Manage Your Stress

What is stress? Stress is the adaptation the body and mind go through when a person experiences changes in his life. This adaptation is non-specific and in its physical form it can affect the stomach, lungs, heart and immune system. In the mind, these changes can be experienced as positive or negative. In most cases when it is experienced as negative, it can have devastating emotional impact on body and soul.

What does this actually means? Firstly, when things in a person's life suddenly change negatively, what usually goes on in the mind also change. A person has to handle a whole range of new thoughts. Secondly, what goes on in the body changes as well. Usually negative stress makes the body very ill. Not everyone has the same difficulties with stress. Some people may get stomach problems whilst others might get a cold. People deal with change in their lives differently. Some people find losing for instance a job stressful in a negative sense but others may see it as positive as it might now be a good time to start that business they always dreamt of starting.

It is not always easy to deal with stress but to serve as advice or guidelines, it is a good thing to have a stress chart which one can use to monitor how he is doing when suddenly challenged by a very stressful situation. The stress chart may be divided into three categories and looks like this:

A person's actions:
Is he often very emotional?
Is he using more alcohol, drugs or tobacco?
Is he restless and cannot sit still for a long period?
Is he aggressive towards people?
Is he doing irresponsible and stupid things?

A person's thoughts:
Is he struggling to make decisions?
Does he think about using alcohol, tobacco or drugs?
He cannot stop thinking and therefore does not sleep well?
He thinks about doing harmful things to other people?

A person's emotions:
He feels anxious and worried?
He is short tempered and angry?
He feels nervous and even afraid? He is frustrated with himself?
He is depressed and down hearted?

Whenever going through a stressful period, draw up a stress chart and on daily basis monitor the stress levels by ticking off the aspects to see how one is doing. During times of high stress it is human to look for easy ways to make one feel better. But this easy ways out must be avoided at all costs. Go over the stress chart regularly to see which stress-related difficulties one may have. Remember that headaches, stomach cramps, irritability and insomnia can all be caused by stress. The main thing is, problems must be solved and not created. Whatever a person does, use natural ways of feeling better and get plenty of exercise. Communicate positively with family and friends and relax. Make yourself useful and be aware not to cause stress in other people.

It is also important to know that whatever a person tries to alleviate stress, the stress levels would still be there. In such instances it is time to obtain professional help. There are many professionals specifically trained to assist with high levels of stress. Be completely honest about any problems and stress-related issues. Listen careful to what they recommend and follow their advice. In conclusion, stress is part of life. Human beings need stress to function optimally but be on the look out for high levels of stress - it can be a killer. This is not good. Learn to cope with it, seek professional advice and remember, in such times you would need your family and friends to support you.