Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, published an article a while back entitled “Stress: How your Busy Life is Killing You”**.It was a fascinating article, full of research on the ways that too much stress affects us physiologically. The author mentioned that high levels of cortisol and adrenalin affect fat stores and result in high rates of obesity. It also can result in an increase in the production of cholesterol, as well as generally setting the stage for more rapid aging and age-related illness.
It now appears that work-life balance is one of the major culprits. Too much email, long commutes, arguments at home, stress at work from cranky bosses, lack of recognition and too much work can start to eat away at ones health. What’s fascinating, and somewhat frightening, is that people that do not learn to keep their stress to a manageable level can become hyper-secretors of cortisol — and continue to remain so. And ongoing stress can cause changes at the cellular level that result in chromosomal changes and more rapid aging.
4 Things you can do right now to manage your stress more effectively
1. Really put things in perspective.
When you are feeling that what you are currently experiencing is intolerably stressful, is it really? When you look at what’s going on for you do you think you might look at it differently tomorrow? How many times have you felt that you can barely cope and then discover that you feel absolutely fine when you wake up the next morning?
And even if it is the most stressful event or situation you’re experienced in a while can you talk to someone about it who is good at putting things in perspective for you? If you can’t speak to that person can you imagine what that person would say if he/she heard about the situation?
The point of the matter is that much of what makes things feel stressful for us is the twist we put on them. Some people catastrophize unnecessarily. Do you?
2. Learn to track simple triggers
We are creatures of habit. Some of us have routines and structure that ultimately reduce stress. Others of us continuously engage in habits that increase our stress levels.
Lately I’ve been reminded of the simple memory aid called HALT.
For those of you who don’t know what this stands for, each letter reminds us to look at what our immediate need might be. Addressing those needs can often be hugely helpful.
The H stands for hungry.
The A stands for angry.
The L stands for lonely.
And the T stands for tired.
But so often we don’t look at the fact that failing to attend to immediate, simple needs can often be the source of our stress. While we may find ourselves becoming increasingly irritable we sometimes fail to see simple solutions.
Some of my clients fail to notice that addressing factors from the above list can significantly reduce their levels of stress. Many don’t realize, for example, that blood sugar levels from poor diet or irregular eating can strongly influence the way we act to stressors. One of my friends knows that he cannot talk to me about important issues if he hasn’t eaten in a while. He might say something like “Jeff, let me get something to eat before we talk about this. Otherwise I’ll just be grumpy.” I feel that this level of self-awareness is quite beneficial for him. He knows that certain things that he can easily do will prevent him from being reactive.
This is a type of awareness that is worth developing. So the above mnemonic – HALT - can be really helpful in reminding people that there are simple things that they can do to keep their level of physiological reactivity to stressors at a minimum.
3. Get organized
Some people are habitually disorganized and fail to see the possibility of change. Even though they want to change they figure that their habits are so ingrained that change will never happen. In reality it is very difficult to develop organization skills but those who try different approaches really have a better chance of maintaining a reasonably organized life. And feeling organized can certainly drop levels of experienced stress significantly.
Another approach that is often useful for individuals that struggle with disorganization is to consider whether what challenges you can be delegated. For example if it is overwhelmingly frustrating to do your own taxes, you may want to consider lowering your stress level by simply giving the information to a professional.
4. Taking time each day for some form of mediation or relaxation approach
There is simply a massive amount of evidence that practicing some form of relaxation or meditation technique on a regular basis can have significant reduction in stress levels and improve health and longevity. You can readily find this information in research journals or by doing a search on the internet.
Aside from the physical benefits (and clearly related to them) are the emotional benefits which include:
- Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations
- Increased self-awareness
- Increased capacity to be in the present
- Reducing negative emotions
- Improved rest and sleep
**http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/work-life-balance/stress-public-health-enemy-no-1/article1778188/
