Stress and anxiety management
We encounter stressful situations everyday and it is one of the most common human experiences. According to a study 70% of the American adults experience stress and anxiety daily. Stress is defined as the situation or event appraised as being aversive in that it elicits a response which taxes a person’s physiological or psychological resources as well as possibly provokes a subjective state of physical or mental tension. Anxiety manifests as a future oriented mood state that consists of a complex cognitive, affective, physiological, and behavioral response system associated with preparation for the anticipated events or circumstances i.e stress. Anxiety is one of the most common psychiatric disorders but the true prevalence is not known as many people do not seek help or clinicians fail to make the diagnosis.
Causes of stress and anxiety:
Stress and anxiety can be caused by multiple factors depending upon the individual’s financial status, physical health, mental and psychological health and daily work routine. A lot of people experience stress and anxiety everyday but it doesn’t mean they need a mental health expert because acute condition is almost always for short duration of time.
Some of the causes of stress and anxiety are as follows:
1. Poor health condition or having a chronic disease
2. Starting a new business or new job
3. Financial problems
4. Unwanted and unexpected events in life
5. Losing the loved ones and family member
6. Marriage and family planning
7. Certain drugs and prescriptions can cause stress and anxiety
8. Use of recreational drugs
9. Relationship problems
10. Negative self talk
Management of stress and anxiety:
Stress and anxiety management includes following measures;
· Acceptance:
Everybody has certain things to accept and agree with in order to stay calm and relaxed. Accepting that you can not control everything relieves half of the stress and anxiety.
· Positive attitude:
Replace negative thoughts and negative self talk with positive thoughts and positive self talk. It will bring positivity in your behavior and you will experience positive attitude outcomes.
· Identifying triggers:
Knowing what causes anxiety and stress is one of the important step of management. Relieving stress and anxiety is only possible if you remove the triggering factors. Knowing the triggers helps you avoid that situation and have a strategy to deal with it.
· Limiting alcohol intake:
Alcohol can aggravate the current stress and anxiety levels so it is better to limit the alcohol intake in order to reduce the stress and anxiety.
· Balanced diet:
Skipping a meal or eating unbalanced diet can lead to various psychological health conditions. A balanced diet and regular meal pattern boosts the energy levels and prevents from stress and anxiety
· Good sleep:
A lot of people think that sleeping 8 hours in 24 hours is enough to stay healthy and fit but according to mental health experts sleeping 8 hours at night is far more better than sleeping at any other time. A good and adequate sleep at night has shown positive impact on mental health and prevents stress and anxiety.
· Exercise:
Regular exercise and walk boosts the hormonal levels and helps body and mind to cope up with stressful situations.
· Volunteering:
Volunteering is the another way to stay active and avoid daily life stress. A fixed daily life work pattern may cause stress and anxiety and in order to avoid that you should participate in different volunteering activities in community.