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7 Successful Stress Management Techniques

1. Make stress your friend

   Acknowledge that stress is good and make stress your friend! Based on the body’s natural “fight or flight” response, that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right moment. I’ve yet to see a top sportsman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most.

2. Stress is contagious

   Stressed people sneeze stress germs indiscriminately and before you know it, you are infected with stress germs too!
   
   Protect yourself from stress germs by recognising stress in others and limiting your contact with them. Or if you’ve got the inclination, play stress doctor and teach them how to better manage their stress.

3. Copy good stress managers

   When people around are losing their head, which keeps calm? What are they doing differently? What is their attitude? What language do they use? Are they trained and experienced?
   
   Figure it out from afar or sit them down for a chat. Learn from the best stress managers and copy what they do.

4. Use heavy breathing.

   You can trick your body into relaxing by using heavy breathing. Breathe in slowly for a count of 7 then breathe out for a count of 11. Repeat the 7-11 breathing until your heart rate slows down, your sweaty palms dry off and things start to feel more normal.

5. Stop stress thought trains

   It is possible to tangle yourself up in a stress knot all by yourself. “If this happens, then that might happen and then we’re all up the creek!” Most of these things never happen, so why waste all that energy worrying needlessly?
   
   Give stress thought-trains the red light and stop them in their tracks. Okay so it might go wrong – how likely is that, and what can you do to prevent it?

6. Know your stress hot spots and trigger points

   Presentations, interviews, meetings, giving difficult feedback, tight deadlines……. My heart rate is cranking up just writing these down!
   
   Make your own list of stress trigger points or hot spots. Be specific. Is it only presentations to a certain audience that get you worked up? Does one project cause more stress than another? Did you drink too much coffee?
   
   Knowing what causes you stress is powerful information, as you can take action to make it less stressful. Do you need to learn some new skills? Do you need extra resources? Do you need to switch to de-caffeinated coffee?

7. Eat, drink, sleep and be merry!

   Lack of sleep, poor diet and no exercise wreaks havoc on our body and mind. Kind of obvious, but worth mentioning as it’s often ignored as a stress management technique. Listen to your mother and don’t burn the candle at both ends!

And those are the 7 successful stress management techniques! Take time to learn them, use them and teach them, and be a great stress manager.

-- Lyndsay Swinton

Stress Management

Stress related disorders are becoming more and more common in everyday society. The growing pace of industry and technological advancements means that more is expected of each individual within the working context and the general fast pace of life has seen a huge cultural shift in the way things have been done and have been continuously changing since the past two decades. The resulting impact has and continues to be increased levels of stress related disorders which are leading to increased sickness absence amongst workforces costing organisations billions of pounds. (CIPD, 2006).

So what exactly is Stress?

The Butterworths Medical Dictionary (1989) defines stress as:

This basic reaction can be divided into three stages:

The study of Physics teaches us that ‘Stress’ is a force which produces change in the shape of a body. If we apply the same principle to the physical body & mind, we can understand that it will alter the physiological state of an individual under stress requiring adaptation to this new state. When this continually happens, the stage of exhaustion is inevitable.

Stress can manifest in many different ways and levels. Note that when an individual faces a stressful situation the pupils of the eyes will dilate as the sympathetic nerves are stimulated by the brain to allow in more light to improve vision; The sensation of a dry mouth occurs as the salivary glands are partially shut down; the breathing gets more rapid as the body requires more oxygen; the pace of the heart speeds up and so on. We can see from these brief examples how a stressful situation can have a physiological effect on the organs of the body. The Brain, Adrenal glands; Liver; Intestines; Stomach are also affected.

Once the effects of stress are understood, managing them becomes simpler.
At Stress-Resolve™, we take a holistic approach in managing stress by first of all helping you identify YOUR stress factors.
According to those stress related factors, we offer personalised programs of stress-busting strategies ranging from obvious factors such as dietary, exercise and coaching for personal and professional development, to treatment with alternative medicines such as Acupuncture which has been identified by the World Health Organisation as an effective protocol for helping alleviate stress.
We also teach very specific 'Mind-Yoga' and breathing exercises which have shown to be very beneficial by increasing healthy oxygen levels and help 'centre' the individual.

To book a free initial consultation e-mail us at info@stress-resolve.com