Lifestyle Choices

The first step in managing stress is to recognize the causes and to be aware of the symptoms.

You need to recognize the situations in your life that are the stressors. Try to identify the things that make you feel “stressed-out.” Everything from minor irritations, such as traffic jams, to major life changes such as births, deaths, or job loss can be stressors. Or a stress overload of just too many demands on your time can make you feel that you are no longer in control. You may feel so overwhelmed that you become depressed.

Make yourself aware of how your body feels when you are under stress. Are the muscles beginning to tighten? Are you gritting your teeth, gripping the steering wheel tightly, drumming your fingers, patting your foot, or hunching your shoulders? Can you feel your heart beating faster, your breathing rate becoming faster and more shallow? Are you perspiring, shaking, or getting a headache?

The second step is to use some type of relaxation technique for relief of symptoms.

When you are aware of what stress does to your body, you can do something to relieve those symptoms immediately as well as on a regular and more long-term basis. You can slow your heart and respiration. You can relax tense muscles. You can clear your mind, and relax mentally and emotionally. Several techniques for relaxing are described later in this Concept.

The third step is to seek solutions for avoiding some of the stressors and for controlling your lifestyle.

The following are a few suggestions for managing stress:

Take one thing at a time. You can’t do it all at once. Decide which things you can do and which things can be postponed.

Take action instead of worrying about it. Make a decision about how to solve the problem, then do it.

If there is no acceptable solution, then accept what cannot be changed. Try to change your feelings about it. Make the best of it and get on with life.

Think positively. Talk to yourself and visualize yourself succeeding. Think that you will pass the exam. You will make the free throw. You will be cool, calm, and collected as you make your oral presentation. Thinking negative thoughts is distressing in itself and sets you up for failure; it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Change the way you perceive a stressor. Look at it as a challenge or as a way to learn. Try to see humor in the situation. Look at the bright side.

Don’t try to escape a problem by pretending it doesn’t exist. Dulling your senses with alcohol or drugs, or other excesses doesn’t make it go away.

Don’t let the little things bother you. Benjamin Franklin reminded us that “Little strokes fell great oaks.” Small hassles may not be worth the stress you let them create for you. One cardiologist said: “Rule 1 is, don’t sweat the small stuff; and rule 2 is, it’s all small stuff and if you can’t fight it and you can’t flee—go with the flow.” (American Heart Association, 1984)

Be willing to make adjustments. The old saying, “A branch that is able to bend will not break,” is applicable to dealing with stress. Try to be flexible in what you want and when you want it.

Rank the demands on your time in order of priority and manage your time effectively so the more important things get done. If you are trying to do too much, you may need to get rid of some responsibilities or delegate them to someone else. You must also learn to say no to new responsibilities.

Balance work with rest and play. “Moderation in all things” is still a good adage. Give some priority to proper rest, recreational activities, and diversion in order to prevent “burn-out.” Diversion can be a temporary change from one activity to another (e.g., change from studying to mowing the lawn) or a change of scenery. You may even need a change of job or a vacation.

Find and use a support system. Everyone needs someone to turn to for support when he/she is feeling overwhelmed. Support can come from friends, family members, clergy, a teacher, a coach, or a professional counselor. One study of athletic injuries has shown those who were the most stressed were injured more often, and those who had thepoorest support system were the most apt to be injured.

A fourth step you can take in managing stress is to be as fit and healthy as possible.

The more fit and healthy you are, the better able you are to cope with stress. Selye (1977) believes physical fitness serves as a sort of “innoculation against stress“; others have called it a “buffer.”

Some methods of relieving tension are less desirable or are not recommended.

There is no magic cure for stress or tension, but there are a variety of therapeutic approaches. Some treatments are less desirable than others because they act only as crutches or fire extinguishers and do not get at the root of the problem. Hypnosis may lead to fantasy and dependency. Alcoholic beverages, tranquilizers, and painkillers may give temporary relief and may be prescribed by a physician as part of the treatment, but they do not resolve the problem and may even mask symptoms or cause further problems. Drugs do not provide a long-term solution to chronic tension. Contrary to vitamin and mineral advertisements, there are no proven benefits to supplementing the diet with such products as vitamin C or special “stress” formulations.

Primal scream, EST, transactional analysis, psychoanalysis, and other popular methods of relieving stress may be useful but do not teach techniques for reducing physical tension and increasing body relaxation.

Exercise is one of the best ways to relieve stress and aid muscle tension release.

Exercise is especially useful to relieve white collar job stress. Studies show that regular exercise decreases the likelihood of stress disorders and reduces the intensity of the stress response. It also shortens the time of recovery from an emotional trauma. Its effect tends to be short term, so one must continue to exercise regularly for it to have a continuing effect. Exercise is not like a measles vaccine where one innoculation is good for life.

Aerobic exercise is believed to be especially effective in relieving stress (though a wide variety of other activities are also good). It reduces the levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine, the catecholamines that prepare a person for fight or flight, and thus reduces the end result of stress. Exercise can also act as a diversion and as a cathartic, or a release for frustration and anger, and can enhance one’s self-esteem. Whatever your choice of exercise, it is likely to be more effective as an antidote to stress if it is something you find enjoyable.

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