Discovery Health :: You Can Overcome the Effects of Stress

Dealing With Stress

Even a short walk or 20 minutes to read a book can help reduce the effects of stress.

Related Links

Stress Assessment

Go to the Stress Management Center Index

You Can Overcome the Effects of Stress

By Keith Epstein

Experts recommend strategies such as these for dealing with stress in your life:

Take the stress assessment. This test was originally created by mental health experts to assess the sources and amount of a person's stress. Still in wide use, the test helps identify real situations, ranking them by relative levels of stress.
Keep a stress log. For two weeks, keep records of each stressful event, with brief notes about what happened; where; how bad it was (you can, for example, use a rating system of 1 to 10); and how you reacted. Elsewhere, keep a time-chart on which you can record — for every waking hour — how happy (also use the 1-to-10 scale), how efficient and how stressed you are. Also note whether you're enjoying yourself.
Avoid excuses or blaming others. While other people and events can't be controlled, take responsibility. Accept the causes and focus on managing stress — because it will never be completely eliminated. While time pressures may be a major source of stress, and you may be thinking, "When am I going to have time to do this?," consider the exercise an investment of time — for more time later, and your health. Take care of yourself — or you won't be able to take care of everything else.
Breathe deeply. Simple and automatic as it sounds, breathing — when properly done — can have a dramatic effect on stress management. Yes, there's a "proper" way to breathe — from the diaphragm instead of the chest. When stressed, most people breathe shallowly, stimulating the release of more, rather than fewer, stress hormones. Deep breathing, meanwhile, slows the heart, lowers blood pressure and increases oxygen — and perhaps best of all, distracts and gives you a feeling of self-control. Sit in a chair, inhale slowly with one, long breath, push your abdomen out and breathe out through your nose — slowly. Do it the same time every day; sitting in traffic; or when stressed.

Stress Resources

These organizations can provide further information on stress reduction and dealing with the effects of stress.

National Institute of Mental Health
Room 15-C-05, 5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
(800) 421-4211
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
200 N. Glebe Rd.
Arlington, VA 22203-3754
(800) 950-6264
http://www.nami.org

Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy
305 Seventh Avenue, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10001
(800) 685-AABT
http://www.aabt.org

National Mental Health Association
1021 Prince Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-2971
(703) 684-7722
http://www.nmha.org

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