How to MANAGE STRESS and ANXIETY

It is possible that our body reacts with a strong stress response when we notice that the world is coming to us On top of that, we become nervous about events that have not yet happened or when we feel that responsibilities are exceed. All these situations are increasingly present in the lifestyle of many people. We can affirm that, currently, our society leads us to a quite frantic procedure that can cause many situations of nervousness, therefore, we must learn to manage stress in order to maintain correct mental stability and reduce our anxiety.

Being able to control the discomfort caused by the stress response is not an easy task, for that reason, in this Psychology-Online article, we will talk about how to manage stress and anxiety. These tools consist of psychological relaxation, communication and emotional control techniques.

Index

1. What is stress
2. How to fix anxiety
3. Stress management techniques
4. Exercises to calm anxiety
5. Tips to combat emotional stress
6. How to manage work stress

We can define this psychological phenomenon as the unconscious response we have to situations that we consider dangerous or threatening. This response is characterized by a tensionphysical and psychological, increased breathing, rapid heart rate, sweating, anxious and catastrophic thoughts... In stressful situations, we need to provide ourselves with enough energy and we try to prepare for whatever problems we have to face.

At first, the stress response is not a negative thing. It is a reaction that, in its proper measure, can help us better focus our energies to overcome small obstacles in life. However, pathological stress is a danger to our mental health, this occurs when physical and psychological activation is not reduced by a For a long period of time, we are constantly alert for no apparent reason, we do not control crying, we are much more irascible and we find it difficult to sleep. Sometimes pathological stress can be accompanied by an anxiety disorder.

Given the growing need to improve the mental stability of many people, they have developed numerous exercises to release stress and anxiety, these are based on the most psychological therapies effective.

These tools can be several and are applied according to the personality of each individual. It is possible that, for example, someone with tendencies to nervousness will not serve the same relaxation techniques than a patient showing depression mixed with stress and anxiety.

Although there are many types of therapy, we can use some basic guidelines as a self-help to control these unpleasant emotions.

If you wonder how to control anxiety, or how to manage it appropriately for you, keep in mind that the first step is to detect the factors that lead you to that state. They may be external factors (work, family, a relationship of psychological abuse ...) or internal factors (neurotic thoughts, insecurities, generalized anxiety disorder ...). Then you have to start working on anxiety management, starting with learning to relativize situations, giving them the importance that they may really have and, thus, being able to continue moving forward.

Once the fire that ignites the wick has been detected, we can manage the way we deal with stressful situations. To do this, we can use positive thinking techniques and problem-solving strategies. As long as we put the stress management techniques, we can also combine them with management tools and emotional control techniques in general.

Positive thinking

If the focus of our problem is within us and we do not know what to do when we have anxiety, we can use the following technique:

1. Detect the stressful thought: these thoughts usually start with a "I have to... "or"should do...". These types of mental affirmations end up being a heavy burden that we cannot work with.
2. Change the claim: once we point out the thought that causes us discomfort, we can turn it around so that it does not provoke a negative response. For example instead of "If I don't do this before the end of the day, they will scold me"we can do the thinking exercise"It would be nice to do this task before the end of the day, I'm going to get to it". Although the content of the statement is different, we prepare for the same action.
3. Generate positive thoughts: once the stressful thoughts have changed, we will have to generate new affirmations to solve the problems that arise. If, for example, we have to prepare for a very important exam, we can turn our mind towards motivation instead of focusing on stressful thoughts.

Troubleshooting strategies

If we have located the stressful problem in the environment and the people around us, we will have to orient the treatment of stress and anxiety in that direction. To learn to find solutions quickly, we will have to clear our mind and focus on solving the conflict that arises, getting nervous is counterproductive and will surely generate even more stress in U.S.

• We can resolve a conflict assertively Through communication, putting problems on the table helps to solve them more effectively. Assertive communication will be based on exposing our feelings and needs without harming or offending others.
• Another problem-solving strategy is based on not avoiding the problem situation but on dealing with it. Generate coping strategies it prepares us to overcome new barriers and increases our internal strength.
• Develop emotional intelligence it is also an important step in problem-solving learning. This type of intelligence allows us to put ourselves in the place of others, to understand their emotional states while we understand and manage ours.

Finally, an aid to knowing how to manage stress and anxiety is to control your breathing. The exercises against anxiety and stress that are based on relaxation, always through awareness of the breath, are effective because they activate a part of our nervous system responsible for relaxing our body and mind: the Parasympathetic Nervous System.

One of these relaxation techniques to reduce stress is called abdominal breathing or diaphragmatic:

1. You can sit or lie on the floor trying to keep your mind as focused as possible on the breath.
2. Once ready, start directing the air you breathe into the lower part of the lungs and fill it slowly.
3. Count to three and let the air go slowly.
4. Repeat this type of breathing until you feel more relaxed and see that you will not suffer any anxiety crisis.

Here you can see more Breathing exercises to calm anxiety And, also, if you want to know more about how to manage stress and anxiety, we invite you to read this article on Jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation, this technique has proven to be highly effective for stress release.

If you want to know how to solve everyday anxiety and stress, it is important that you pay attention to the following tips:

• Have an adequate diet: Although at first glance it seems something that we should not take into account, there are foods that increase our heart rate and, therefore, our stress levels. For that reason, it is always appropriate to maintain a balanced diet.
• Sleep the necessary hours: When we are tired, we respond worse to the demands of the environment and we become more irascible, it is important to find the right time and have good sleep hygiene.
• Organize time well It is vitally important to avoid feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities and stressful events.
• Change slightly from day to day: Breaking the monotony from time to time helps avoid emotional tension and life dissatisfaction.
• To do physical exercise: The benefits of sport are innumerable, one of them is related to the secretion of endorphins. These hormones produce feelings of relaxation and pleasure that help our body to reduce levels of stress and anxiety.

Finally, it is very important to comment that one of the main environments where stress and anxiety arise is at work. The work overload, the low salaries and the unmotivating jobs are some of the risk factors that can lead to job stress.

To learn how to combat this problem, it is important to follow these tips:

1. Identify risk factors.
2. Learn to defend yourself against attacks and strengthen your self-esteem.
3. Make time for yourself.
4. Separate the world of work from your private and personal life.
5. Play sports regularly and follow the guidelines described in this article to learn how to manage stress and anxiety.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to How to manage stress and anxiety, we recommend that you enter our category of Personal growth and self-help.