Stress is a major health hazard, and something that we all can suffer from at various times in our lives. The current world wide situation is causing stress to mny people as jobs are lost, our financial institutions are crashing and what seemed certain and assured is no longer the case. However, there is no need to despair because whatever level of stress you are experiencing, please believe me when I tell you that stress is one of the conditions that responds very positively and often very swiftly, to many simple self-help measures that you can begin today. The first step is to try and identify the areas in your life that are causing you stress. The may be work or health related, or to do with your relationships. Although it isn't always possible to either change or avoid the things that stress you, there are some very simple lifestyle changes can make all the difference. All of the suggestions here are for you to consider and try one, or several, of them for yourself to see what effect they might have on reducing your stress levels. There are three very important rules in successfully employing any self-help methods for stress reduction:
1 Learn to read your own body so that you are aware of the physical signs of stress and what changes take place. Be aware of your own warning signs - maybe this could be a sudden feeling of anxiety, extreme tiredness, feeling very tearful, catching every cough and cold or feeling run down. Use a diary or notebook to record your thoughts and feelings so you have a record to refer back to and use as a guide.
2 It is not possible to keep adding to your stress load without severe consequences for your health, so investigate whether you can do an exchange. This means that if a new stress has come into your life you need to look for ways that you could exchange that new stress for one you currently have. It's about eliminating one source of stress so that you don't get overloaded. For example, if your job has suddenly become much more demanding and you have started to plan major renovation or redecoration at home, then put that on hold while you deal with the stress at work.
3 Begin to explore and then develop a 'tool box' of techniques you can call on in different situations. There is no one single thing that will solve all your stress problems because they may well be different. For instance getting stressed in a traffic jam will need different techniques from the stress caused by planning a large function or public speaking. In order to put those rules into operation, think of stress reduction as having five main areas to work on: stress management, diet, lifestyle, exercise and relaxation. You don't have to look at them all immediately, try one or more areas at a time, so you don't add to your stress by trying to do everything at once!
VERY NICE.
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