We all have stress at all phases of our life cycle; however the quantum of stress varies. The point is whether you are 5 yr old or 50 year, each one of us is under heavy stress. But, tell me something by taking stress will your problem resolve? Obviously not. However, stress still comes to you and stays with you because you are feeding it for free.
When your boss will gives you salary without you doing any work, wouldn’t it be great? Will you ever leave that office and go? Obviously not.
Stress is like that employee who is getting salary without doing any work, and you are that boss. You can’t stop taking stress because it is very difficult is such a competitive world. However, you can learn how to handle stress. If you don’t know how to manage stress, it will lead to various health problems.
Come, take a tour with me on ways to handle stress. Before you learn on stress management activities, you must know what are the causes and sources of stress.
Daily Stressors
- Getting up late
- Fighting at home
- Reaching late at office/College/school
- Work pressure
- Late lunch
- Reaching home late
- Fighting for television
- Fighting for favorite cuisine
- Sleeping late
Hope you will agree on most of the daily stressors but I know your question is still the same that how to handle stress? I will tell you that but before it you need to:
Identify Sources of Stress
Most important thing is to identify the mode of stress. For example, for a female being obese can be the most stressful thing but for her husband it can be just a small reason to worry about. Another example can be for a 5 year old to come first in the examination is the biggest stress, but for her elder sibling it is just a silly competition. Hence it is very important for you to know the exact reason of stress. It is not that easy as it sounds because you try to hide your emotions and suppress it in your unconscious mind.
Few Tips to Identify Sources of Stress and dealing with anxiety
- Write down list of 5 things that are your priorities, they will be the thing that gives you most stress.
- The person whom you are most worried about (stressed about), you tend to vent your anger on that person.
- Your most expensive thing, will give you the most stress.
- Your waistline is increasing or decreasing.
- Are you able to give time to your own self?
- Are you able to complete your work on time?
Now that you know how to identify sources of stress, there are ways to manage stress.
Everything has a long route and a short route. You might end up taking a short route to handle stress; but it can be wrong. Shorter routes are the unhealthy way to cope with stress that can give you a temporary relieve, but can damage your body in the long run physically as well as emotionally.
Unhealthy Ways To Handle Stress
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Eating too much
- Not eating at all
- Keeping oneself busy all the time
- Sleeping all the time
- Using sleeping pills
- Minimizing social life
- Watching too much T.V
- Sitting in front of computers for long hours
Now after reading all the above ways, I want to ask you what you do when you feel stressed out? I am sure you must be aware that stress leads to many medical problems, but are you aware what all can happen due to stress. Come let me show you the darker side of it.
Effects of Stress
- Acidity
- Stress
- Chest pain
- Anorexia-a condition (wherein the thin person wants to still become thinner, so she does not eat).
- Bulimia (a condition in which obese is too much stressed about her weight, so she eats too much and on feeling guilty vomit out the food).
- Depression
- Speaking in the sleep
- Walking in the sleep
- Snoring
- Sleep apnoea
- Paralysis
- Diabetes
- Blood pressure
- Thyroid
- Heart attack
So my dear friend now you understood what all a 6 letter word can cause. Here are the healthy ways to manage and reducing stress.
Simple ways to manage stress
- Go for minimum 40-45 min of walk daily
- Listen to music of your choice
- Watch the television channels which makes you happy
- Talk to the people about interesting topics
- Eat healthy nutritive diet
- Have good nutritional supplements rich in omega 3 fatty acids
- Drink a warm cup of coffee or tea sitting in your balcony
- Go out for shopping
- Read your favourite book
- Take a good body massage
These stress reduction techniques will be able to manage your stress in a better manner.
I am a nutritionist but we also need to give counselling. Once it happened Mr. Aditya came to me to talk what was troubling him. He had been married for a year and his wife was in depression.
He said “My wife is very upset about her weight for the past six months”
I asked “what is her weight”
He said “78 kg and her height is 154 cm”
I asked “what was her weight before marriage”
He said “67 kg”
I sat down with him calmly and explained him certain things. After a month he came with his wife smiling to me with a box of chocolate.
I know your question would be what did I tell him to do, right?
For him taking care of his wife means taking her to restaurants, movies, bringing chocolates and cakes daily. But in this manner, are you really taking care of your wife, No? You are indeed spoiling her health.
I told him to follow below tips
- Accompany your wife for morning walks
• Follow healthy meal patterns
• Help her manage time
• Stop false praises
• Point her on wrong eating habits
So this was the case of Aditya and his wife, I am sure you too must be having many such similar experiences to share with me. Here I am winding up otherwise you will feel stressed out if I drag you further.
NOTE: Please follow the healthy ways to handle stress and stress relief tips. If you are unable to follow all the ways at least try to take supplements which are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids and Coenzyme Q10 that will help reduce your stress levels.
For any queries, please write in the comments below.