concerns almost everyone, children, adolescents, and adults alike.
When you are stressed, it can have significant consequences on your health, and your daily and social life.
This article explains where stress comes from, why it can be worrying for your balance, and how you can limit its effects.
What is stress?
A typical body reaction to danger
Stress is originally your body's natural defense when it senses danger.
When you are faced with such a situation, your body musters all its energy and resources to protect you. It prepares you to either fight or runs away as fast as possible.
To do this, the body will stimulate the secretion of hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline.
These trigger increased heart rate, muscle stimulation, sweating, and increased alertness.
All of these factors improve the ability to react to a dangerous or difficult situation.
psychological stress
But today, the stress is rather “psychological”.
It manifests itself in a particular situation of daily life or at work in particular.
In general, stressful events occur over short periods of time.
The causes due to your lifestyle
The main causes are related to your daily activities.
Work-related stress is increasingly common. Achieving goals at all costs, sustained pace, and pressure can be a source of stress… and bad stress. This is even more true, especially when you have important responsibilities.
Even the youngest are stressed: their busy days at school, then homework and the challenge of exams make the days stressful.
Exceptional causes
In addition, exceptional stressors may be due to an unpredictable and sudden change in your situation: job loss, divorce, illness, etc.
In addition, stress due to trauma can occur following a death, an assault, or an attack...
Why is it important to manage stress?
The situation is much different and more worrying when you are constantly under stress. In this case, you risk putting your health at risk.
Stress is a poison for your emotional balance, as well as for your physical health.
Here are the symptoms and effects of stress and its effects on:
On your body
- headache,
- fatigue,
- insomnia,
- stomach ache,
- back pain…
Your mood
- anxiety,
- anguish,
- hustle,
- lack of motivation,
- depression,
- burnout or overwork
- irritability or anger…
Your behavior- abuse of medication, alcohol, or drugs,
- social withdrawal,
- isolation…
Also, listening to your body is crucial. It is important to spot these signs that tell you that you are suffering from stress.
And limit them so as not to suffer their negative effects in order to preserve your well-being.
Why can stress make you fat?
Scientific research is not definitive on the question.
Stressful experiences can upset our habits, sometimes without even realizing it.
Thus, some people going through a difficult period will tend to see their appetite increase.
They will then take refuge in food by nibbling more. And turning to comfort foods. These are often fatty and sweet and obviously, promote weight gain.
Indeed, stress generates chronic anxiety and emotions that lead to weight gain called “emotional kilos”.
Beyond impacting some of our habits, stress directly influences our hormones.
Faced with real or imagined danger, we secrete cortisol, the stress hormone. Upon release, your body goes into survival mode and stores energy.
A repeated increase in cortisol can increase your insulin levels and reduce your muscle mass.
In other words, your metabolism starts to slow down, you consume fewer calories, and store fat more easily.
Top tips to better manage your stress
Here are 5 tips to limit or stop stressing and regain your serenity.
1) Adopt healthy lifestyle habits
Your lifestyle can directly impact your stress level.
To find out how you can take action by implementing lifestyle habits little by little.
Eat healthily
It may be obvious, but a well-nourished body will allow you to cope better with stress.
So watch what you eat.
Always be sure to consume balanced and varied meals to avoid deficiencies.
This will provide you with all the essential nutrients for your body.
Also drink throughout the day, the water of course.
Limit self-medication
Medicines, but also alcohol, and drugs are substances that can reduce the effects of stress. They make you feel better.
However, the relief is only temporary because you are only pushing the problems away.
It is best to consult a doctor who will be able to advise you on possible medication.
It will also help you find solutions to do without other substances.
Get enough sleep
Often, lack of sleep and stress levels are directly linked.
Stress can prevent you from sleeping well because your thoughts can become focused. They obsess you during the night thus preventing you from relaxing to fall asleep.
Solutions exist to sleep well or get back to sleep. Do not hesitate to get help and consult a health professional.
Exercise
It is well known that physical exercise offers many benefits, including the fight against stress.
Walking, swimming, jogging or any other sport keeps your mind occupied and relaxed. You may feel tired afterward, but this is good physical fatigue.
Indeed, after a good sports session, your body will secrete endorphins, which is the hormone of happiness. It will give you a feeling of well-being.
2) Practice relaxation methods
It is important during the day to take time for yourself to unwind, and relax.
In fact, many anti-stress techniques exist. So try them out and choose the ones that suit you best.
hypnosis
Hypnosis is a technique you have probably heard of before.
It is a method that can be effective in curing certain disorders such as insomnia, quitting smoking, or even untimely snacking.
However, this method can also be used to reduce stress and anxiety.
You can contact a hypnotherapist for a session.
But it is also possible to practice it yourself, it is self-hypnosis.
Yoga
Practicing yoga can be a great way to find calm and serenity.
This activity will allow you the practice different poses to relax your muscles and calm your mind.
breathing exercises
Breathing exercises can also be effective in reducing stress.
It can be practiced anywhere in a quiet place or a place you like preferably in nature.
These moments of deep breathing can have their place during moments of mediation.
They will allow you to release the pressure to reach a more relaxed attitude.
3) Manage your time to stay zen
Poor organization of your time can be a source of stress.
When you feel overwhelmed by your schedule, it's hard to stay calm and focused.
Take the time to plan your days. Often, you may underestimate how long things will take and this can be a source of stress and dismay.
Rest assured, there are very effective stress management solutions.
Prioritize the tasks to be accomplished
When you wake up, take a sheet and a pen to write down the different tasks to be carried out.
Start with the most important. If you have something particularly unpleasant or stressful to do, do it right from the start because it can pollute the rest of your day.
This is the biggest and most important task, the one you risk putting off until tomorrow if you don't do it immediately.
If a big project seems overwhelming, make a detailed plan to break it down into small steps. Then do them as you go and focus on one step at a time or you will get discouraged.
Know how to delegate
Feel free to delegate some tasks if you can.
Whether at home, at school, or at work.
If other people can handle the task in question, why not let them?
Give up the desire to control everything, and you will not regret it.
Keep a logbook
Keeping a stress diary for a few weeks is an effective tool.
This journal will help you become aware of stressful situations that you may encounter on a daily basis.
Take care to note the date, time, and place of each episode that may have generated stress.
Write down what you were doing, who you were with, and how you felt both physically and emotionally.
Give each stressful episode a score on a scale of 1 to 10, for example.
The goal will be to understand what triggers it and find solutions to remedy it.
tell someone
Be convinced, talking about how you feel can be really helpful.
It doesn't matter how stress affects you. Talk to those around you.
It could be someone you know, a friend, a colleague, or healthcare professional.
By talking, you contribute to some of the accumulated tension being released or released. And it can distract you from your negative thoughts.
Stress can cloud your judgment and prevent you from seeing things clearly.
Putting these 5 tips into practice and talking about them can really help you find solutions to your stress.
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