Coping with Stress

Stress happens to everyone – it’s part of life. While stress can keep us focused and motivated, too much of it can bring our lives to a complete halt. When you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed, you may become paralyzed and unable to do very much at all.

There are healthy and unhealthy ways of coping with stress. Turning to food, alcohol or drugs often just turns one set of problems into another, which can mushroom out of control. It’s better to avoid unhealthy coping mechanisms from the start, and find healthy ways to keep your stress under control.

There are many healthy ways to keep stress at bay. The following are tips to ease your stress today:

1. Practice diaphragmatic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt7n_D4l6yI) breathing. Sit in a reclining chair. Put one hand on your abdomen and one hand on your chest. As you breathe, make sure the hand on your abdomen is moving up and down, and the hand on your chest remains relatively still. If the hand on your abdomen is moving, you are breathing deeply, slowly and diaphragmatically.
2. Try progressive muscle relaxation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFwCKKa--18) or “deep muscle” relaxation. Progressively tense and relax each muscle group in your body. In this way you learn to feel the difference between muscle tension and relaxation.
3. Meditate. Use visualization or guided imagery (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iRd45dirYk) to help you learn to be one with your thoughts. With eyes closed, sit quietly and imagine the sights, sounds and smells of your favorite place, such as a beach or by a mountain stream.
4. Get regular exercise. Consider taking up yoga.
5. Biofeedback (http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/biofeedback-000349.htm) can be useful for coping with stress. Consult a mental health professional to learn more.
6. Carve out time for art, music or other hobbies that help relax and distract you.
7. Make a list of the important things you need to take care of each day. Try to follow the list so that you feel organized and on top of things. Put together a coping plan, step by step, so you feel a sense of mastery.
8. Set aside a time every day for relaxation.
9. Avoid using caffeine, alcohol, smoking, junk food, etc. as your primary means for coping with stress. While some of them are satisfying occasionally, using them as your only or usual method of coping with stress will result in longer-term problems, such as weight problems or alcoholism.
10. Get enough sleep. For most people, this is seven to nine hours a night.
11. Cultivate your sense of humor; laugh.
12. Research has shown that having a close, confiding relationship protects you from many stresses. Talk to your family and friends.

If these tips don’t help, or you’ve tried many of them with little luck, it may be time to consider taking it up a notch. A mental health professional can help teach you more effective methods for handling stress in a healthy way in your life. Such psychotherapy is often short-term and time-limited, with a focus on helping you better deal with stress.

Remember — you can have control over the stress and choices you make in your life. It may take a little practice to put some of these techniques into play in your life, but once you do, you may be happily surprised by the positive benefits you’ll receive.