Our body may react with a strong stress response when we feel like the world is coming down on us, we get nervous about events that haven’t happened yet, or when we feel like our responsibilities are overwhelming us. All of these situations are increasingly present in the lifestyle of many people. We can affirm that, currently, our society leads us to a quite frenetic procedure that can cause many nervous situations, therefore, we must learn to manage stress to maintain correct mental stability and reduce our anxiety.
Being able to control the discomfort caused by the stress response is not a simple task, for that reason, in this Psychology-Online article, we will talk about how to manage stress and anxiety. These tools consist of psychological techniques for relaxation, communication and emotional control.
What is stress
We can define this psychological phenomenon as the unconscious response we have to situations that we consider dangerous or threatening. This response is characterized by physical and psychological tension, increased breathing, accelerated heart rate, sweating, anxious and catastrophic thoughts… In stressful situations, we need to provide ourselves with sufficient energy and we try to prepare ourselves for any problem we may have to face.
Initially, the stress response is not something negative. It is a reaction that, in its right measure, can help us better focus our energies to overcome small obstacles in life. However, pathological stress is a danger to our mental health. This occurs when physical and psychological activation is not reduced over a long period of time, we are constantly alert for no apparent reason, we do not control crying, we are much more irascible. and it’s hard for us to sleep. Sometimes pathological stress can be accompanied by an anxiety disorder.
How to solve anxiety
Given the growing need to improve the mental stability of many people, numerous exercises have been developed to release stress and anxiety, these are based on the most effective psychological therapies.
These tools can be various and are applied according to the personality of each individual. It is possible that, for example, someone with tendencies toward nervousness may not benefit from the same relaxation techniques as a patient who shows depression mixed with stress and anxiety.
Although there are many types of therapy, we can use some basic guidelines as self-help to control these unpleasant emotions.
If you are wondering how to manage it appropriately for yourself, keep in mind that the first step is to detect the factors that lead you to that state. They can be external factors (work, family, a psychologically abusive relationship…) or internal factors (neurotic thoughts, insecurities, generalized anxiety disorder…). Then you have to start working on anxiety management, starting by learning to put situations into perspective, giving them the importance they really may have and, thus, being able to continue moving forward.
Stress control techniques
Once we detect the fire that lights the fuse, we can manage the way we deal with stressful situations. To do this, we can use positive thinking techniques and problem-solving strategies. While we put stress control techniques into practice, we can also combine them with management tools and in general.
Positive thinking
If the focus of our problem is within us and we don’t know what to do when we have anxiety, we can use the following technique:
- Detect the stressful thought: these thoughts usually begin with “I have to…” or “I should do…”. These types of mental affirmations end up being a strong burden that we cannot work with.
- Change the affirmation: once we point out the thought that causes us discomfort, we can turn it around so that it does not provoke a negative response. For example, instead of “if I don’t do this before the end of the day, they’re going to tell me off,” we can do the exercise of thinking “it would be nice to do this task before the end of the day, I’m going to get on with it.” Even though the content of the statement is different, we prepare for the same action.
- Generate positive thoughts: once the stressful thoughts have changed, we will have to generate new affirmations to solve the problems that arise. If, for example, we have to prepare for a very important exam, we can direct our mind toward motivation instead of focusing on stressful thoughts.
Problem solving strategies
If we have located the stressful problem in the environment and the people around us, we will have to direct the treatment of stress and anxiety in that direction. To learn to find solutions quickly, we will have to clear our minds and focus on resolving the conflict that arises. Getting nervous is counterproductive and will surely generate even more stress in us.
- We can, through communication, put problems on the table to help solve them in a more effective way. Assertive communication will be based on exposing our feelings and needs without harming or offending others.
- Another problem-solving strategy is based on not avoiding the problematic situation but rather facing it. Generating coping strategies prepares us to overcome new barriers and increases our internal strength.
- Developing emotional intelligence is also an important step in learning to solve problems. This type of intelligence allows us to put ourselves in the shoes of others, understand their emotional states while understanding and managing our own.
Exercises to calm anxiety
Finally, helping you know how to manage stress and anxiety is to control your breathing. Exercises against anxiety and stress that are based on relaxation, always through awareness of breathing, are effective because they activate a part of our nervous system responsible for relaxing our body and mind: the Parasympathetic Nervous System.
One of these relaxation techniques to reduce stress is called abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing:
- You can sit or lie on the floor, trying to keep your mind as focused as possible on your breathing.
- Once ready, begin to direct the air you breathe towards the lower part of the lungs and fill it slowly.
- Count to three and let the air out slowly.
- Repeat this type of breathing until you feel more relaxed and you see that you are not going to suffer any.
Here you can see more and, in addition, if you want to know more about how to manage stress and anxiety, we invite you to read this article about , this technique has proven to be highly effective for releasing stress.
Tips to combat emotional stress
If you want to know how to solve everyday anxiety and stress, it is important that you pay attention to the following tips:
- Have an adequate diet: although at first glance it seems like something that we should not take into account, there are foods that increase our heart rate and, therefore, our stress levels. For this reason, it is always appropriate to maintain a balanced diet.
- Sleep the necessary hours: when we are tired, we respond less well to the demands of the environment and we become more irascible, it is important to find the right time and have good sleep hygiene.
- Organizing time well is vitally important to avoid feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities and stressful events.
- Change your daily life slightly: breaking the monotony from time to time helps avoid emotional tension and life dissatisfaction.
- Do physical exercise: the benefits of sport are innumerable, one of them is related to the secretion of endorphins. These hormones produce feelings of relaxation and pleasure that help our body reduce stress and anxiety levels.
How to manage work stress
Finally, it is very important to comment that one of the main environments where stress and anxiety arise is at work. Work overload, low salaries and unmotivating jobs are some of the risk factors that can lead to work-related stress.
To learn how to combat this problem, it is important to follow these tips:
- Identify risk factors.
- Learn to defend yourself from attacks and strengthen your self-esteem.
- Reserve time for yourself.
- Separate the work world from your private and personal life.
- Practice sports regularly and follow the instructions described in this article to know how to manage stress and anxiety.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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