Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Stress Management Tips

Stress Management Tips - There are some things that life can’t be without, and that is stress. Whether one likes it or not, every day activities and situations will in one way or another affect a person mentally or physically –the only difference would be, it being slight or overpowering.

It is only when “stress” becomes troubling and causes certain health problems that people start to do something about it. This should not be the case; one can always do ways to prevent stress from affecting one’s bodily functions –stress management is the answer. Here are some stress management tips to better handle daily stress:

Identifying one’s “stress triggers”
One of the significant stress management tips is identifying the situations or factors that create the stress –particularly those conditions that exceed one’s ability to cope. These factors however, are unique with every person, as individuals differ. One’s personality, life, and genes, can all influence the body’s stress response.

When one starts to experience stress, things that trigger stress can be identified and kept tracked with, through keeping a “stress journal” and making a list of one’s time and energy demands weekly. Then take the time to look at the records with the events that one may rank as “very stressful”, and work on them.

Improving One’s Time Management
An effective management skill will help acknowledge objectives, set priorities, and lessen stress in their lives. Some things that will help improve time management includes: creating realistic deadlines and expectations, and setting habitual progress reviews; organizing one’s desk and preparing a list of tasks; all through the day check the list and work on them in priority order; use a planner; and reserve an uninterrupted spare time “behind closed doors” for difficult or important tasks.

Overcome Burnout
An important factor that causes stress is “burnout”. Feeling burned out or dreading work for weeks could affect one’s personal and professional relationships, as well as livelihood. Indifference towards one’s job or overwhelming frustration, sarcasm, quickness to argue, and anger are signs of a state that needs to be handled.

Some stress management tips to overcome burnout include: taking time-off such as a long weekend or vacation, or taking short breaks during workdays; taking care of oneself by eating regular and balanced meal, as well as adequate exercise and sleep; setting limits and learning to say no when necessary; developing friends inside and outside the office-sharing troubling feelings with trusted people helps solve them, and minimize interactions with “negative” friends who strengthen bad feelings.

Having an outlet or diversion such as exercising, or getting involved in a few activities that are relaxing and gets the mind off stress is a very helpful approach towards stress. Seeking the help of health care professionals when nothing else relieves the feeling of “burnout” or stress is also an efficient technique.

These stress management tips are simple yet effective; remember, stress will always exist with every day life, but the key is managing it efficiently to avoid its bad effects.

1 comment:

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