Self Improvement Articles

Self-Help for Dealing with Stress

Stress invades people’s lives all the time, even daily for some. Life gets hard and it’s difficult to juggle all the things life throws at us. It’s important that we get our stress levels under control because frequent elevated levels of stress are toxic to the human body and can cause heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. It’s easier than you may think to help yourself decrease your stress levels. Just follow these simple steps.

1. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants and do not decrease your levels of stress; they increase them. Alcohol is a depressant in large amounts and a stimulant in small amounts, making it bad for you to take as a way of relieving stress. Instead of reaching towards the alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine, grab some water or herbal tea. These are hydrating and provide you with stress relief.

2. Try taking part in physical activity. Stress releases hormones in your body known as adrenaline and cortisol. Releasing some of these hormones can help your stress levels to go down.

3. Get more sleep. Not getting enough sleep is a direct correlation to high stress levels. However, stress sometimes prevents us from relaxing enough to fall asleep. If you are having this issue, try taking a warm bath or reading before bedtime. Another good tip is going to bed at roughly the same time every night. This creates a routine for you to follow, naturally decreasing your stress.

4. Try relaxation techniques. Every day, try a different stress-reducing technique. You can try self-hypnosis as this is very simple and easy to do anywhere. You could also attempt saying one word repeatedly to yourself that holds meaning for you. Don’t worry if these relaxation tips don’t work right off the bat. Relaxation is a skill that takes time to master.

5. Talk to someone you trust and who can help. Letting someone know how you feel is a great way to reduce your stress. Many people have said that it’s like a weight being lifted off their shoulders. Stress can cloud our mind and prevent us from thinking clearly. Talking through your situation with someone can help you figure out a solution to what you’re stressing about.

6. Keep a stress diary. Keeping a diary and writing down your thoughts and emotions will help you become more aware of what you’re feeling. Write down the date and place the stressful event occurred. Also include what you were doing and how you felt, both emotionally and physically. Writing everything down will enable you to avoid another stressful situation and you’ll discover some new coping mechanisms.

7. Manage your time. Many people experience stress when they run out of time to do important things. With a schedule to follow you can ensure that you get all of your important tasks done in a timely manner. Having all your work done on time will help to decrease some stress.

8. Learn to say no. It’s easy to believe that you have all the time in the world and can juggle one more thing in your life. But sometimes you need to remember that you have so many other important things that needs to be juggled. There’s only a certain amount of hours in a day, making it hard to get multiple things done.

Take care of yourself. Stress invades everyone’s lives but dealing with stress is manageable. Know that everything will get better and the thing that’s causing you so much stress won’t be a worry to you down the road.

Online Self-Help Resources

There are multiple resources out there for people who are interested in attempting self-help. Aside from just turning to books, people have also turned to the internet for help and guidance in their journey of self-help. Some of the online resources that people use include:

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

This self-help course is especially helpful to individuals who suffer from anxiety, depression, and anger. The best way to use this course is to follow each step over a couple days.

Step 1: To start out with you will begin to notice your feelings, behaviors, and thoughts. On a daily basis we notice them but we don’t usually question why we reacted a certain way. You’ll typically answer questions such as: What distressing emotions/reactions did you feel? What did you do? How did you cope with the feelings you were feeling? The more you practice noticing you feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, the more you’ll see helpful and effective changes in your mood, body, and behavior.

Step 2: Look for cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions are the allusions resulting from the primitive parts of your brain. You don’t notice this, but you use this part of your brain every day; you just never think about the absurd nature of the understandings. It’s key to start discerning these negative thoughts because the emotional brain is too overpowering, making it hard for us analyze our current situation correctly.

You may feel an intense urge to identify with some of your compulsive thoughts and feelings. It will take a lot of willpower and patience to overcome and comprehend this nature of your emotions. Once you spot the cognitive distortions, it will be easy for you to dismiss them for what they are.

Step 3: Dealing with your cognitive distortions. This step is quite possibly one of the most important because if you notice that you possess any cognitive distortions, you need to get control of them. There are ten different distortions that psychologists have identified. A few of those include all or nothing thinking, overgeneralization, the tendency to dwell on small situations, and thinking you have supernatural abilities.

To analyze these thoughts correctly, it’s important to write down what you’ve experienced and continue to interpret what it means. Include three main parts: cause of the negative thought, side effects if you continue on with this mindset, and how you can change the thought into something positive.

2. Online Courses

There are numerous types of online resources for people to try. One in particular is known as The Positive Approach. This course was made to help provide you with a healthy mindset and how to take advantage of your full potential. You are given new lessons each week that can apply to your everyday life, making it a very valuable resource for anyone looking to gain a better perspective on their life.

Link – http://www.trans4mind.com/positive/

Aside, from these two ways listed, there is a wide range of tools for people to use for self-help. Each resource offers something different, making each resource work differently for different individuals.