Are you stressed? Here’s how you can relieve that feeling

What stresses you out? Deadlines at work? Unpaid bills? Unwashed dishes? According to Harvard Medical School’s Consumer Health Information, research has proven that practicing stress management techniques can help you live a longer and more pleasant life. Stress management doesn’t mean that you should just flop onto the couch, although that does have its place. First you should try to figure out what exactly is causing your stress. Then, there are various things you can do to reduce its effect on you.

Find your stressors

Finding your stressors can give you the information you need to avoid the stressful situation, and that can make you feel more in control. For example, events in your life related to death, injury and illness can be particularly stressful, and a variety of relatively small things can also cause problems if they build up.

Ways to cope

There are numerous ways for you to reduce your stress. Here are a few tried and true approaches:

1. Exercise and maintain a healthy diet even when you’re feeling stressed. Try not to reach for low-nutrition, high-sugar, high-sodium, comfort food such as chips, ice cream or doughnuts. If you must snack, choose nutritious foods that provide nutrients missing from your meals. In addition, try some form of exercise, perhaps walking or yoga, even if it’s just for 10 minutes a day.

2. Write about your stress. The impressive truth as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association is that writing about your stressful experiences can reduce their effects on you and can reduce symptoms of common diseases.

3. Deflate the danger of your fears. Does your situation merit as much stress as you feel? Think about it. What’s the worst that could happen? Is it likely to happen? What can you do to influence the result?

4. Socialize and/or seek therapy. Because we need people by nature, having friends, family and colleagues can help you overcome stress. Discuss your feelings with someone you trust. It will relieve your tension and may even help you solve problems.

5. Remove stressors. Do you take on more responsibilities than you can handle? Does it make you feel burdened? If so, you may need to set limits for yourself and learn to say “no.”

6. Manage your time. Think ahead about all the things you need to accomplish, list them and schedule them based on importance and necessity. Knowing what’s coming up will minimize stress from the unexpected.

What’s the source of your stress?

Stress can sometimes be a tricky thing to get a handle on. There are many possible stressors, and you may be experiencing several at once. If you’re finding it hard to pinpoint exactly what’s making you feel stressed, maybe this will help. Here are several broad categories of stress. See if you can find your stressors hiding among them.

n Physical and psychological �” lack of sleep, illness, anger, sadness, fear.

n Past, present, and future �” childhood experiences, appointments, deadlines, sales quotas, tax day.

n Positive and negative �” a promotion at work, getting married, being reprimanded at work, marital trouble.

n Acute and chronic �” sudden and brief stressors such as your car breaking down on your way to an important meeting at work or an argument at home; ongoing stressors, such as a long and troublesome commute every day to work, or being in an unsatisfying relationship or living in poverty.

Did you know?

n Relaxation is a skill that requires regular practice to master. Some people experienced in meditation are capable of reducing their heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen consumption.

n In the progressive muscle relaxation technique, you relax the muscles of your body in sequence from your head to your toes by tensing each one for 10 seconds, then quickly releasing it while you feel it relax and imagine the tension evaporating.

n When you breathe from your diaphragm like you do when you’re sleeping, it can be more relaxing than breathing with your chest moving in and out and your shoulders moving up and down.

Source: www.famc.org/MyHealthLibrary; InteliHealth.com; Harvard Medical School’s Consumer Health Information

Jackie Beaton is director of public relations, marketing and volunteer services at Fremont Area Medical Center, 450 E. 23rd St. She can be reached at (402) 727-3565 or jbeaton@famc.org.