Everyone has their moments of stress, but everyone does not deal with the effects of stress in the same manner. Think about what gets you stressed out. Is it traffic, waiting in lines, or family drama? Maybe an order of cold fries or last minute reports added to your desk at 3PM are what grinds your gears. Now think about how you deal with being stressed. Do you pull or tug at you hair, eat, yell, or do something else more drastic? There’s really not one effective method of dealing with stress that works for everyone. Some people may be able to cool down and become zen by punching a pillow or counting to ten. Others may need to simply talk or take a walk. However, in severe cases of stress, there are a number of proven methods that a majority of people seem to benefit from benefit from.
So what’s extreme stress? The tough stuff that’s inevitable in life. Death, a trauma, losing a job or family problems such as divorce. US News Health reports that making a to-do list and completing the tasks throughout the day, asking for help, knowing and maintaining your limits, resting and having a healthy diet and exercise routine, are all prime ways to dealing with severe stress. If don’t do any of these things and find yourself stressed too often, you could be causing damage to your body.
According to US News, “We can keep ourselves stressed 24/7, and unfortunately stress can cause all sorts of problems, including, for example, injuring the very part of the brain that turns off the stress response”, says Steven Southwick, professor of psychiatry, post-traumatic stress disorder and resilience at the Yale Medical School and the Yale Child Study Center.
For an outlet to your regularly induced stress like running late for work laundry piling up, US News suggests “expressing your feelings”, “finding social support”, “finding a way to relax”, “facing your fears” and “finding a role model” as all effective ways of helping you cope with stress.
Are these methods worth a try? Do you have a better stress reliever? Tell us about it.
Dr. O
Picture source: http://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/1346/do-the-right-things#comments
