Learn How to Manage Your Stress and Improve Your Health!
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." -Marcel Proust
LEARN HOW TO MANAGE YOUR STRESS Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t experience stress? I never have. It is a frequent topic of conversation with my friends and clients. Notice how often you see magazine articles and television segments dealing with the subject. To some degree, we all experience stress and suffer its effects. How can we learn stress relief management? Is it possible to avoid or reduce our stress? When Are You Stressed? Certainly, stress is an aspect of life that we cannot completely avoid. Even those efforts to make
positive changes entail a degree of stress. Do you remember when you began a new job or started a new school year, you were most likely nervous and possibly even lost some sleep until you had time to adjust and become familiar with the new routine and responsibilities? We also experience stress at times of major life changes, such as a death in the family or the loss of a relationship. Moving to a new location causes a lot of strain as does losing a job or starting a new one. Whether these events occur as a result of choices we make or happen outside of our control, we experience a greater or lesser degree of stress. Psychologists use questionnaires to determine the level of stress that their clients have experienced over the year. The life events include death of a spouse, divorce, marital separation, personal illness or injury, marital reconciliation, retirement, change in financial state, change in responsibilities, son or daughter leaving home, change in residence, change in recreation or social activities, holidays, change in eating habits.
We can see that stress is a natural and inevitable part of life and even events and changes which we regard as positive entail a degree of stress. In some ways, stress is a good and beneficial thing; a physiological mechanism that helps us to function. It is the process that prepares us to either flee or stand and fight. It is when stress reaches high levels or persists over long periods of time that it becomes dangerous to our health. How do you recognize the signs of stress in yourself? You may notice some
tension or anxiety that may show up in sore neck or shoulder muscles or a headache or "butterflies" in your stomach. Perhaps you are preoccupied or forgetful or even irritable. Pay attention to the intensity of your symptoms and how long they last. Most normal stress reactions are relatively mild even though unpleasant, and they usually last for a short period of time.
If you develop physical symptoms over a period of a month or so, it is time to
take action and possibly seek support of help. There are effective methods for reducing stress, and for more information, read on.
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