Truth be told, stress is rooted in our systems. You can’t ignore stress but you can ignore the situations or people who cause it and control how you respond to it. Psychologists reveal unique strategies that can help you overcome stress by tracking down the trigger points of your stress, your response and your coping mechanism.
Remember, your emotions don’t control you, you control them. The moment you allow your thoughts and emotions to take over you is the point you destroy your mental health and make yourself sick. Managing stress not only improves your mental health but also boosts your immune system, promotes good health and helps you become more productive. We further discuss the science of how stress takes over and affects your physical and mental health.
Science behind Stress
When you encounter stress, your body undergoes both physical and mental changes that affect the overall functioning of your body. During high levels of stress, chemicals like, dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine are released from the body causing the fight or flight hormones to release from the adrenal glands. The release of these hormones acts as triggers for rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, and other psychological effects. If these problems are not looked after then they further end up transforming into chronic diseases like stomach ulcers, extreme weight loss, depression, and strokes.
Examine your lifestyle
The choices and decisions you make on daily basis influence your stress level. They may not be contributing to your stress directly but can hinder your progress to overcome it. The factors you need to keep in mind are:
Maintain a balance
Balancing friends, family, work and yourself can be very difficult. You can start small by prioritizing your attention and what you look at first. There might be things that are irrelevant and don’t add value to your life you can always skip them or leave them for later. However, it’s crucial you invest your time in doing the important tasks first and not procrastinate as it only adds up to stress.
Know your purpose in life
Most people find true connections in the family, loved ones, a profession, music, arts or serving humanity. To get rid of all the negativity in your life, you need to surround yourself with positive vibes, positive people and positive thoughts that contribute to your well-being rather than causing you stress.
Get enough sleep
Sleep plays a major role in recovering from stress. If you have trouble sleeping because of your worries, keep a notepad, or a recorder to record your dreams every night. Letting things out of your brain and sharing with someone helps you feel lightweight and makes moving on easier.
Establish healthy habits
Let go of all the unhealthy habits, be it drinking, smoking or gambling. Spending a lot of money on things that destroy your health will only cause more stress and more debt.
Find Support
Having a strong support system in your life helps in overcoming all the bad times and negativities in life. A strong support system motivates you and believes in your ability to do great things in life. Recovering from stress is always easier when you are surrounded by people who push you forward and help you in all situations.
You don’t always require support financially or physically, but mental and emotional support plays a crucial part in one’s life too. Although some people might hesitate in asking for help that doesn’t mean they are weak.
Change the way you think
Overthinking, extra stress and anxiety make you feel bad about yourself. You might blame yourself for everything that’s going wrong in your life and focus only on the negativities. This leads to chronic negative thoughts.
Constant negative thoughts can make you feel depressed, insecure or anxious. You can reach out to a counselor to help you control your thoughts and teach you different techniques to stay in control of your emotions.
The good thing is that you can contact mental health professionals using your laptop and smartphone without having to visit a healthcare facility. This is because like most medical practitioners, counselors also have incorporated telemedicine into their practice.
Solve the riddle
Digging into the core of the problem will help you identify the real reason for the stress. There are things you can’t control but you should try your best to change the things that are on your hands.