Stress is visible in many ways while you are a student, housewife, professional, parent, or a soldier. The most important part is to recognize the cause of stress and learn the various techniques to cope with stress. There are various signs and symptoms of stress that includes mental, physical, and social manifestations. If you think or feel stress is affecting or disturbing your life in any which way, then your first option will be to seek for help through counseling or a veteran administration facility.
Stress may not seem to be a deadly disease but if it is not treated on time or properly then this may lead to be the secret cause of many health problems. In this article you will read about the major causes of stress and various healthy and unhealthy ways of managing stress from our everyday life.
Here are some of the commonly known warning signs of stress. There are various chronic signs of stress that may lower the body’s natural defenses, leading to various physical symptoms that includes;
- Dizziness
- General feeling of not being well
- Headache or body ache
- Clenched Jaw / Grinding teeth
- Indigestion
- Acid reflux symptoms
- Sudden increase or loss of appetite
- Frequent or infrequent tension in muscle near neck or shoulder
- Sleep disorder
- Irregular heartbeat
- Repeated cold or sweaty palms and feet
- Exhaustion
- Tiredness
- Trembling / shivering
- Sudden weight gain or weight loss
- Diarrhea
- Upset stomach
- Unhealthy sexual life
- Frequent irritability
- Impatience
- Forgetfulness
- Depression
- Increased intake of alcohol or smoking
- Compulsive behavior
- Feeling of alarm
- Apathy
Unhealthy ways of managing stress
The below mention stress coping strategies may help you reduce stress temporarily, but it is said that they cause more damage in the long run;
- Addictive smoking
- Excessive consumption of alcohol
- Overeating and under-eating
- Zoning out for hours in front of the TV, computer or mobile
- Withdrawing yourself from family, friends and other social groups
- Using drugs or pills to relax
- Excessive sleeping
- Keeping yourself away from facing problems
- Bringing out your stress on others; anger outbursts, lashing out, physical violence, etc.
Helpful to reduce stress
- One can easily learn to manage stress and live a happier and a healthier life. For this, here are some of the useful tips that may help you keep stress away;
- Be optimistic
- Learn to accept things, as you cannot control every event taking place in your life.
- Being assertive instead of aggressive will always keep you at a safer side.
- Learn to assert your feeling, beliefs and opinions instead of getting angry, passive or defensive.
- Practice various relaxation techniques such as; yoga, meditation, tai-chi, etc.
- Exercise regularly, a fit body is able to fight stress better
- Eat a healthy and a balanced diet
- Learning to manage your time is the best way to stay stress free
- Make realistic goals and set your limits approximately.
- Learn to say “No” to requests that may create excessive stress into your life.
- Take out time to have fun and enjoy.
- Get a enough good night sleep, our body needs time to rest and recover from the daily stressful events.
- Don’t rely on smoking, alcohol, pills/drugs or junk food to reduce stress.
- Seek for a social support and spend enough time with your loved ones.
- Seek treatment with a psychologist or a mental health specialist for stress management or biofeedback techniques to learn healthier ways of dealing with stress in your life.
Lastly, I would conclude my article by saying that you do not have to feel alone with this problem. You can always ask for help or talk to your parent, siblings or friends if you feel like.