How to manage stress

How to Control Stress

This article was co-authored by Rebecca Ward, LMFT, SEP, PCC, MA. Rebecca A. Ward, LMFT, SEP, PCC is the Founder of the Iris Institute, a San Francisco, California-based business focusing on using somatic expertise to teach individuals and groups the skills to deal with dilemmas using interventions, including her own Original Blueprint® method. Ms. Ward specializes in treating stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP), and a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF). Rebecca holds an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marymount University and an MA in Organizational Leadership from The George Washington University.

There are 19 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 80% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status.

This article has been viewed 115,214 times.

Sometimes, stress can be good. It helps us act when we otherwise might be paralyzed, spurring us to overcome obstacles. But chronic stress in everyday situations can be harmful to your health and psyche. The good news is that stress can be controlled with the right tools. With the right physical practice and mental makeup, stress can go from being the elephant in the room to the monkey off your back.

The impact of stress on our body and how to cope with it

Table of Contents

S tress has multiple effects on all the systems in your body. All of them can suffer from it and each has its own response.

A s you can see, stress affects your body in more than one significant way, and if you want to avoid future problems and health complications, you need to start learning to manage your stress.

Why we cope with stress differently?

B ecause we are all different.

We all have different life experiences, capacities for physiological resistance to various types of stress, present states of wellness and mood, psychological features, and such differences as age and gender.

Men and women have different ways of looking at problems. Studies among psychotherapists in the UK have shown that men often need help with problems at work, and they need to find a quick solution to cope with the strain. Women are more likely to worry about relationships and health. They need to talk about their feelings in detail more often.

P eople who work in different positions also experience varying levels of stress. A subordinate’s stress level will increase as their work becomes less independent. Bosses experience pressure from below: The greater their responsibility for employees, the higher their stress levels.

There is a theory about Type A people. Type A people are usually impatient, irritable, and hostile. They like to be number one at any cost. They have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases because, in times of difficulty, they are more prone to smoke, drink, and consume more carbohydrates than Type B people.

There are completely “impenetrable”, stress-resistant people, who don’t care about stress at all. They know that in reality a lot of things depend on them. Even if their situation seems unbeatable to an outside observer, they still find things they can control. They don’t always take responsibility for things beyond their control, but look instead for ways to improve their immediate situation.

Presentation stress

W hen you make a presentation to an investor, think about why you started this project and what your aim is. When you prepare for an important presentation:

At the presentation:

Distinguish small panic before an important event from regular panic, for example, before going out on the street or in the metro. These are so-called panic attacks, and they are reason to make an appointment with a doctor.

How to reduce stress

W hen you often feel anxiety, fear, or worry about everything — you are experiencing emotional stress.

Use these tips to reduce emotional strain:

Here are some apps that will help you calm down and reduce your emotional stress: Headspace, MyLife Meditation.

How to control stress

A nxiety and stress, connected with the lack of control, only make the situation worse. They affect the prefrontal cortex, responsible for judgement and insight, and lead to a decrease in productivity and feelings of frustration.

Fortunately, there are ways to deal with this feeling and gain at least some control:

How to relive physical stress

I t depends on your condition and what has caused your physical stress.

There are many reasons for chronic physical stress, such as spending long periods of time in tensed positions, hard physical work or exercise, and physical reactions to mental stress. Long-term physical stress can even lead to tension headaches and other health problems that limit your functioning. Try some methods of stress-management that you can employ to prevent and cope with stress before it jeopardizes your health.

Use active physical recovery:

When you feel really bad, choose a passive recovery technique:

Pay attention to your food. Check if you have enough nutrients. Don’t let junk food and sweets bog you down and increase your anxiety hormones. If you have just a couple of free hours a week try a massage course, flotation (imitation of weightlessness in very salty water), visit the sauna or steam room.

Check your stress and energy level with the Welltory app after the stress-relief techniques to understand which one works better for you.

How to cope with mental stress

More ways to resolve stress

Stress-related eating may add pounds to your weight. You can still try to take off some stress with food, it is just better to learn how to choose the right foods.

Physical activity to resolve stress:

Try different techniques to resolve stress and measure the results with the Welltory app.

Find what helps you to prevent stress

T rack your stress.

It’s like in sports. If you want to improve your results you have to track and analyze them. So it is with stress. If you want to find the ideal method for you, you need a way to track your stress. The answer is Welltory — the quick and convenient way to stay informed of your body strain, thanks to the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) method.

In some situations, we can’t feel the strain on our body. Therefore, we may underestimate or overestimate the effectiveness of some methods. For example, in our practice there are already several users who have significantly reduced their alcohol consumption because they saw evidence that it didn’t help with stress, but increased it. Some users changed their schedule to get enough sleep or started practicing mindfulness every day because it really does reduce one’s stress level.

Use these tips to find the ideal method for you:

Experiment with Welltory. It will help you to develop your own strategy for coping with stress.

Ways to Manage Stress

Articles On Tips for Reducing Stress

Stress is part of being human, and it can help motivate you to get things done. Even high stress from serious illness, job loss, a death in the family, or a painful life event can be a natural part of life. You may feel down or anxious, and that’s normal too for a while.

Talk to your doctor if you feel down or anxious for more than several weeks or if it starts to interfere with your home or work life. Therapy, medication, and other strategies can help.

In the meantime, there are things you can learn to help you manage stress before it gets to be too much. These tips may help you keep stress at bay:

There’s a lot more you can do to help manage stress. Consider these lifestyle changes:

Exercise

To start with, physical activity can help improve your sleep. And better sleep means better stress management. Doctors don’t yet know exactly why, but people who exercise more tend to get better deep “slow wave” sleep that helps renew the brain and body. Just take care not to exercise too close to bedtime, which disrupts sleep for some people.

Exercise also seems to help mood. Part of the reason may be that it stimulates your body to release a number of hormones like endorphins and endocannabinoids that help block pain, improve sleep, and sedate you. Some of them (endocannabinoids) may be responsible for the euphoric feeling, or “runner’s high,” that some people report after long runs.

People who exercise also tend to feel less anxious and more positive about themselves. When your body feels good, your mind often follows. Get a dose of stress relief with these exercises:

If you don’t have the time for a formal exercise program, you can still find ways to move throughout your day. Try these tips:

The benefits of eating health foods extend beyond your waistline to your mental health. A healthy diet can lessen the effects of stress, build up your immune system, level your mood, and lower your blood pressure. Lots of added sugar and fat can have the opposite effect. And junk food can seem even more appealing when you’re under a lot of stress.

To stay healthy and on an even keel, look for complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and fatty acids found in fish, meat, eggs, and nuts.

Antioxidants help too. They protect your cells against damage that chronic stress can cause. You can find them in a huge variety of foods like beans, fruits, berries, vegetables, and spices such as ginger.

Stick to a healthy diet with a few simple tips. Make a shopping list. Carry healthy snacks with you when you leave the house. Stay away from processed foods, and try not to eat mindlessly.

Scientists have pinpointed some nutrients that seem to help lessen the effects of stress on the body and mind. Be sure to get enough these as part of a balanced diet:

Sleep

A common side effect of stress is that you may struggle to fall asleep. If this happens three times a week for at least 3 months, you may have insomnia, an inability to fall and stay asleep. Lack of sleep can also add to your stress level and cause a cycle of stress and sleeplessness.

Better sleep habits can help. This includes both your daily routine and the way you set up your bedroom. Habits that may help include:

The role of your bedroom in good sleep hygiene also is important. In general, your room should be dark, quiet, and cool.В Your bed also plays an important role. Your mattress should provide support, space and most of all, comfort.

Relaxation Techniques

Yoga. This is a form of exercise, but it can also be a meditation. There are many types of yoga. The ones that focus on slow movement, stretching, and deep breathing are best for lowering your anxiety and stress.

Meditation. It has been around for over 5,000 years for a reason. Meditation works well for many people and has many benefits. It can lower stress, anxiety, and chronic pain as well as improve sleep, energy levels, and mood. To meditate, you will need to:

Deep breathing. When you practice deep breathing, you turn on your body’s natural ability to relax. This creates a state of deep rest that can change how your body responds to stress. It sends more oxygen to your brain and calms the part of your nervous system that handles your ability to relax.

Try belly breathing. Get comfortable, close your eyes, and place one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest. Take a deep breath in through your nose. You should feel your belly rise more than your chest. Now, exhale through your nose and pay close attention to how your body relaxes. Repeat.

Biofeedback. Learn how to manage your heart rate, muscle tension, and blood pressure when stress hits. Biofeedback gives you information about how your body reacts when you try to relax. Sensors are placed on your body that call out changes in everything from your brain-wave pattern to your muscle tone. Working with a biofeedback therapist, you can start to take control of the signals by changing how your body reacts to the sensor.

Connect with people. Spend time with a friend or family member who will listen to you. It is a natural way to calm you and lower your stress. When you connect with people in person, your body releases a hormone that stops your fight-or-flight response. You relax.

Behavior.В How you respond to people directly impacts your stress levels. Manage your response with these tips:

Inner voice. Nothing affects your stress levels like the voice inside your head. The good news is you are in control. You can exchange negative thoughts for positive ones. There are more benefits to positive self-talk than reducing stress. These include a longer life, lower levels of depression, greater resistance to the common cold and cardiovascular disease, and better coping skills for when hard times hit.

Laugh therapy. When you laugh, you take in more oxygen. Your heart, lungs, and muscles get a boost and your body releases those feel-good hormones. Laughter also improves your immune system, lessens pain, and improves your mood for long periods time.

Talk therapy. Long-term talk therapy helps some people deal with stress. One approach, cognitive behavioral therapy, helps you change negative thought patterns. Your therapist can guide you toward other approaches that might be helpful.

Show Sources

Frontiers in Neurology: “Exercise Effects on Sleep Physiology.”

Help Guide: “Stress Management,” “Relaxation Techniques for Stress Relief.”

Anxiety and Depression Association of America: “Physical Activity Reduces Stress.”

One Green Planet: “25 Ways to Sneak More Exercise in Every Day.”

Healthy UNH: “How to Incorporate Fitness into Your Everyday Life.”

Amherst College: “De-Stress.”

State of Idaho Judicial Branch: “Self-Care: 20 Ways You Can Cope with Stress, Anxiety and Isolation in Difficult Times.”

Brown University: “Self-Care Assessment Worksheet.”

National Library of Medicine: “Is folic acid the ultimate functional food component for disease prevention?”

Johns Hopkins Medicine: “Exercising for Better Sleep.”

Explore IM: “Eat Right, Drink Well, Stress Less: Stress-Reducing Foods, Herbal Supplements, and Teas.”

Sivananda Yoga Farm: “What is Yoga Meditation?”

Project Meditation: “History of Meditation—Mankind’s Oldest Getaway.”

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: “Meditation: In Depth.”

The American Institute of Stress: “Take a Deep Breath.”

Mayo Clinic: “Stress management,” and “Antioxidants.”

Nemours Foundation: “Yoga for Stress Relief.”

Harvard Health Publishing: “Biofeedback.”

American Heart Association: “3 Tips to Manage Stress.”

Good Therapy: “Getting Help for Stress.”

Mind: “How to Manage Stress.”

PNAS: “A runner’s high depends on cannabinoid receptors in mice.”

Sutter Health: “Eating Well for Mental Health.”

Harvard Health Publishing: “Nutritional strategies to easy anxiety.”

Sleep Foundation: “Stress and Insomnia,” “Sleep Hygiene.”

The Sleep Council: “Perfect Sleep Environment.”

Managing Stress

Defining, Understanding and Overcoming Stress

Bring calm to your life using these stress management strategies.

Stress is undoubtedly one of the biggest problems facing the modern workforce. In fact, according to the American Psychological Association, 77 percent of adults regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress. [1]

Not only can these symptoms be profoundly unpleasant, they can seriously affect our health, our relationships and our work. However, it is possible to manage stress.

In this article, we’ll look at what stress is, common causes of it, and some techniques you can use to manage the symptoms of stress.

Warning:

Stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, death. While these stress management techniques have been shown to have a positive effect on reducing stress, they are for guidance only. Readers should take the advice of suitably qualified health professionals if they have any concerns over stress-related illnesses, or if stress is causing significant or persistent unhappiness. Health professionals should also be consulted before any major change in diet or levels of exercise.

What Is Stress?

The most commonly accepted definition of stress (attributed to psychologist Richard Lazarus) is, «a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.» [2]

This means that we experience stress when we believe that we don’t have the time, resources, or knowledge to handle a situation. In short, we experience stress when we feel «out of control.»

However, different people handle stress differently, in different situations. You’re more likely to handle stress better when you feel confident in your abilities and are able to take control of a situation – and if you feel that you have adequate help and support.

One of the early researchers on stress, Hans Selye, put forward the idea of «eustress» (good stress) and «distress» (bad stress). He suggested that a mild level of stress can actually encourage people to behave in a more active way, while an excessive level of stress can hamper performance.

Reactions to Stress

When we feel stressed we tend to respond in two ways:

Fight or Flight

Physiologist, Walter Cannon’s early research on stress revealed that when an organism experiences or perceives a threat, it quickly releases hormones that help it to survive. This is the well-known «fight or flight» response.

These hormones help us to run faster and fight harder. They increase the heart rate, blood pressure and make us sweat more.

Historically, this would have been very useful to our survival. For example, if you need to fight off an enemy or run away from danger.

The problem with the fight or flight response is that, although it helps us deal with life-threatening events, we can also experience it in everyday situations. For example, when we feel under pressure to meet a tight deadline, when we speak in public, or when we experience conflict. And this can cause some uncomfortable side effects, such as excitability, nervousness, anxiety, and irritability.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

GAS is a response to long-term exposure to stress.

Hans Selye, who first put forward the theory about GAS, found that we cope with stress in three distinct phases:

Fight or flight and GAS are linked. The exhaustion phase of GAS comes from an accumulation of many fight or flight responses, built up over a long period of time.

Symptoms of Stress

Everyone reacts to stress differently. However, some common signs and symptoms include:

Long-term stress can also cause conditions such as burnout, cardiovascular disease, stroke, depression, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system. You can see a more comprehensive list of stress symptoms at the American Institute of Stress website.

How to Manage Stress

Stress can negatively impact our everyday life, our relationships, and our ability to work effectively. It can be difficult to overcome feelings of stress, but there are a number of different strategies you can use to reduce the symptoms.

These include action-oriented, emotion-oriented and acceptance-oriented strategies. Let’s take a look at these in more detail, as well as some practical techniques you can use for each one:

1. Action-Oriented Strategies

Action-oriented strategies are practical things you can do to overcome stress. These include:

Consider starting a stress diary as well, to identify the causes of stress in your life. As you write down events, think about why the situation made you feel stressed, as well as your thoughts, feelings and emotions at the time.

Next, list the main stressors in order of their impact. Which affect your health and well-being the most? And which affect your work and productivity?

Write out all your tasks in a To-Do List and then re-order them by importance. This will help you to take an organized, clear and thorough approach to your workload.

If you’re really busy and the requests are piling up, you may need to take a harder line. Negotiate with your boss about what you can and can’t take on. Saying «I can do x, but I can’t do y» to your manager or colleague will help you to set some clear boundaries, and prevent you from becoming overloaded.

Look at your time management skills too. If you’re working on big or long-term projects, all the things you need to do can often feel overwhelming. Breaking large projects into smaller chunks or sub-tasks can make them more manageable. And, if you’re really struggling to fit it all in, see if you can extend your deadlines or delegate some tasks to another person.

Our articles on «Yes» to the Person, «No» to the Task and Managing Your Boundaries can help you to develop more professional and respectful working relationships.

2. Emotion-Oriented Strategies

Stress is often caused by how we subjectively perceive a situation as stressful. This might be because we get emotional, get caught up in negative self-talk, or find it hard to stay calm.

Emotion-oriented strategies can help here. They include:

Essentially, stoicism involves dividing our experience of the world into things we can realistically control, and things we can’t. It makes no sense to let ourselves be emotionally affected by the things we can’t control. By looking at situations in a rational, objective way like this, we can reduce stressful emotions and negative thinking.

Free Workbook Offer

Increase your productivity and reduce stress with this FREE workbook when you join the Club before midnight, Aug 21.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Receive new career skills every week, plus get our latest offers and a free downloadable Personal Development Plan workbook.

3. Acceptance-Oriented Strategies

When we have no power to change a situation, it can make us feel helpless and hopeless. But it’s vital that we move on from obstacles like this by learning how to accept these kinds of situations. Acceptance-oriented strategies can help here. These include:

If you aren’t able to control or influence the situation, then the best thing you can do is to adapt to it or accept it. This doesn’t mean you’re ineffective, passive or lazy. It shows that you are resilient to change, you know your limitations, and you can deal with difficult situations in a mature and intelligent way.

But the plain fact is, it helps to talk! Chatting through an issue you have with a trusted colleague or friend is a great way of exploring your own thoughts and letting off some steam. It also gives you an opportunity to get someone else’s, more objective opinion on the issue. Perhaps they think you’re doing absolutely fine, or they’re in a position to help you out in some way.

If you’re really struggling with an issue at work that’s causing you a lot of stress, talk to your HR department. They may be able to point you in the direction of internal support, such as an Occupational Health Advisor, a mental health first aider, or an Employee Assistance helpline.

Remember to get a good night’s sleep, too. Stress and worry can often cause insomnia, and things tend to feel worst when we’ve had a poor night’s sleep, which can result in us developing poor sleep habits. Use techniques like guided imagery to help calm your mind before you go to sleep, switch off your phone, and aim to get between seven and nine hours sleep every night.

Key Points

We experience stress when we feel threatened, and when we believe that we don’t have the resources to deal with a challenging situation. Over time, this can cause long-term health problems, and affect our home life, our work and our relationships.

There are three different types of strategies you can use to overcome stress and manage the symptoms, each of which include a number of different techniques. These include:

This site teaches you the skills you need for a happy and successful career; and this is just one of many tools and resources that you’ll find here at Mind Tools. Subscribe to our free newsletter, or join the Mind Tools Club and really supercharge your career!

How to Manage Stress As an Introvert

This article was co-authored by Sari Eitches, MBE, MD. Dr. Sari Eitches is an Integrative Internist who runs Tower Integrative Health and Wellness, based in Los Angeles, California. She specializes in plant-based nutrition, weight management, women’s health, preventative medicine, and depression. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine. She received a BS from the University of California, Berkeley, an MD from SUNY Upstate Medical University, and an MBE from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, NY and served as an attending internist at the University of Pennsylvania.

There are 15 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

This article has been viewed 16,463 times.

Being an introvert in a seemingly extroverted world can be draining, especially under stressful circumstances. If you are an introvert who is bogged down by stress, you may not know how to manage it. When the going gets tough, extroverts are likely to gather with others for mental and emotional support. However, because you have a tendency to spend time alone for recharging, you may find that asking others for help/advice or venting adds even more stress. By protecting your personal space and demanding much-needed time alone, by engaging in calming activities, and by modifying your life to minimize stress you can more effectively manage stress as an introvert.