Effective Stress Management Techniques: What You Need to Realize

By Jonathan Park

When facing certain situations or circumstances that our minds perceive to be something we can't handle, our bodies respond by releasing adrenalin and pumping more blood to our muscles. If the situation is a real threat, this body response makes us able to run away faster than we normally can or be more alert and agile to fight back. This response is called the stress response, or as preferred by scientists, the fight or flight reaction.

The problem is that all of us have our own coping capabilities. Some people can handle certain situations while others can't. This can be due to the fact that different people have different stressors or some people just find certain situations easier to adapt to than others. Those who can't keep up with the circumstances, or stay too long in these situations get the side effects from the repeated stress response. These effects are the symptoms of stress we are all familiar with: headaches, lack of sleep, loss of appetite, irritability, and whatnot. If one does not learn coping techniques or at least learn how to adapt, stress can lead to mental and physical health problems.

Since we can't avoid encounters with our daily stressors, it is important that we at least manage them. Stress management relief techniques are often easier said than done, but actually make sense. For instance, some activities can overwhelm you and you know you'll be subjected to time pressure if you accept them. You are put under pressure since you know you can't handle all those things at the same time, but you agree to taking up the responsibility so as to not offend anyone, or to save face. In the example above, you put yourself in the face of stress when you could have just said NO and prevented it. Sad to say, that most people are like this. They accept the workload given to them and they end up getting exhausted.

Immense workload, though, can be handled by the employee if he or she remains positive about it. When a person stays calm, he can organize and prioritize his tasks to get him through a lot of work. This is where the differences lie between people who can handle stress and those who can't. One useful stress management relief practice is organization of tasks. People tend to feel like superheroes when given a lot of things to do. Assess the situation and say no if you can't do it.

Stress management relief techniques come in different shapes and sizes. Most techniques involve dealing with stress after it has taken effect. Developing a positive mindset can also help you reduce the effects of stress. The first thing you're going to need to do is identify the stressors, and make appropriate changes to your lifestyle to reduce the amount of stressors, or at least reduce the effects. - 31520

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