As human beings, we react to both physical and mental changes in our lives differently. If the reaction is negative the individual will feel stressed.
Stress can generally be defined as a collection of physiological, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive reactions that occur in response to environmental demands. It is usually caused by a “stressor” which is any event or stimulus that causes stress. The stressors can be categorized into three aspects; the unsettling effects of change, the feeling that an outside force is challenging or threatening you, and the feeling that you have lost personal control.
Handling stress is a very important discipline to humans because it is hard to avoid stress altogether. We have good ways of dealing with stress and also bad ways of dealing with it also known as negative coping mechanisms or responses.
Today we focus on the positive (dos) and negative (Don’ts) ways of dealing with stress.
Do’s
Talk it out.
Talking it out, also known as self-expression can help one to vent the problems away to other people mostly friends and partners because the listening ear/ social support provides a sense of security and belonging to a stressed individual.
It is also encouraged to talk to a licensed therapist and through the counseling sessions, you will get a platform to formulate strategies that will help you to come up with solutions for handling your stressors.
Research from U.C.L.A. suggests that putting your feelings into words, a process called “affect labeling” can diminish the stress response when you encounter things that are upsetting.
Click here to Read more about the power of talking and how it helps.
Live a healthy lifestyle.
Among the reasons why people are stressed is because of life pressure, living a healthy life will help ease the pressure thus relieving stress. Rest and relax sometimes this is through scheduling a time for self-preservation away from the normal day-to-day activities.
Observing a healthy diet and undertaking Physical Exercise and Activity is also a way of keeping a good and healthy track. You can also practice Relaxation and Meditation exercises to keep the mind at peace not forgetting to have Adequate Sleep.
Learn to accept change.
It is not easy and natural for an individual to maintain the same score all his life, this is because there are so many ups and downs that lead to change whether physical, emotional, or psychological. You should learn to balance your expectation in life and accept that change is there thus being always ready to positively act upon any that comes your way.
After all, change is inevitable.
Don’ts
Engaging in excessive consumption of alcohol and drug abuse to calm stress is used as a coping mechanism but drugs don’t help in solving stress, most of the time it only postpones the problems while affecting your health status.
Stress eating.
Many people today turn to food to find solace while stressed, at the moment it may feel good but in the long run, it affects people’s health. This action will lead to another stressor called obesity and other diseases which will, in turn, lead to more stress, and also it does not help an individual find the solution to the stress.
Fighting your way out of it, literally.
Engaging in physical violence has led to many losing their lives being permanently impaired or getting locked up in jail among the few of the many negative implications of using violence to handle stress.
Isolation.
When stressed some people choose to lock themselves in their houses or rooms away from the general public. This is not advised since being alone also increases your stress levels as it paves the way to overthinking, and if not handled one can easily tip into depression.
We can’t avoid stressful situations and environments, but we can do something about it. This involves coming up with ways of correctly managing it. This trickles down to one proper strategy of handling stress; Prevent, Modify, Adapt or Accept.
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