Managing Daily Stress LPN, FCN, M.Com, CAIIB, DIM Successfully

Everybody works. And work often leads tostress. Even a homemaker experience stress as it is a full time job. We all are experienced about stress. Whether you’re working as a banker, a realtor or driving a truck or a day care worker corralling a roomful of toddlers, they all experience stress daily without fail. Simply speaking, stress is of two types. Eustressand Distress. Eustress is good for health whereas Distress is bad or very bad for health. Every person has his own style of handling distress and we keep on using the same defense mechanism(s) to tackle this daily monster.\n

If you make your passion your profession, then you are head over heels in love with your work. Such type of work situation relaxes instead of doling out distress.

\nEustress Defined: Eustress means positive or beneficial stress—either psychological, physical (e.g. exercise), or biochemical/ radiological (hormesis). The term was-in original- coined by endocrinologist Hans Selye, consisting of the Greek prefix eu- meaning “good”, and stress, literally meaning “good stress. An example of eustress is the positive stress one experiences a night before to board an airplane so as to be awake as planned and be at the airport in time.\n\nDistress Defined: Distress is a number one silent killer. And distress is a risk factor for heart disease, brain stroke and depression. Although the relationship isn’t completely clear, some people with high levels of stress or prolonged stress may have higher blood cholesterol or increased blood pressure or be more prone to developing arteriosclerosis[hardening of arteries] or atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries).\n\nHow to handle stress successfully:\n\nTry to take the pressure off a.s.a.p. Learn to reduce your stress. Your first line of defense is to identify your stressors and try to remove or control them from your daily life. For example, to the extent possible, you may change the stressful job, alter your schedule or avoid certain people who cause you stress. One way to avoid stress is to make sure you’re not setting unrealistic goals for yourself. If your goals are too difficult to achieve, you won’t achieve them and you will feel distress.\n

Eustress is good stress and Distress is bad stress. To live a long happy life, you need Eustress; It is not the load of stress that breaks us down, it is the way how we carry it. So fine tune your daily stress handling mechanism so as to be a perennial gainer

\nTowards solution, try to be SMART. Set your personal goals using the SMART approach:\n\nSpecific: Choose one small goal at a time and write it down. Make sure to include as many details about your goal as possible.\n\nMeasurable: Make sure you can measure or count the goal.\n\nAttainable:. Make sure your goal is attainable by dint of hard work. Realistic: Make sure your goal is something you are willing to work towards it.\n\n\n\nTime-limited: Make sure your goal has a timeline. Set a specific, realistic date to finish or achieve your goal.\n\nDevelop Coping Skills to handle stress:\n\nPrimary, there are three basic types of coping skills:\n

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• Physical/behavioural skills
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• Thinking (cognitive)/mental skills and
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• Personal/social skills.
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\nPhysical/Behavioural coping skills: These are skills that involve taking care of you and staying stress free: These include\n

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• Physical activity: Physical activity helps clear your mind, reduce stress and boost your energy. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate- to-vigorous physical activity per week. By having a daily walk, a fitness class or a game of badminton is always helpful. Doing an activity with friends or loved ones is good for your mental health and boosts motivation to be enduringly active.
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• Yoga: Yoga and slow stretching – even just five to 10 minutes a day –promote relaxation to reduce stress. Consult some yoga teacher to understand what type of yoga exercises you need to work on a particular area of your body.
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• Relaxation exercises: There are lots of different relaxation techniques. But breathing exercises are among the most popular and effective. Two simple ones that you can try are exhalation breathing and deep breathing. Look around, many people are there to help you. You can refer to you tube or various websites. Locally free classes are offered sometimes.
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• Healthy diet: Healthy diet is the key along with daily exercise. If you eat good foods, your body will work better. But a diet that includes too much caffeine, sugar, salt and saturated and Tran fat can make you feel restless, frustrated, and sluggish. Eat a well balanced diet with plenty of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low-fat dairy (and dairy alternatives), and lean meat (and meat alternatives). Limit salt, sugar, saturated and Trans fats.
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• Proper sleep: A seven hour sleep is necessary. Approx. Only 10 per cent people in the world get freshened up with 6 hr. sleep. If you cannot get sleep on a day, then get up. Don’t even try to sleep if your body won’t let you. Clock watching, tossing and turning will only make you tense, and that leads to stress. Instead, relax in a comfortable chair. Read a book or do a puzzle. Reading a book can easily help you sleep as at time eyes are not prepared to work and melatonin in the blood finally put us in the sleeping mode.The ultimate purpose of reading is to reduce anxiety about not sleeping which will ultimately make it easier to sleep.
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\nMental coping skills\n\nThese skills involve using your thoughts and mind to counteract negative effects of stress in succession. Towards solution, we can try:\n

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• Make a list of every possible solution or method of dealing with your stressful situation.
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• Pick up and implement the best solution you think is going to be.
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• If the solution solved the problem, well. If not, select the next solution on the list and see if that works, and so on.
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\nMeditation We can be far from the madding environment. Meditation can help settle your mind, allowing you to think more calmly. It also allows you to recharge your cognitive thinking to get ready for the day. A 20 minute meditation twice a day is good enough. Our Muslim brothers read Names five times a day help in relaxing the mind. Remember, .meditation is not a quick fix: It requires patience and practice but it has lots of benefits as per experts.\n\nHere’s one technique that you can try.\n

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• Choose a quiet place with no interruption.
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• Don’t rush into meditation.
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• When you are relaxed, breathe slowly and evenly. Do not forget to close your eyes. You may wish to slowly repeat a pleasant-sounding word or mantra e.g. Om, This will bring peace or harmony, in your mind as you breathe.
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\nDo this for 10 to 20 minutes\n\nWhen your mind wanders, gently bring it back to concentrating on your mantra or your breath.\n

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• Towards finish, you can say your mantra out loud, deliberately and slowly. Then open your eyes and look around for a minute and thentend up and stretch.
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\nPersonal/Social coping skills Spend time for things that give you pleasure and feed your spirit, is an important coping tool. Some of the most effective activities are to:\n

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• Spend quality time with your friends and family.
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• If you follow a religious faith, then explore your spirituality. Get involved in a place of worship, such as a Mender, Gurudwara, .Church or mosque. Spend time in the company of nature.
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• Nurture your hobbies and personal interests.
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• Enjoy outings in nature, whether it’s a city park, a beach or a country road.
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• Try volunteering in succession. It helps divert attention from yourself and can reduce your anxiety. In fine, we can conclude that it’s important to keep workplace stress under control. No matter how busy our job is.
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\nBy taking a walk with friends or family members, meditation and playing a game of our choice surely relax us. By confabulating with people around, whom we are comfortable with a little humour in place, we can handle distress successfully and lead a happy life sans disease.\n\n \n