In today’s fast-paced society, stress has become a major factor of peoples’ lives, and stress is one of the leading causes of health problems in today’s society. According to CenterSite, LLC (2010), “The American Psychological Association's 2007 "Stress in America poll found that one-third of people in the United States report experiencing extreme levels of negative stress” (Introduction and the Nature of Stress, para. 1). This is a high amount of the population that suffers from stress; therefore, most every person, at least at one time in his or her life will suffer from some type of stress.
What Exactly is Stress?
When most people think of stress, he or she thinks of being overcome with a current situation in his or her life. However, stress is a response to a changing or challenging surroundings or situations; therefore, stress is how a person will react or adapt to changing or challenging situations in his or her life. Changes happen in peoples lives all the time, whether it is family, occupation, or home, so there are many aspects of a person's life that can induce a stressful reaction. Additionally, when a person has overwhelmed him or herself with too many projects he or she can begin to feel stressed out. However, there are things a person can do to reduce the stress in his or her life or his or her stressors, such as finding relaxing things to do, such as hobbies.
Ways to Reduce Stress
One of the best ways to reduce your stress level or stressors is to find a hobby or something an individual can enjoy doing that is relaxing to him or her. For some people relaxation strategies can be gardening, reading, going for a walk, doing crafts, or many other tasks. Additionally, an individual can find somebody else that enjoys the same hobby and have a partner or friend to do these enjoyable tasks with. Another source of stress in a person’s life can be un-organization; therefore, becoming more organized can help reduce a person's stress.
Become More Organized
Many people live in such a hurry that they do not organize his or her life or items. It can be a stressful situation if a person has to leave for work, especially if he or she is already running late, and he or she cannot find his or her car keys. Therefore, if an individual keeps the things he or she uses on a regular basis in an organized manner and in the same place, this can help cut down the stressor of having to spend time searching for items a person needs. Additionally, many people worry over small things that he or she have no control over.
Decide What is Important and What Is Not
Many people worry over things that they have no control over, such as what another person is doing. A person does not need to worry and cause extra stress over the things he or she has no control over. Just worry about the important things that an individual can control or do something about. It is important to realize that as individual's a person cannot control other people around him or her or certain situations, so why put your health at risk for something you can do absolutely nothing about. However, trying relaxation techniques can also help reduce a person’s stress.
Relaxation Techniques
There are many techniques that can help a person unwind or relieve his or her stress. One of the most popular methods is meditation. Meditation can pull you away from the stressful situation and help a person's body relax. Another method is breathing exercises, such as taking deep breaths in and out to relax your muscles. A person can also put on some relaxation or meditation music and just lie back in a dark room and feel all his or her muscles relax. A person can also take a day and just play. Take your children to the park and play right along with them. Such activities as this can be very relaxing.
Relaxation is Very Important
Stress is one of the main causes of health issues, such as heart attacks and high blood pressure; therefore, it is important that people try to keep his or her stress level down and the amount of stressors in his or her life low as possible. Stress will also age a person and drain his or her energy, and make life very difficult. Additionally, if a person is stressed out, it is hard to enjoy life and to concentrate on what is important, such as a person's family. Consequently, people need to do things to reduce the stressor in his or her life, so that he or she can enjoy life more and live healthier.
Stress is how people react to different challenges and situations that can be overwhelming; however, due to the rise in stress related illnesses, people need to learn to manage his or her stressors and keep his or her stress level down. If a person can manage his or her stress level, he or she will live a happier and healthier life. Everybody experiences stress, from mild to severe stress, but stress management can make a big difference in a person’s life.
Reference:
CenterSite, LLC. (2010). Stress Reduction and Management. Retrieved on May, 24, 2010
Susan Hillman - My name is Susan Hillman. I am 41-years-old and I have my Associate's in Psychology and I am currently obtaining my Bachelor's in ...
