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| Stress |
Stress
What is Stress?
Health & Safety Executive (HSE) defines stress as:
“The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them”
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) defines stress as:
“That which arises when the pressures placed upon an individual exceeds the perceived capacity of that individual to cope.”
Basically stress is whenever the body is under just too much pressure. Pressure is good and some people can find that they perform better under pressure. For example:
- Extra motivation
- More of a challenge
- More stimulation
- Better creativity
- Personal growth
Symptoms of Stress
- Feeling under the weather etc
- Low self esteem
- Low self worth
- Tired
- Exhausted
- Anxious
- Worried
- Angry
- Crying often
- Forgetful
- Lack of concentration
- Everything getting too much
- Can't see the wood for the trees
- Eating too much/Eating too little
- Warning signal – some people can recognise a warning signal (e.g. heartburn) as a warning that they are perhaps becoming too stressed.
What causes stress?
What one person finds stressful, another person may not and vice versa. Even positive things can be stressful, for example:
- Getting married
- Having a baby
- Christmas
- Holidays
Then there are the other things that can also attribute to stress; and these are split into three groups, which are personal, relationship and health problems.
Personal |
Relationship |
Health |
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The above are not the only things to cause stress. If we were to list every single thing that causes stress the list would be a couple of pages in length!!
Remember, a diamond is a lump of charcoal made good under pressure.
What this means is that a certain amount of pressure is good for you as some people can thrive under this.
Pressure = Acceptable
Too much pressure/Stress = Unacceptable
How to relieve stress
Being assertive
- Being assertive is being able to say how you feel, or what you need or want; but not at the expense of others.
- Having confidence in yourself, being positive while at the same time understanding other peoples point of views
- Having self respect and respect for others
How to be assertive
- Be specific
- Repetition (Broken Record – keep going on and on until people know what you are going on about)
- Good body language
- Posture & distance
- Eyes
- Mouth
- Voice
- Gestures
- Breathing
- Content (what you are talking about e.g. are you rambling!!)
Time management
- Forward planning – plan in advance to 6 most important things you have to do in your day, and get them done. After these are done, then you can move on to other tasks.
- So prioritise – what’s urgent / non urgent
- Find a good balance between a good Social life and your work / college life
Cutting Down on Smoking
- Smoking can cause physical changes in the brain which stops the body producing its natural stress busting hormone – seratonin
- If you are ever in a stressful situation, firstly remove yourself from the situation and then concentrate on your breathing. Now it’s a myth that smoking is good for relaxing and that it relieves stress. Whenever someone lights up, firstly you’ve got to remove yourself from the situation e.g. an office to go to a smoking room. Secondly when they do light up they are concentrating on their breathing. So if this smoker, removed themselves from the situation, for example outside and then concentrated on their breathing like they do when they’re smoking except without the cigarette, then they would be reducing their stress levels.
Healthy eating
- There are a number of mood foods as follows:
- Caffeine
- Sugar
- Alcohol
- By eating healthily and not taking too many of the mood foods your stress levels will be greatly reduced and you mood will improve.
These affect your mood as the caffeine and alcohol affect you quite similarly the morning after. If you have been drinking alcohol or caffeine, whenever you go to bed you may sleep well, but you’re body and your brain haven’t had a chance to rest as they have been up all night “processing” the alcohol and caffeine through the body so you’ll feel tired. The more tired you’re feeling, the worse your mood will be.
Consuming too much sugar puts your sugar levels straight up in what’s known as the “sugar rush.” The sugar rush will subside very quickly again which can affect your mood as you can feel very down - this can lead to you grabbing another sugary food to get that same rush again.
Physical activity
- Everybody should accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day.
- Moderate physical activity is anything that makes your heart beat faster and you feeling slightly warmer. It does not mean that you need to be sweating.
- Benefits of physical activity include:
- Reduces stress & tension
- Enhances mental relaxation
- Increases vitality
- Supports strength, stamina & suppleness
- Protects from heart disease
- Fosters confidence
- Supports healthy posture
- Airs the lungs
- Reduces high cholesterol
Relaxation
The following is a list of things that some people may find relaxing, some people may not like them but some people do. Its like stress, what one person may find as nothing, another person may find it very stressful.
- Relaxation with music
- Yoga
- Massage
- Aromatherapy
- Keeping a journal
- Running/Jogging
- Gardening
- Taking naps
- Craft
- Go to theatre
- Meditation
- Playing an instrument
- Pets
- Reading
- Have a bath
- Spend time with friends
- Talk
Excerpts from a relaxation cd are available on this site, under the Patients/Visitors/Clients link.
Please click here to view a leaflet on Stress prepared by staff at the Mental Health Day Hospital