Stress management is a technique that allows you to manage the stress you are exposed to in your daily or work life before it reaches a level that has harmful effects on the body. Stress, which is a part of being human, can lead to various diseases in the body when it continues for a long time and becomes chronic stress. In order to avoid such situations, which can also be defined as harmful effects of stress, stress must be managed before it reaches this level of impact. Although managing stress is not always easy, there are many easy ways to deal with stress with the help of some simple techniques. "What is stress management?" If you're interested, you'll find everything you need to know about the topic in the rest of our content.
What is stress management?
Stress reduction refers to certain tools, techniques, and strategies that alleviate the negative effects of stress on mental or physical well-being. In general, stress management techniques include mental, emotional, and behavioral strategies. Well-being and quality of life can be increased with the help of these techniques, which people who receive stress management training can easily use in their daily lives. When used regularly in response to stressful life events, stress management techniques are also effective in preventing the harmful effects of stress on health.
Stress management offers a number of strategies that can help you better cope with life's stresses and challenges. Stress managed in these ways can lead to a more balanced and healthy life. In addition, stress, which creates an automatic response by the body to a difficult event, can be used as a key to growth and success when used positively. But uncontrolled, long-lasting, intense stress can, on the contrary, reduce the quality of life and impair health. For this reason, it is beneficial for each individual to receive stress management education and make these techniques a part of their life.
What is anger management?
Along with stress management, another condition that needs to be managed for both health and social success is anger. Saying regrettable words in the face of unwanted and annoying events, threatening people around, breaking their hearts, and sometimes even resorting to physical violence are some of the unwanted consequences of uncontrollable anger. Contrary to popular belief, anger management does not mean never getting angry. Instead, recognizing anger involves a set of techniques that teach you to cope with these emotions and express them in healthy and productive ways.3
Anger and stress often go hand in hand, and one can be reinforced by the other. If this situation continues for a long time, it can cause various problems for both the person and their loved ones. Therefore, it is beneficial to take action on anger and stress management as soon as possible. Some anger management precautions and strategies that can be used include:
- Understand, identify and prepare for anger triggers,
- Considering whether anger is useful in solving the problem in question,
- Recognizing physical warning signs of increasing anger (behaviors such as rapid heart rate, clenched fists)
- Avoiding dangerous situations,
- Managing emotions and behaviors
- Directing the physical energy caused by anger to different and useful areas such as exercise,
- Focusing on facts instead of exaggerated ideas caused by anger,
- Distraction with a new activity,
- Try to relax with breathing techniques,
- Get professional help.
What are the symptoms of stress?
During stress, the body activates the central nervous system as a defense against the stressful event and various physical reactions occur. In this way, some changes are observed in the body in heartbeat, breathing, emotional changes and many more. These changes, which we may call stress symptoms, usually include:
- Increased heart rate, palpitations
- Chest pain
- Sleep problems and fatigue
- High blood pressure
- Behaviors such as muscle tension, jaw clenching and fist clenching
- Violation of sexual functions
- Dizziness, tremors and nausea,
- Stomach and intestinal problems
- Emotional and mental problems such as anxiety and anger and psychological symptoms of stress such as depression and panic attacks
- Weakening of the immune system and getting sick all the time,
- A tendency toward negative behaviors such as drinking alcohol, overeating, gambling, or using harmful substances.
If anxiety and stress are not managed, these types of symptoms can persist and pose health risks. For this reason, people who are under chronic stress and experience such symptoms on an ongoing basis benefit from seeking professional support.
What are stress management techniques?
The physical symptoms, psychological effects and health damage of stress can be greatly reduced with stress management techniques. Here are some techniques you can use to manage stress in your everyday life and work life.
Pay attention to the sleep pattern
One of the most important keys to stress management is adequate, regular and quality sleep. To make sure you get enough sleep each day, you should avoid listening to upbeat music, watching action movies, and caffeinated drinks like cola before bed to help you fall asleep. At least 30 minutes before bedtime, you can try methods such as staying away from electronic devices that emit blue light and causing insomnia, and taking advantage of bright red light that triggers sleep.
Exercise
Getting anger and stress out of your mind and channeling the energy that comes with these emotions can be very helpful in managing stress. However, intense energy expenditure can increase demand for the hormone cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. Therefore, low-tempo alternatives such as swimming, yoga, and walking may be more beneficial, especially during periods of intense stress.
Focus on successes instead of failures
In some cases, character traits such as perfectionism and ambition for success can create stress and feelings of inadequacy. To do this, you can take a minute at the end of each day to think about what they did achieve, not what they failed to achieve.
Set Daily, Weekly, Monthly goals
Viewing duties and responsibilities from too broad a perspective can make you feel inextricably complicated and stressed. To do this, instead of thinking about everything at once, you can try to narrow your vision by setting daily, weekly and monthly goals and go step by step towards your long-term goals.
Try techniques like Meditation, Yoga, Breathing techniques
Many techniques such as meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, tai chi, and muscle relaxation exercises can help relieve stress. Creating a daily routine for such activities can be helpful in terms of stress management.
Learn to say no
Learning to say no to extra tasks and responsibilities when you're too busy or stressed will help reduce your stress and make it more manageable. For this, you can try to set your boundaries correctly and say no to demands that will cause excessive stress in your life.
Eat a healthy and balanced diet
The systems responsible for physical symptoms in response to stress are directly related to nutrition. To achieve this, you must focus on a healthy and balanced diet and meet your daily nutritional requirements.
If you're constantly feeling stressed or have trouble managing your anger, you can take a step toward anger and stress management using the techniques above. You can also learn about other topics related to healthy living by exploring our other topics such as the benefits of exercising, the benefits of a balanced diet, and sleep for a healthy life.
Bless you! Eat Healthy!