INTRODUCTION
Stress is present in the life of every person, since the presence of stressful impulses in all spheres of human life and activity is undeniable. Stressful situations occur both at home and at work. From a management perspective, we are most interested in the organizational factors that cause stress in the workplace. Knowledge of these factors and paying special attention to them will help prevent many stressful situations and increase the efficiency of managerial work, as well as achieve the goals of the organization with minimal psychological and physiological losses to personnel. After all, stress is the cause of many diseases, and therefore causes significant harm to human health, while health is one of the conditions for achieving success in any activity. Therefore, the work also examines personal factors that cause stress. In addition to the causes of stress, the first chapter analyzes the stressful state of the body - stress tension, its main signs and causes.
The main attention is paid to ways to deal with stress, some exercises on relaxation, concentration, and autoregulation of breathing are given. It is very important to overcome yourself and do these exercises; in the future, if a stressful situation arises, the effect of doing them will more than compensate for the initial efforts to master the exercises. The fundamental principles of using various methods as a preventive measure against the onset of a stressful state are also outlined in detail.
Stress is an inevitability that we should be aware of and always remember. Stress is predictable. It is imperative to prepare for his arrival and try to cope with him as best as possible. Some stress can be avoided altogether. You cannot allow stress to overcome you. We must patiently and willingly prepare ourselves for difficult life situations that we will certainly encounter both at work and in our personal lives.
1. HISTORY OF STRESS
The phrase “all diseases from nerves”, widespread at the beginning of the century, was transformed into “all diseases from stress.”
According to the World Health Organization, 45% of all diseases are associated with stress, and some experts believe that this figure is 2 times higher. According to a study conducted in the CIS, 30-50% of clinic visitors are practically healthy people who only need to improve their emotional state.
The situation is little better in developed, relatively stable countries outside the Soviet Union. For example, according to the American magazine Psychology Today, approximately 40% of Japanese teachers, a fifth of UK workers, and 45% of US wage workers suffer from stress. Frequent complaints include depression, anxiety, and headaches.
Maybe we need to beware of negative emotions at all costs and run away from stress? Should I leave big cities if possible, worry less about worries and anxiety, and not set any serious goals for myself? This is always associated with search, uncertainty and risk - and therefore stressful. Maybe you just need to live quietly, protecting your health?
But the author of the doctrine of stress, Hans Selye, believes that stress can be useful, increasing the body’s strength, even calling it “a spicy seasoning for the everyday food of life,” arguing that only under certain conditions does stress become pathogenic.
Yes, common sense and everyday observations also confirm that constant “escape” from stress is not a solution, not a panacea for diseases.
Everyone can easily remember among their acquaintances those who maintain good health, cheerfulness and responsiveness, despite continuous, numerous stresses. And others are painful and distrustful, although they avoid stress and seem to live without tension.
It is usually believed that a person is healthy and joyful, despite frequent
stress, or often gets sick and depressed, despite good living conditions and lack of stress.
Or maybe it is thanks to stress that people can acquire resilience, optimism, and health? And depression and anxiety, perhaps, sometimes arise precisely in connection with complete well-being and stability, due to the complete absence of stress?
It is known that during the war many suffered from such an undoubtedly stressful disease as a stomach ulcer. Maybe stress is sometimes not only not harmful, but even beneficial? Who is he - our enemy or friend?
It can be both, and this depends to a large extent on ourselves, on our ability, in particular, to turn our enemies into friends, to learn from mistakes, and not to lose heart.
The word "stress" in English means a state of pressure, tension, effort, tension, as well as the external influence that creates this state. In the meaning of “pressure”, “tension” it is usually used in technology; in life more often denotes the pressure of circumstances in expressions such as: “under the yoke of poverty”, “under the influence of bad weather”. It is assumed that the English word stress comes from the Latin stringere - to tighten. This word first appeared in 1303 in the verses of the poet Robert Manning: “... this flour was manna from heaven, which God sent to people who had been in the desert for forty winters and were under great stress.”
The word “stress” entered the literature on medicine and psychology half a century ago. In 1936, in the journal Nature, in the section “Letters to the Editor,” a short message was published by the Canadian physiologist Hans Selye (then unknown to anyone) entitled “The syndrome caused by various damaging agents.”
While still a student, Selye drew attention to the obvious fact that various infectious diseases have a similar beginning: general malaise, loss of appetite, fever, chills, aches and joint pain. Experiments confirmed the young scientist's observation. They showed that not only infections, but also other harmful influences (chilling, burns, wounds, poisoning, etc.), along with consequences specific to each of them, cause a complex of similar biochemical, physiological and behavioral reactions. Selye suggested that there is a general nonspecific reaction of the body to any “harmfulness” aimed at mobilizing the body’s defenses. He called this reaction stress.
What does it mean - nonspecific reaction? Different influences on the body usually cause different reactions. On a frosty day, we try to move more to increase the amount of heat generated in the body, and the blood vessels of the skin narrow to reduce heat transfer. In the hot summer, the desire to move is reduced to a minimum; Reflex sweating occurs, increasing heat transfer. As you can see, the reactions are different (specific), but in any case you need to adapt to the situation. This need for restructuring requires, according to Selye, non-specific “adaptive energy”, just as “various household items - a heater, a refrigerator, a bell and a lamp, which respectively produce heat, cold, sound and light, depend on a common factor - electricity.”
Selye identified three stages in the development of stress.
The first is an anxiety reaction, expressed in the mobilization of all the body's resources. This is followed by the stage of resistance, when the body manages (due to previous mobilization) to successfully cope with harmful influences. During this period, increased stress resistance may be observed. If the effect of harmful factors cannot be eliminated and overcome for a long time, the third stage begins - exhaustion. The adaptive capabilities of the body are reduced. During this period, it is less resistant to new hazards, and the risk of disease increases. The onset of the third stage is not necessary.
Selye later proposed to distinguish stress And distress(English distress - exhaustion, misfortune). He began to view stress itself as a positive factor, a source of increased activity, joy from effort and successful overcoming. Distress occurs with very frequent and prolonged stress with such combinations of unfavorable factors, when it is not the joy of overcoming that sets in, but a feeling of helplessness, hopelessness, awareness of excessiveness, unbearability and undesirability, offensive injustice of the required efforts. This distinction between stress and distress is not always strictly made even in scientific, much less in popular, literature. Scientific articles on stress tend to begin with complaints about the lack of clear definitions, and dictionaries give not just one, but many definitions. The Concise Oxford Dictionary has 5 definitions of stress , among which are the following: motivating or coercive force, effort or large expenditure of energy, forces that have an impact on the body.
Whatever definitions are given by different authors, their meaning becomes clear from the context. The same nonspecific reaction of the body identified by the young Selye, which, regardless of the cause of stress, has its own patterns of development, is always assumed to be the central element of stress. It is important for us to understand this central physiological and biochemical link of stress in order to understand how mental experiences and emotional reactions “transform” into bodily disorders: diseases of individual organs or general physical malaise.
The complex physical and biochemical changes that occur during stress are a manifestation of an ancient defensive reaction, formed during evolution, or, as it is called, the fight or flight reaction.
When we are faced with the task of counteracting stress, it is useful to find out what caused it. Every person is exposed to stress due to a number of reasons, some of which are of a purely personal nature, while others are universal.
If you look around your typical day, you will find a collection of these classic stressors:
- The sound of an alarm clock waking you up from sleep
- You feel groggy because you went to bed too late.
- You're worried about how your interview for a promotion will go this afternoon.
- Your kids are demanding your attention while you're rushing to get to work... ...because you're late.
- Traffic jams increase your delay. Inexperienced drivers cut you off and you slow down.
- Your computer is acting up again.
- When you call technical assistance, you hear endless “Please wait for an answer.”
- ...and so on.
Stressors attack you from all sides - including from the inside. Exercises will teach you to overcome stress and help others fight it. You will learn about many common stressors. In general, these exercises focus on small and common stressors, since these are the ones we often ignore (at our peril), while things like the death of a loved one or moving are already known to everyone as obvious triggers. nervous tension.
Internal stressors
Everything would be very simple if all our stress could be blamed on “them.” The temptation to imagine that time management would be much easier without “them” is also quite strong (“If only they would leave me alone so I could get on with things, everything would be fine”). But, to
Unfortunately, this is far from true. A significant amount of destructive stress originates within ourselves, and it can operate on a basic, practical level. For example, the occurrence of stress can determine how well you manage your time. This is where the benefit of having a holistic concept of personal development, rather than breaking it down into separate elements: time management, stress management and negotiations, becomes obvious.
No less significant is such an internal stressor as confusion, which arises in any person. Because the emotional part of our personality is not under conscious control, it can become a major cause of stress. Your feelings can keep you on edge long after the immediate cause of your stress seems far in the past. Let's say that at the initial stage you are subjected to slight external stress: your son is completely out of control, and you lose your temper and slap him on the head. However, the stress that you create in yourself through feelings of guilt and grief (the result of not holding yourself back) can be much worse than the results of the original stressor.
It may seem strange that a book devoted to the problems of our material world would focus on spiritual issues, but they cannot be discounted when it comes to internal stressors. Almost everyone feels the need for something more than the phenomena that everyday life brings us; Lack of spiritual content in our lives can also be a major cause of stress. This deep-seated need is often expressed in questions that people address to different faiths: “What is the meaning of life?”, “Will there be another life after earthly?”, “We live, then we die - that’s all?” Uncertainty about where life will lead us, coupled with the persistent reality of death, causes internal stress. At the same time, many believe that it is in spiritual sources that they find relief and protection from a number of stress factors, and not only of a physical nature.
External stressors
Despite the importance of internal stressors, external factors of nervous tension also cannot be ignored. They constantly surround us, and some of them are fraught with serious shocks to our body: such as bereavement, moving, divorce, and even going on vacation. Among other stressors, less significant but more annoying are, for example, traffic jams and constant clashes with colleagues. As we have already seen, because our body reacts to any stress as if it were in physical danger, we have to deal with a potentially dangerous hormonal surge. This means that often small, but constantly recurring stresses pose a much greater threat than significant and out-of-the-ordinary events. However, you should also be aware of the dangers you will face if
one day you will be overwhelmed by exceptional but severe stress.
“Why is this happening to me?”
Stress affects every person differently. How individual the reaction to a stressor will be depends on a number of psychological and physiological reasons. Some of us are naturally fiery, while others are usually calm. There are people with fairly high levels of stress who know how to control the situation and, therefore, avoid the unpleasant consequences of stress. The ability to tolerate nervous tension even depends on the state of our health.
This does not mean that we cannot change anything. Of course, we may not be able (or want) to change our personality traits, but even if you have a natural tendency to react incorrectly to stress or drive yourself into a stressful state, there is a lot you can do for yourself. The purpose of the stress sections of this course is to help you manage stress in a way that raises your natural stress ceiling.
Health issues
Much attention should be paid to dealing with stress. Some symptoms that seem to be the consequences of nervous tension may actually be symptoms of a disease. If you're experiencing dizziness, chest pain, heart palpitations, and fainting, don't get your hopes up that it's just stress that you need to control; you may have developed heart disease. If such physical symptoms appear, it is better to consult your doctor than to hope that these are just the effects of stress.
Likewise, potential stress symptoms such as insomnia, headaches, and digestive problems may indicate an illness that needs treatment, so it's best to see a doctor before jumping to conclusions. Finally, one should not think that depression is necessarily caused by stress. There are two independent types of depression: exogenous (caused by external factors) and endogenous (caused by internal factors).
As for endogenous depression, it has nothing to do with the stressors you face, and therefore stress management tools are powerless against it. It does not necessarily indicate that something has happened to your mental health, but only reports a certain physiological state of the body. Again, I advise you not to jump to conclusions and consult a doctor if you suffer from depression or its consequences (sadness, mental anguish, fatigue, sleep and eating problems, inability to concentrate or make decisions).
Combating stress and alleviating its effects
So far, the “clinical picture” of stress seems absolutely repulsive. Although some amount of nervous tension is necessary for us to have life in order to get ahead, the level of stress to which we are all subjected far exceeds this necessary minimum, so that on the whole this tension turns out to be more harmful than beneficial . Therefore, we need mechanisms by which we can control stress and neutralize its potentially harmful effects. In general, ways to manage stress can be divided into three categories: physical, psychological and spiritual. In addition, you can resort to its prevention, that is, to prevent the occurrence of stressful conditions at all.
Physical remedies to combat stress
Stress is nothing more than a physiological response to a stressor, and as such it can be controlled by physical means. An extreme version of these are medications, although more often it is enough to allow the body to use natural defense mechanisms that curb stress and extinguish it through physical activity as soon as it makes itself known.
Never before have people been so sedentary. We mostly do our work while sitting (both at the computer and while driving a car). And thanks to TV, our vacation became much less active. People began to walk much less than before. Recent research shows that women, who traditionally suffered less from diseases caused by a sedentary lifestyle, are now on par with men. At the same time, an important factor that increases resistance to stress is improving a person’s physical fitness. This often requires paying attention to basic aspects of life such as good sleep, proper nutrition and adequate exercise.
Additionally, there are physical stress management options that go beyond basic health requirements. Many people find massage particularly helpful; As for aromatherapy, although its usefulness is not yet sufficiently substantiated, it benefits many people (and taking into account nature (the press, and the appearance of benefits is often enough), try to take them into service. Despite the fact that stress is more correctly considered in largely internal problem, such anti-stress remedies should not be ignored.
Psychological means of dealing with stress
To a large extent, the ability to withstand stress depends on our emotional state and self-esteem. When a person is depressed and unhappy, the negative effects of stress will be unnecessarily strong. We have all had the experience of lashing out at someone for minor mistakes just because we were “out of sorts.” Therefore, improving your emotional state can play a decisive role in successfully combating nervous tension.
Likewise, as we've already seen, self-confidence and a sense of control over your life are very, very valuable when it comes to managing stress. Such seemingly elusive factors as attitude and self-esteem also play a very large role in this. Among the directions
The developments you will discover in this course will be techniques designed to help you improve your self-esteem. It is precisely because of the importance of the ability to control one’s life that the apparent level of stress of people in a particular profession does not necessarily affect its representatives. People who choose jobs that are perceived as “stressful” (company directors, successful professionals, surgeons and air traffic controllers) are much less likely to experience stress-related illnesses compared to those whose jobs seem more relaxed. The fact is that a worker on an assembly line or a cleaning lady have such little initiative and, therefore, low self-esteem that they are more susceptible to stress. Proper psychological management of stress can be a wonderful lifesaver.
Spiritual Remedies for Stress Management
Our world is quite dual: life today is based on rationalism, science and analysis, but we all from time to time feel a craving for something more that would go beyond the everyday. This need for “something more” has led to the emergence of enormous interest in everything that has a spiritual connotation. A critic who reviewed my book on stress management said it was worth reading if you stripped it of all the New Age stuff. This is somewhat contrary to the truth. I did not want to delve into matters of spiritual life, but merely to acknowledge the fact that there is a spiritual component in the lives of most people, even if they do not consider it as such. Spirituality can be expressed in going to church, but it can also be expressed in feelings towards your favorite football team. Spirituality in our case is
not rituals elevated to a cult, but one of those factors that objectively influence the development of stress.
Within the framework of this book, I will not delve particularly deeply into various “spiritual” techniques, although my course will touch on them to some extent. The main emphasis I would like to make is the following: the main thing is to recognize that the spiritual aspects of your life can help you cope with stress. In many religions, prayer and meditation are considered important means of achieving peace of mind, which has the practical effect of reducing the negative effects of nervous tension. Moreover, when used correctly, spiritual remedies can become the most effective weapon against stress due to the fact that they can be used always and everywhere and have a strong effect on a person. By turning to the spiritual aspects of your life, you will help yourself overcome the difficulties generated by large problems that in everyday life we rarely think about or discuss and which therefore are barely conscious to us, but which invariably bother us.
Stress Prevention
Sometimes the best way to deal with stress is to prevent it completely. For example, there are many great ways to relieve stress while stuck in the daily traffic jam, but if you could get past the traffic jam in the first place, that would be even better. In this case, protective measures can be very different: from avoiding traffic jams to using public transport.
The temptation to view most stressors as inevitable is natural. Above, I already talked about the director of an airline who complained that because of his work, he did not have time to notice how his children had grown up. He felt he had no choice. In fact, he made the following conclusion: his career, coupled with its accompanying level of material well-being, is more important to him than his family. The point is not whether he made the right decision, but that it was his decision, and not predestination. And since we do not consciously make such decisions, we behave as if we had not made a choice at all - although this is far from the case. The same applies to stress factors. Often we convince ourselves that we cannot avoid a stressor, and therefore we need to somehow deal with it. However, before it comes to a fight, it will be much better to make decisions that will not allow the stressor to go unnoticed and make it obvious.
Maintaining balance
As you work on developing your stress management skills, keep in mind that your goal is not to get rid of them completely, but to ensure that they do not upset the balance in your life. This will allow you to kill two birds with one stone: firstly, you will not worry about not achieving complete freedom from stress, and secondly, you will avoid the temptation to free yourself from positive stressors that encourage you to strive for success without causing harm. at the same time damaging your health and well-being.
A stress reaction causes a natural response in the body in the usual reflex way. Our current “natural” way of life, with its “habitual” lack of movement, does not provide an incentive for an active response. In such situations, the reaction of “escape from the situation” is becoming more and more common for us. And this combination of an inadequate lifestyle with biochemical and hormonal reactions to stress can lead to serious health problems.
For a long time, there was a belief that the anxiety response was unpredictable and unsafe and that there was no other way a person could respond to stress. However, many years of experience testify: it is much more useful, using the body’s reserve capabilities, to master the methods of conscious and active self-regulation. This will allow you to respond to stress more calmly. This means learning to manage stress contrary to the natural automatic reaction and respond to it autoregulatory, or, as doctors say, relaxation.
There are four main methods of stress prevention using autoregulation:
1. relaxation,
2. anti-stress “remake” of the day,
3. first aid for acute stress
4. and autoanalysis of personal stress.
The use of these methods, if necessary, is available to everyone.
Relaxation
Relaxation is a state of wakefulness characterized by reduced psychophysiological activity, which is felt either throughout the body or in any of its systems.
How does relaxation affect stress? The automatic alarm reaction consists of three successive phases (according to the theory of G. Selye):
1) impulse,
3) adaptation.
In other words, if adaptation occurs, the stressful state soon subsides - the person, one way or another, calms down. If adaptation is disrupted (or absent altogether), then some psychosomatic diseases or disorders may occur.
With the help of relaxation, a person is able to intervene in any of the three phases of stress. In this way, you can prevent the impact of a stressful impulse, delay it, or (if a stressful situation has not yet occurred) reduce stress, thereby preventing psychosomatic disorders in the body. By activating the activity of the nervous system, relaxation regulates mood and the degree of mental arousal. This allows you to ease or relieve mental and muscle tension caused by stress.
Physiology of relaxation
Volunteers with sufficient experience in using relaxation techniques were tested. Pulse, blood pressure were measured, electroencephalogram (bioelectrical fluctuations associated with brain activity), oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide emission levels, as well as lactate(lactic acid) in the blood. When comparing the data, the following results were obtained. The pulse became slower, breathing calmed down, oxygen consumption decreased by an average of 16% (from the initial 251 cm/min to 211 cm/min), and the amount of carbon dioxide released decreased. The electroencephalogram showed calming, manifested by an increase in the number of alpha waves. During relaxation, the level of lactate in the blood decreased. It is interesting to note that after relaxation ended, blood lactate levels remained low for some time and then returned rather slowly to baseline. These measurements are consistent with the experience of many people who claim that after relaxing for a certain time they feel calm and balanced.
This can be explained relatively simply. The fact is that the source of lactate is smooth muscle. Naturally, when muscles relax, it produces much less of it, which, in turn, is beneficial for health. These objective measures obtained further prove that relaxation reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, while activity increases sharply during stress.
Relaxation is a very useful method because it is quite easy to master - it does not require special education or even a natural gift. True, there is still one indispensable condition - motivation, everyone needs to know why they want to master relaxation.
Of course, relaxation will not solve all worries and problems, but, nevertheless, it will weaken the degree of their impact on the body, which is very important. With the help of relaxation, it is impossible to eliminate negative memories or impressions stored in the subconscious; there is no need to expect any special, miraculous effect. But thanks to relaxation, you can actively fight stress.
With regular exercise, relaxation exercises; gradually become a habit and are associated with pleasant experiences. Naturally, these impressions will not arise immediately - mastering physical and mental self-regulation requires diligence, perseverance and patience
Anti-stress “remake” of the day
Very often, when people return home, they transfer their work activity and excitement to their family. What do you need to get rid of your daytime impressions and, having crossed the threshold of the house, not take out your bad mood on your family? After all, in this way we bring home stress, and the fault is our inability to detach ourselves from the impressions accumulated during the day. First of all, you need to establish a good tradition: when you return home from work or school, immediately relax. Here are some recommended ways to relax in 10 minutes.
2. Sit in a chair, relax and rest peacefully. Or sit comfortably on a chair and take a relaxing “coachman’s pose.”
3. Brew yourself some strong tea or coffee. Stretch them out for 10 minutes, try not to think about anything serious during this period of time.
4. Turn on the tape recorder and listen to your favorite music. Enjoy these wonderful moments. Try to completely immerse yourself in the music, disconnecting from your thoughts.
5. If your loved ones are at home, drink tea or coffee with them and calmly talk about something. Do not solve your problems immediately upon returning home: in a state of fatigue and weakness, this is very difficult, and sometimes impossible. You can find a way out of the deadlock after a little time has passed and the stress of the working day has subsided.
6. Fill the bathtub with not very hot water and lie in it. Do calming breathing exercises in the bath. Take a deep breath through closed lips, lower your lower face and nose into the water and exhale very slowly. Try to exhale as long as possible (exhalation with resistance). Imagine that with each exhalation the overall tension that has accumulated during the day gradually subsides.
7. Take a walk in the fresh air.
8. Put on a tracksuit, sneakers and run for 10 minutes. It is very important that the initiative for such “changes” of the day comes from ourselves. It is necessary to warn your loved ones that during this short period of time we forget about our household responsibilities and try to spend these 10 minutes with them. With a fresh head, solving all household problems will require much less nervous and physical energy.
First aid for acute stress.
If you find yourself in a stressful situation unexpectedly (someone made you angry, your boss scolded you, or someone at home made you nervous), you begin to experience acute stress. First, you need to gather all your willpower and command yourself “STOP!” in order to sharply slow down the development of acute stress. To recover from a state of acute stress and calm down, you need to find an effective way of self-help. And then in a critical situation that can arise every minute, we will be able to quickly navigate by resorting to this method of helping with acute stress.
Here are some tips that can help you get out of acute stress.
1. Anti-stress breathing. Slowly take a deep breath through your nose; At the peak of inhalation, hold your breath for a moment, then exhale as slowly as possible. This is a calming breath. Try to imagine. That with each deep inhalation and long exhalation you partially relieve stress.
2. Minute relaxation. Relax the corners of your mouth, moisten your lips. Relax your shoulders. Focus on your facial expression and body position: remember that they reflect your emotions, thoughts and inner state. It's only natural that you don't want others to know that you're stressed. In this case, you can change your “facial and body language” by relaxing your muscles and breathing deeply.
3. Look around and carefully examine the room in which you are. Pay attention to the smallest details, even if you know them well. Slowly, without rushing, mentally “go through” all the objects one by one in a certain sequence. Try to fully concentrate on this “inventory”. Say to yourself mentally: “Brown desk, white curtains, red flower vase,” etc. By focusing on each individual subject, you will be distracted from internal stress, directing your attention to a rational perception of the environment.
4. If circumstances permit, leave the room in which you are experiencing acute stress. Go to another place where there is no one, or go outside where you can be alone with your thoughts. Mentally disassemble this room (if you went outside, then the surrounding houses, nature) “piece by stone”, as described in paragraph 3.
5. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, lean forward and relax. The head, shoulders and arms hang down freely. Breathing is calm. Hold this position for 1-2 minutes, then very slowly raise your head (so that it does not become dizzy).
6. Engage in some activity - no matter what: start washing clothes, washing dishes or cleaning. The secret of this method is simple: any activity, and especially physical labor, in a stressful situation acts as a lightning rod - it helps to distract from internal tension.
7. Turn on soothing music, the one you love. Try to listen to it, concentrate on it (local concentration). Remember that concentrating on one thing promotes complete relaxation and evokes positive emotions.
8. Take a calculator or paper and pencil and try to calculate how many days you live in the world (multiply the number of full years by 365, adding one day for each leap year, and add the number of days that have passed since your last birthday). Such rational activity will allow you to redirect your attention. Try to remember a particularly remarkable day in your life. Remember it in the smallest detail, without missing anything. Try to calculate what this day of your life was like.
9. Talk about some abstract topic with any person nearby: a neighbor, a workmate. If no one is nearby, call your friend or girlfriend on the phone. This is a kind of distracting activity that is carried out “here and now” and is designed to displace the internal dialogue saturated with stress from your consciousness.
10. Do some anti-stress breathing exercises. Now, having pulled yourself together, you can calmly continue the interrupted activity.
Autoregulation of breathing.
Under normal conditions, no one thinks or remembers breathing. But when, for some reason, deviations from the norm occur, it suddenly becomes difficult to breathe. Breathing becomes difficult and heavy during physical exertion or a stressful situation. And vice versa, when they are very frightened or tensely expecting something, people involuntarily hold their breath (hold their breath). A person has the opportunity, by consciously controlling his breathing, to use it to calm down, to relieve tension - both muscular and mental, thus, autoregulation of breathing can become an effective means of combating stress, along with relaxation and concentration.
Anti-stress breathing exercises can be performed in any position. Only one condition is required: the spine must be in a strictly vertical or horizontal position. This makes it possible to breathe naturally, freely, without tension, and fully stretch the muscles of the chest and abdomen. The correct position of the head is also very important: it should sit straight and free on the neck. A relaxed, upright head stretches the chest and other parts of the body upward to a certain extent. If everything is in order and the muscles are relaxed, then you can practice free breathing, constantly monitoring it.
We will not go into detail here about what breathing exercises exist (they are easy to find in the literature), but we will present the following conclusions:
1. With the help of deep and calm autoregulated breathing, you can prevent mood swings.
2. When laughing, sighing, coughing, talking, singing or reciting, certain changes in the rhythm of breathing occur compared to the so-called normal automatic breathing. It follows that the method and rhythm of breathing can be purposefully regulated through conscious slowing down and deepening.
3. Increasing the duration of exhalation promotes calm and complete relaxation.
4. The breathing of a calm and balanced person is significantly different from the breathing of a person under stress. Thus, by the rhythm of breathing one can determine the mental state of a person.
5. Rhythmic breathing calms the nerves and psyche; The duration of individual breathing phases does not matter - the rhythm is important.
6. Human health, and therefore life expectancy, largely depends on proper breathing. And if breathing is an innate unconditioned reflex, then it can be consciously regulated.
7. The slower and deeper, calmer and more rhythmically we breathe, the sooner we get used to this method of breathing, the sooner it will become an integral part of our life. Try doing some other activity to quickly forget the stressful situation. Moderate exercise or walking - in short, any activity that requires physical activity and concentration - won't hurt, but again, don't overdo it.
Each of us experiences stress for different reasons, and we also react to it differently. Therefore, there is no universal method of dealing with stress that would be effective for everyone. Below are the most popular and effective methods that reduce the impact of stress factors on our psyche.
Exercises
Regular physical activity is one of the most effective methods of coping with stress. During movement, tense muscles relax and blood circulation improves. The body is intensively fed with oxygen. Exercise improves your overall well-being and allows you to take some distance from your daily problems.
Hobby
Research shows that people who devote free time to hobbies are much less likely to suffer from stress-related problems. By devoting ourselves to our favorite activities to the fullest, we forget for a moment about problems and give the body time to recuperate before it has to return to the battlefield again.
Thinking techniques
These techniques involve targeted relaxation of the mind. Thinking techniques include methods such as meditation, hypnosis or visualization techniques.
Relaxation of the body
Some classify these methods as physical activity. But they should be separated, since relaxation is achieved with their help, but according to a different principle. Bodily relaxation techniques, such as breathing, during which every breath is controlled, do not imply strong physical exertion. But thanks to them we reduce the level of tension associated with stress. Another example here are techniques borrowed from the Far East, such as yoga or tai chi.
Talk
This is probably the simplest method of dealing with stress. For some people, just telling someone about their problems is enough and they immediately feel better. If your problems are not for prying ears, you can try writing them down on a piece of paper. This method is recommended by some psychologists because worries transferred to paper are easier to perceive emotionally, due to which the level of stress is significantly reduced.
The methods described above are aimed at overcoming stress. However, you should consider that instead of fighting stress, you could eliminate its causes. Not every cause can be eliminated, however, below are several ways that can reduce the level of perceived stress.
Mastering time management techniques
A huge number of people are stressed due to short deadlines and lack of time. Both at work and at home, we still live by the clock, with an endless to-do list in our heads. There are many methods and means that allow you to maintain control over the minutes running into eternity. Learn the basics of time management and find a technique that suits your requirements. This will help you make calm decisions about what needs to be done at the moment. It is also worth getting rid of the remorse associated with the fact that, having chosen one thing, you must put others aside.
Maintaining equilibrium and balance
This advice is probably the most difficult to implement. It consists of trying to maintain a balance between responsibility and tasks to complete and personal life, and sometimes leaving time for yourself. Learn to leave the hustle and bustle and, alone with yourself, relax. Taking a break from the daily rush, at least for a while, will help you look at many things from the outside, thanks to which they cease to be so all-consuming.
Spend time with family and friends
Although home and friends can also be a source of stress at times, for most of us, the feeling of belonging and approval from loved ones is a powerful drug that is empowering and calming. Having received support from loved ones, we gain new energy to combat our stress.
Control your mind
People suffering from excessive stress often have intrusive, recurring stressful thoughts. If you feel that you are still persistently thinking about a problem even though you cannot solve it at the moment, simply remove it from your mind. This is not easy because stressful moments trigger situations that we care about and therefore they remain in our thoughts. Try to switch your thoughts to something else if at the moment you cannot do anything to improve the situation. The best example is that you should not think about work after returning home. The time after work should be used to relax and recuperate, instead of worrying about tomorrow's meeting with your boss.
Stress Prevention- This is an important condition for maintaining emotional health. And it is important to follow general principles to increase your level of resistance to stressful situations. This will prolong your life and increase its level several times. Here are ways to control unpleasant experiences:
1.Take everything easier.
You shouldn’t take everything to heart and worry about every little thing. Learn to calmly perceive any events in your life. Imagine that you are a sieve or a cloud and all stress passes through you without leaving a trace.
2.Learn positive thinking
If you are overwhelmed by stress, positive thinking will help you. Its essence is that you need to concentrate on positive thoughts and memories.
3.Use switching methods
Are you plagued by unpleasant thoughts? Don't give them power. Switch things up. Shift your focus to the outside world. Observe what makes you happy. Concentrate on what you see and hear at the moment.
4. Free yourself from negative emotions
Suppressed emotions increase stress and can lead to depression. So give them a way out. Naturally, this needs to be done in a positive way. So as not to harm others. For example, beating pillows or practicing forgiveness.
5.Laugh more
Laughter is the best stress prevention. Don't neglect it. Watch comedies, use laughter therapy, smile at passers-by.
Sport helps cope with stress. Therefore, if you want to maintain emotional health, sign up for your favorite sports section and enjoy regular training.
7.Be grateful for what you have
Gratitude is a very good way to prevent stress. Instead of constant dissatisfaction, you will begin to find joy in what you have.
8. Relax
This method is very useful. All doctors and psychologists recommend doing autogenic training daily for 10-30 minutes to prevent stress.
Relaxation video:
9.Go on a trip
One of my friends experienced chronic stress, due to concerns about her health and being fired from her job. Her beloved gave her a trip to Mexico. After returning, she will not be recognized. She left all her stress in another country. Try it too, if you like to travel, of course.
By the way, you don’t have to go to another country; you can take up tourism even in your hometown.
10.Take baths
An excellent remedy for relaxation. Especially with the use of essential oils.
11.Get outdoors
12. Use self-hypnosis
Choose a suitable affirmation for yourself and say it out loud or silently as often as possible, tuning into the desired wave. For example, if you are worried at work, you can say the following formula: “There is peace and harmony inside and around me.”
13. Find a hobby
A favorite hobby is a wonderful stress preventative. So ask yourself: What do I enjoy doing?” Perhaps write poetry, cook culinary masterpieces, or study psychology. We found out the answer. Fine. Now, without delay, start an interesting activity.
14.Make a list of things that make you happy
Take a few minutes to write down your favorite ways to spend time that make you happy. These activities are your salvation from stress.
14.Dream and fantasize
In positive psychology there is a technique called “Visualization”. Its essence is that you dream about what you want, do it with pleasure and in the present tense. And then you get what you pictured in your imagination.
16.Keep a diary
A diary helps you understand yourself, analyze your life and find a way out of difficult situations. And also, keeping notes has the function of a chiropractor; you write about what worries you, and you feel better.
17.Consult a psychologist
If your nervous energy is running low and nothing makes you happy, consult a psychologist. Thank God, there are now enough professionals in this field who can help you cope with stress.