Quick Tips: How to deal with stress

Have you ever had the feeling of stress while giving a presentation or meeting a deadline? How about asking someone out on a date or watching a scary movie? Anyone can relate to the feeling of stress. According to the American Psychological Association, “The Automatic response developed in our ancient ancestors as a way to protect them from predators and other threats and danger, the body kicks into gear flooding the body with hormones that elevate your heart rate, increase your blood pressure, boost your energy and prepare you to deal with the problem.” Of course we do not have to deal with these types of threats as often as we used to, but we still use the “fight or flight” response for our everyday challenges. When the “fight or flight” response is overused, over time it can lead to some serious medical issues.

Everyone gets stressed once in a while, but the important thing is knowing when to leave the stress behind and forget about it. This is why it’s important to have an outlet. The outlet is different for everyone and it can be anything you enjoy to do. Most importantly, this makes you forget all your struggles for that day.

Although stress may seem like a state of mind it can also be caused by physical factors. There are many things that can affect your body and make you more susceptible to stress, some of these items being caffeinated drinks, alcohol, nicotine. Caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, that stimulate and increase your level of stress rather than reduce it. Drinking water can help you deal with stress and is overall just a healthier option.

Another outside factor that can increase stress levels are your sleeping patterns. Lack of sleep is a major stimulant of stress. Not only does it restrict your ability to handle stress, but stress can also stop you from sleeping making it a difficult cycle to stop. Doing physical exercise or eating at night is not recommended as it can prevent you from sleeping. Instead try taking a warm shower, reading a book in order to tire yourself out and eventually be able to sleep. It is also important to maintain a proper sleeping pattern in order for your body to get used to it. Sometimes we have so many things to do that we get so overwhelmed and stress out. You have to be able to prioritize and do one thing at a time rather than do it all at once. One of the immediate benefits of prioritization is that you don't feel like you have to do everything at the same time. You are able to take tasks of your list one by one and thus stress yourself out less. Although prioritizing is a very efficient method you should know your own limit. This means that we are all human and sadly cannot do everything because time restricts us. You have to know how many things you can multitask because if you do not, it will just leave you with a giant headache. Next time you feel even the slightest bit stressed out remember these techniques in order to help you out.

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