How To Manage Stress: What you need to know
In most cases we attribute the effects of stress to external causes that seem at first sight to be responsible for our state of stress and very rarely to internal causes.
Yet no one lives stress in the same way, in other words if our state of stress depends solely on external causes, everyone should live it in the same way, which is not the case.
Indeed, we can easily conceive that a person who lacks self-confidence (for example) will react in a very different way to a stressful situation.
The emotional burden she will have to deal with will be much greater than for someone who has a strong and deep self-esteem.
The stress experienced by a person whose self-confidence is low will obviously be much more important than in a person who is well-skinned and emotionally stable.
This is just one example of many. It will be the same for an anxious person or who suffers from anxiety disorders.
The emotional factor plays a very important role in the management of stress and we can say that managing stress is above all self-management.
How physical condition affects stress
Physical state can also play a role in dealing with stress.
We will not accept stress in the same way when we are in shape or on the contrary when we are tired. We will not react in the same way to an event after a long day’s work or, on the contrary, after a day’s rest, if we are sick or otherwise healthy, after the announcement of a good news or bad news, etc. …
However, it is important to keep in mind that, whatever our physical and mental state of the moment, the emotional response will always be influenced by the mental representation we carry within ourselves of the situation we are facing.
In other words, the stress situation itself is probably not the determining factor in the stress phenomenon and in the way of living it and we will see how to manage the stress later in this article, several actions are indeed possible.
What is stress exactly?
From a physiological point of view stress has already been widely described by many scientific writers, so I do not need to redefine it here.
What you need to know, in light of what has just been explained above, is that in the face of stress, each of us will have a reaction of his own that will be more or less important.
It all depends on what the event we are facing awakens in us. This response, in turn, is determined by many mental factors related to the person’s history.
This experience has indeed created in her a certain mental representation of the situation which, obviously, will be more or less conscious according to the individuals.
This is the first stage in a stress situation: the reaction. Then comes a second stage, when the so-called stressful event disappears, we will enter what is called a “recovery phase” during which our body and our mind gradually return to their usual state.
This recovery phase is also different from one individual to another. Some people will recover very quickly from a stressful event while others, faced with an identical situation, will take longer to recover their usual state.
Moreover, if the person has already accumulated a lot of stress, this recovery phase will obviously be longer. In the same way, the more intense the reaction to stress has been, the longer this recovery phase will take.
How to handle stress effectively
Before seeing how to manage stress, it is important to distinguish between the effects of stress and the real causes of stress, because we can act on each other knowing that limiting ourselves to acting on the effects brings only temporary relief, while if we act on the cause, we will see our reaction to stress gradually decrease and a situation that was previously stressful will not be at all.
How to reduce the effects of stress
I do not need to describe here the effects of stress as they are many and vary from one person to another, it can range from a state of nervousness to tachycardia, see headaches, a condition more or less important tension, insomnia, etc. …, the more the symptoms of stress are important and the more the state of stress is too. Although insufficient it is never useless to act on the effects of stress, if only to prevent tensions from accumulating.
The ideal being, to repeat it, to free ourselves from what causes our reaction to no longer have to undergo this state of tension whenever the situation is presented to us.
To reduce the effects of stress, there are many ways that range from exercise, yoga, even massage, taking relaxing products through guided relaxation exercises.
Here too the methods are very numerous and everyone can find in this panel of techniques that which seems to him the most appropriate for him. We can also combine several means depending on the time available and the mood in which we are..
The danger of certain substances
There is also a need to pay close attention to the use of certain substances, such as tranquilizers, which can cause dystonia of the nervous system and other undesirable effects.
The best way to free yourself from stress
Of course, most of us are not inclined to take a step that involves breaking free of the emotional burden of a stressful situation, yet it is really the only way to stop having to deal with stress when It happens.
In any case, the discomfort is such that this approach, at one time or another, is obvious.
Indeed we can act directly on the reaction that we can have during an event. We can either reduce the intensity or free ourselves for good.
This obviously involves undertaking a process of personal fulfillment through which the person is learning to clearly identify how this reaction is created and how to get rid of it.
The advantage of such an approach is that it allows to really get rid of this reaction, but in addition, it gives the person the ability to access his potential and thus benefit from the approach for many others goals she may have in her life.
If you want to know how to manage stress effectively such an approach is indeed the best way especially since it serves you throughout your life since you learn to be autonomous.
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