Posts from — April 2009

7 Successful Stress Management Techniques

By Lyndsay Swinton

Everyone needs successful stress management techniques. Easy to learn and easy to

implement, you can use them for your own stress management or teach them to help others

manage theirs.
Manage your stress and be a healthier, happier and more pleasant person to be around. Let’s

cut to the chase…

1. Make stress your friend

Acknowledge that stress is good and make stress your friend! Based on the body’s natural

“fight or flight” response, that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right

moment. I’ve yet to see a top sportsman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use

stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most.

2. Stress is contagious

Stressed people sneeze stress germs indiscriminately and before you know it, you are

infected with stress germs too!

Protect yourself from stress germs by recognising stress in others and limiting your

contact with them. Or if you’ve got the inclination, play stress doctor and teach them how

to better manage their stress.

3. Copy good stress managers

When people around are losing their head, which keeps calm? What are they doing

differently? What is their attitude? What language do they use? Are they trained and

experienced?
Figure it out from afar or sit them down for a chat. Learn from the best stress managers

and copy what they do.

4. Use heavy breathing.

You can trick your body into relaxing by using heavy breathing. Breathe in slowly for a

count of 7 then breathe out for a count of 11. Repeat the 7-11 breathing until your heart

rate slows down, your sweaty palms dry off and things start to feel more normal.

5. Stop stress thought trains

It is possible to tangle yourself up in a stress knot all by yourself. “If this happens,

then that might happen and then we’re all up the creek!” Most of these things never happen,

so why waste all that energy worrying needlessly?

Give stress thought-trains the red light and stop them in their tracks. Okay so it might go

wrong – how likely is that, and what can you do to prevent it?

6. Know your stress hot spots and trigger points

Presentations, interviews, meetings, giving difficult feedback, tight deadlines…My heart

rate is cranking up just writing these down!

Make your own list of stress trigger points or hot spots. Be specific. Is it only

presentations to a certain audience that get you worked up? Does one project cause more

stress than another? Did you drink too much coffee?

Knowing what causes you stress is powerful information, as you can take action to make it

less stressful. Do you need to learn some new skills? Do you need extra resources? Do you

need to switch to de-caffeinated coffee?

7. Eat, drink, sleep and be merry!

Lack of sleep, poor diet and no exercise wreaks havoc on our body and mind. Kind of

obvious, but worth mentioning as it’s often ignored as a stress management technique.

Listen to your mother and don’t burn the candle at both ends!

Stress Management Oscar Lama Article

How to Recognize Stress Before it Turns Into Anger

By Dr. Tony Fiore

After a stressful day as a computer programmer, Jim pulled into his driveway. The children’s toys were scattered on the walkway to the house.

He immediately began noticing slight tension in his muscles and apprehension in his stomach. Entering his house, his wife ignored him while she talked with her sister on the telephone. His heart started beating a little faster.

Looking around, he noticed disarray; nothing was picked up, the house was a mess. Irritation and frustration started to settle in. Finally, as his feelings grew, he exploded and began yelling at his wife and children.

Stress may trigger anger:

Stress is often the trigger that takes us from feeling peaceful to experiencing uncomfortable angry feelings in many common situations such as the one described above.

Stress is most easily defined as a series of bodily responses to demands made upon us called stressors.

These “demands” or stressors can be negative (such as coping with a driver who cuts in front of you on the freeway) or positive (such as keeping on a tour schedule while on vacation).

Stressors may be external to you (like work pressure) or internal (like expectations you have of yourself or feeling guilty about something you did or want to do).

Whether the stressor is external or internal, scientists have discovered that the major systems of the body work together to provide one of the human organism’s most powerful and sophisticated defenses; the stress response which you may know better as “fight-or-flight.”

This response helps you to cope with stressors in your life. To do so, it activates and coordinates the brain, glands, hormones, immune system, heart, blood and lungs.

Avoid Jim’s destructive behavior toward his loved ones. Before your stress response turns into anger or aggression, use these strategies to get it under control:

Read your personal warning lights: Becoming aware of your stress response is the first step to managing it. This means listening to your body, being aware of your negative emotions, and observing your own behavior when under stress.

For instance, notice muscle tension, pounding heart, raising voice, irritation, dry mouth, or erratic movements.

What you see is what you get: For a potential stressor to affect us -stress us out - we have to first perceive it or experience it as a stressor.

Gaining a new perspective on the stressing situation can often drastically change the effect it has on us. Our stress response can indeed be a response (something we can control) instead of a knee-jerk reaction (which is automatic).

Stress Recognizing Oscar Lama Guide