What to do when faced with stress?

Strategies to cope with stress seek prevent or control excesses of the demands coming from the environment or from ourselves. In cases in which the situation that generates stress is inevitable, such as an exam, a separation, an illness, a death, a personal or family problem..., the The challenge is to face the situation in the healthiest way possible, which includes not continuing to do what we know, from the past, that “no” has given us Outcome. Keep reading this Psychology-Online article if you want to answer the question of "What to do in the face of stress?"

We can do several relatively simple things to prevent stress.

1. Learn to relax. Take fifteen to twenty minutes a day to practice these techniques. Carry out activities that allow you to renew yourself physically and psychologically: rest, vacations, sports or any type of physical exercise, leisure activities, relaxation techniques ...
2. Eat and sleep as necessary. A good night's rest and a balanced diet can help you develop a healthier and less stressful lifestyle. As for the normal sleep is eight hours, but this will depend on each person. Sleep should be restorative, we have to feel rested when we get out of bed
3. To do physical exercise. Adapted to the age and condition of each person, it helps to release tension and facilitates the increase of endorphins, substances that cause pleasant sensations. Physical activities such as walking, swimming, or even cleaning the house, repair our strength and revive us.
4. Maintain a healthy diet. Not only eat a balanced diet, but eat early enough. Avoiding self-medication and the abuse of caffeine, alcohol and excess meals.
5. Learn to be assertive. You have to learn to be assertive and set limits, learn to say "No". Suspend the activities that are less priority, that is, "choose our own battles." Assertive behavior implies the direct expression of one's feelings, needs, rights legitimate opinions or opinions without threatening or punishing others and without violating the rights of those people. The basic message of assertive behavior is: “This is what I think. This is what I feel. This is how I see the situation. " The message is expressed without dominating, humiliating or degrading the other person.
6. Organize your time well. Rushing, rushing, and messy backlogging of tasks cause stress. Let's dedicate your time to each thing, without forgetting to reserve some time for ourselves. It is important to prioritize and structure our activities and expectations.
7. Separate work from personal life. Not taking work home and learning to forget about it when we have finished our work hours. An alternative option may be to do "fun and relaxing activities."
8. Break the monotony. Routine is a factor that accompanies emotional tension and generates dissatisfaction and boredom. Let's find different things to do each day that we like and can practice.
9. Try to keep your expectations realistic. Expecting too much of yourself or others, demanding perfection, or being inflexible with priorities can lead to a lot of frustration.
10. Learning to communicate our things and share our emotions will help us improve communication and to largely prevent stressful relationships that may arise both at home and in the job. If we listen carefully, we smile, admit our mistakes, are courteous, and express our feelings and thoughts with positive assertiveness that much better.
11. Share our thoughts with our partner, our parents, children, neighbors, friends... it will make us feel so much better. Let's ask for advice, let's reflect on them and if they make sense let's learn to take them into account. They may see alternative ways to avoid stressful situations that we have overlooked. Talking about our problems with trusted people relieves many internal tensions. Find someone to talk to, express your emotions and concerns, both laughter and grief or anger. Sometimes a shared problem is no longer a problem or is cut in half.
12. Developing a positive attitude is essential. Without a positive attitude towards life, preventing and managing stress is very difficult.If we worry excessively because we are not controlling a situation, but we are not mobilizing to solve it, we will feel like a failure and increase stress. It is important to learn to reward ourselves and especially when we face or successfully overcome some difficulty. Part of this reward should include a break like a vacation from time to time, small self-gifts for small achievements, reinforcing self-messages ...
13. Anticipate stressful situations and prepare to solve them in the best possible way. If we imagine the situation (a job interview for example) and practice both the answers and the possible solutions and alternatives we will be in better conditions to solve it than if we have not previously practiced it.
14. Ordering and organizing the physical environment of our personal space can help us initiate change. Organizing our environment can help us work and rest better.

In many situations stress will be unavoidable. You cannot avoid a job interview, and it is impossible to avoid the loss of a loved one who is terminally ill or suffering from an illness of your own, but prevent stress It can be easier if we make some changes in our lifestyle and adopt a more positive and decisive attitude towards the situations that we have to face.

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.