When you suffer an assault, deliver a final project or have a presentation with a client, stress appears as a response from your body to react and get out of trouble, it is useful and positive.
However, when stress spills over, you have to do something to curb its impact on your emotions and your health.
Don’t play it down, see how to reduce stress and start feeling better every day.
Steps to Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Identify if you have chronic stress
Situational stress is one thing, which is beneficial and allows you to act in difficult situations, and chronic stress is another. Differentiating between one and the other is the first step to face it.
How do I know if I am suffering from chronic stress? These are some physical and emotional symptoms:
- Permanent muscular tension.
- Chest tightness and digestive discomfort.
- Insomnia.
- Feeling of fatigue and constant overwhelm.
- Frequent headaches or migraines.
When you realize that stress is prolonged and becomes so daily that you think it is normal to suffer from it, it is time to stop it.
Learn to distinguish stress in your body
Stress is produced in the body from three cyclical phases that quickly become dead-end loops for the person who does not know how to recognize and control it:
- Alarm. When the body prepares to react to the demand.
- Stamina. What happens when cortisol (stress hormone) minimizes the non-essential functions of the organism.
- Exhaustion. Stage in which stress reaches its maximum peak and causes mental and physical fatigue.
If your body is subjected to stress on a daily basis, it can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure, and other diseases. Hence, the next recommendation to help you reduce stress is to see your doctor.
Visit to the doctor
Doctors know very well how chronic stress can reduce people’s quality of life, they recognize the symptoms and can assess the degree of affectation on their health.
Having health insurance is essential, not only to have a professional opinion on how to reduce anxiety and stress, but also to check up on your state of health and promptly address any signs of illness.
Consult a psychotherapist
Psychological therapy allows the patient to learn how to reduce and get rid of stress. The therapist provides the person with tools to identify the stimuli that cause stress and to know how to control it.
For therapy to work, you must be aware that it is a joint effort with the psychotherapist and not a three-step recipe. You must learn to know yourself and put a stop to stress.
Sleep better
If you sleep for around eight hours every day, you will give your body a chance to recover from stress, rest and recharge your energy.
If you find it difficult to fall asleep, guided meditation and relaxation techniques can help you close your eyes and enjoy a deep and restful sleep.
Stress can cause serious damage to your health and wear your brain down so much that it becomes unable to react to the demands of the environment.
As said, stress can be beneficial to face challenging situations, but making it part of daily life is dangerous for those who suffer from it. The good news is that it is possible to reduce stress, and now you know how to combat it!