Stress Management

Stress management is your ability to manage the perceived pressures you face on a day to day basis.

Notice the word "perceived." Stress is individual: What one person finds highly stressful, another may not even notice. In that fact lies the first key to managing stress: adjust your attitude about the circumstances you find stressful.



Not sure how stressed you are? Take this stress test. Then understand why managing stess is important because of how stress affects your body.

Start to manage your stress with some health and lifestyle strategies for stress reduction. And here are ten ways to relax and a progressive relaxation exercise.

7 Successful Stress Management Techniques

Everyone needs successful ways to manage stress. Easy to learn and easy to implement, you can use them for your own stress management or teach them to help others manage theirs.

Manage your stress and be a healthier, happier, and more pleasant person to be around. Let’s cut to the chase...

1. Make stress your friend

Acknowledge that stress is good and make stress your friend! Based on the body’s natural "fight or flight" response, that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right moment. I’ve yet to see a top sportsman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most.

2. Stress is contagious

Stressed people sneeze stress germs indiscriminately and before you know it, you are infected with stress germs too!

Protect yourself from stress germs by recognizing stress in others and limiting your contact with them. Or if you’ve got the inclination, play stress doctor and teach them how to better manage their stress.

3. Copy good stress managers

When people around are losing their head, who keeps calm? What are they doing differently? What is their attitude? What language do they use? Are they trained and experienced?

Figure it out from afar or sit them down for a chat. Learn from the best stress managers and copy what they do.

4. Use heavy breathing.

You can trick your body into relaxing by using heavy breathing. Breathe in slowly for a count of 7 then breathe out for a count of 11. Repeat the 7-11 breathing until your heart rate slows down, your sweaty palms dry off, and things start to feel more normal.

5. Stop stress thoughts

It is possible to tangle yourself up in a stress knot all by yourself. "If this happens, then that might happen and then we’re all up the creek!" Most of these things never happen, so why waste all that energy worrying needlessly?

6. Know your stress hot spots and trigger points

Presentations, interviews, meetings, giving difficult feedback, tight deadline... My heart rate is cranking up just writing these down!

Make your own list of stress trigger points or hot spots. Be specific. Is it only presentations to a certain audience that get you worked up? Does one project cause more stress than another? Did you drink too much coffee?

Knowing what causes you stress is powerful information, as you can take action to make it less stressful. Do you need to learn some new skills? Do you need extra resources? Do you need to switch to de-caffeinated coffee?

7. Eat, drink, sleep and be merry!

Lack of sleep, poor diet, and no exercise wreaks havoc on our body and mind. Kind of obvious, but worth mentioning as it’s often ignored as a stress management technique. Listen to your mother and don’t burn the candle at both ends!

And those are the 7 successful techniques to manage stress! Take time to learn them, use them, and teach them, and be a great stress manager.

About The Author

Lyndsay Swinton is an experienced team leader, people manager, and business coach. Visit her Management for the rest of us Web site and subscribe to her free no-nonsense Management Tips newsletter.

Links

Free and Natural Remedies for Stress Management - Welcome to Your Free Virtual SPA - Here you can relax and have fun.

Herbal Stress Relief at Stressfocus.com is an information hub about the causes and symptoms of stress, and solutions to overcome stress by easy and affordable methods.