Stress management: how to identify and reduce stress

Stress is called the silent killer for a reason. A life-long of high-levels of stress can lead to many serious health issues, including panic attacks, heart disease, high blood pressure, and even dental problems and gum disease.

Stress is an emotion that we all experience in varying levels of intensity at least once in our life. It can be caused by a number of factors such as work, unemployment, relationships, or financial issues among many others.

While it is normal to feel stress from time to time, when it becomes overwhelming and unmanageable it can have serious long-term effects not just on our mental health and wellbeing but stress can also affect us physically.

This is why it is utterly important to learn how to recognise the signs of stress and develop effective strategies for managing it.

As someone who has reached levels of extreme stress over the course of my lifetime, and at this point I can confirm I suffer from chronic stress, I have done extensive research on stress management which I'd like to share, as well as my own learning experience on living with stress.

Here, I'll try to address how stress can negatively impact your life and how to create healthier habits for dealing with stressful situations.

Signs of stress

It is paramount to recognise the signs of stress in order to effectively manage it. Common signs of stress include feeling overwhelmed, anxious, irritable, having difficulty concentrating, focusing, and having sleeping problems (this can be excess of sleep or difficulty getting proper sleep).

If you begin to experience any of these symptoms, take a moment to acknowledge that you are feeling stressed and try to identify what may be causing it. This will help you better understand how your emotions are impacting your behaviour and allow you to stop and take action rather than letting the stress overtake you.

Stress and how to develop effective strategies of stress management

When you can identify where your stress comes from, you can then figure out ways to reduce, or eliminate those sources. It could be something like an impending deadline at work, or a disagreement with a friend or family member that is causing you stress. Whatever it is, make sure that when you identify the sources of stress, you don't let them overwhelm you. Breaking them down into smaller chunks works, so they don’t seem as daunting.

Don’t forget about positive sources of stress, too! As exciting as it can be, travelling can be a cause of stress. Keeping track of both types — negative and positive — can help you find healthier coping strategies for dealing with each type accordingly.

Once you have identified your triggers for experiencing stressful feelings and behaviours, it’s time to develop effective strategies for managing your stress. Some people, myself included, find activities such as yoga and meditation (including guided meditation) helpful while others prefer journaling, or engaging in physical activity such as walking or running in nature. Whatever works best for you should be explored further until you develop your own coping mechanisms, the ones that work best for you.

Stress and how to handle life stressors

Once the source of stress has been identified, it is important to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation. Ask yourself why this particular thing, person, or situation is causing you so much stress, and if there are any areas where you can make changes or adjustments in order to reduce your levels of anxiety.

It could be something as simple as adjusting your expectations for yourself or others. Sometimes just shifting our mindset can make a huge difference in how you perceive stressful situations.

Another alternative I have adopted lately is to just distance myself from what or who is causing me stress. It works.

Additionally, try to look at things from different perspectives — listening to other people’s opinion when making decisions can help you gain new insights which may lead you to better solutions. Listening to what your sister, brother, or close friend if you have one might help you see things differently.

Finally, consider whether there are any external factors that might be influencing your stress levels. Environmental factors such as noise pollution, too hot weather, or bright lights often have an effect on our emotions without us even realising it.

Stress and thinking positive

When it comes to managing stress, changing the way you think can make a big difference. It is important to challenge negative and unhelpful thoughts that may be contributing to you stress levels.

You must strive to identify these patterns of thinking and work towards replacing them with more helpful thoughts, more positive thinking. A positive and open mind can do wonders.

This can involve reframing how you view certain situations, or reminding yourself of your previous successes in order to boost confidence for tackling current challenges.

Developing positive thinking skills is a fantastic key strategy for managing stress. This involves looking on the bright side of any situation by focusing on what went well rather than what could have gone wrong, or stressing about potential future scenarios that may never occur.

By doing this, you are able to keep your mind focused on solutions rather than problems and maintain an overall optimistic outlook which helps you stay motivated even when faced with difficult tasks, or challenging life events.

Finally, learning how to practise mindful awareness can also be incredibly beneficial for reducing stress levels as it allows you time away from external distractions, so we can focus solely on being present within your own mind and body, without judgment or expectations attached.

Mindfulness activities such as yoga, deep breathing exercises, guided meditation, journaling, and so on, all help increase self-awareness while simultaneously allowing you to take a break from worrying about past experiences, or future uncertainty. Both past and future are major contributors toward feeling overwhelmed by stress in you life today.

In other words, Carpe Diem (seize the day)!

Stress and self-care

Self-care is an important part of managing stress. It involves taking time out of your busy life to focus on yourself. It's about prioritising your mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing.

This might include things such as getting enough sleep without feeling guilty, engaging in activities that bring you joy, going somewhere nice and treating yourself to a nice cup of tea and a piece of delicious cake, giving your pet some extra attention, watching a good old movie, or simply spending some quality time with yourself without any distractions or worries.

Unfortunately, self-care often takes a backseat when you are feeling overwhelmed by stress. However, it is actually one of the most effective ways to combat the negative effects associated with it.

When you give yourself permission to take a break from whatever is causing you distress — be it work, school, or relationships — you can use this opportunity to re-energise and re-focus, so that when you return to the task at hand, your performance will be improved due to increased clarity and confidence.

Creating regular self-care routines can help make these moments of relaxation more consistent and intentional which further aids in reducing overall levels of stress.

This could mean setting aside 30 minutes each day for yoga practice, or allowing yourself an hour every Saturday morning just for leisurely reading your favourite book. Whatever you like and works best for you should become part of your routine (even if you don't have one), so that you have something positive to look forward to amidst stressful days.

Additionally, don’t forget about other forms of self-care such as eating healthy meals, or exercising. All these small steps add up over time. And they help to create a much healthier lifestyle overall.

Stress and acceptance

Practising acceptance is an important part of managing stress. It involves accepting imperfection (at least some times) and uncertainty. This means that rather than trying to control every aspect of your life or wishing for things to be different, you must try to learn to accept what you can't change and focus on the present moment and on what you can change instead.

Acceptance does not mean resigning yourself to a situation. It simply implies acknowledging reality without becoming overwhelmed by it.

When faced with difficult emotions such as fear or anxiety, try accepting them without judgement, so you are able to move forward feeling more balanced and in control of your thoughts and actions.

Another key element of practising acceptance is learning how to let go of your expectations for perfectionism in all aspects of life whether it is work deadlines, relationships, or simply daily tasks — this often creates unnecessary pressure which increases feelings of stress when things don’t turn out exactly how you wished or expected.

Learning to embrace mistakes, setbacks, and even failure can help you become more resilient over time while also allowing you the freedom needed in order to make meaningful changes within your life.

These changes will potentially lead you closer toward overall happiness and contentment regardless if everything goes according to plan, or not. Not everything needs to go according to schedule.

Stress and communication

It is also important to remember that communication doesn’t just involve talking. Simply being around other people who share similar interests or experiences can often be enough to boost your mood when feeling overwhelmed by life events.

Whether it’s joining a group in an exercise class or attending social gatherings, these activities help keep your mind occupied while allowing you time away from any negative thoughts associated with whatever situation you are currently facing.

I encourage you to reach professional medical advice if your levels of stress become overwhelming. If stress is ignored, it can lead to other serious health issues.

Worry less. Stop. Smell the flowers.