5 stress management techniques || Just Apply to Success

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There are ways to adapt and mitigate the stressful effects of everyday life.

It is increasingly common to hear expressions like "I'm stressed" in our environment. Stress is so ingrained in our society that we sometimes use such comments as a "wild card" to describe a certain activation in our emotional system when we are very busy.

 

However, it is convenient to understand what we mean when we talk about this problem since it is more complex than at first moment we can think.

In general, the stress response consists of an immediate and intense reaction, which involves the general mobilization of the body's resources and which occurs in situations that pose significant demands for the person when facing a task or challenge, a risk (real or imaginary), or even the possibility of material or personal loss. The stress response includes a set of responses at the physiological (what I feel), cognitive (what I think) and motor (what I do) levels.

 

Adaptive stress and maladaptive stress

The stress response itself doesn't have to be bad. In fact, in many cases, we speak of an adaptive reaction that has allowed the species to survive and not become extinct.

 

In the same way that feeling anxious in certain situations is vital to coping with a threat, stress can be a tool to overcome daily demands.

 

However, when this reaction appears very frequently in a context where there is no real danger, it can cause a waste of resources and lead to the appearance of problems of various kinds. In this case, stress is not useful and therefore we would speak of a maladaptive response.

 

How to deal with stress?

Once we conclude that the physiological, cognitive, and motor responses are intense, long-lasting, uncomfortable, and interfere with our day-to-day lives, we can act on several levels:

 

1. Techniques for changing stressful situations

They are aimed at modifying the environment in which the person is. The objective would be to change the environmental conditions in order to reduce stress, such as maintaining an adequate temperature in closed spaces, controlling noise or avoiding the consumption of substances that activate the Central Nervous System (caffeine, nicotine, etc.). In the same way, an attempt would be made to generate stimuli that favor responses incompatible with stress, for example, music, light, taking breaks, or even strategies such as relaxation.

 

2. Time planning strategies

Sometimes stress appears as a result of a lack of planning. As Labrador (2000) points out, managing time is deciding what to spend the available time on. This decision must be based on the importance or value given to each task or activity. An order of priority or a hierarchy of tasks must be established, according to the importance of each one. Depending on the priority given to the tasks, the planning of activities should be established.

 

In particular and especially the schedule of each day. First, you have to deal with urgent and important tasks. Next, the important and non-urgent tasks Next, those that being urgent are not important. Finally, the non-urgent and non-important ones.

 

3. Cognitive techniques

Psychology has strategies for changing thoughts that are very useful in coping with stress. In this sense, it is important to work on the following issues:

 

·         Analyze perfectionist and self-demanding thoughts. Remember that we are imperfect and limited. We cannot do everything we want, but what we can.

·         See the usefulness of certain thoughts: does it help me to be constantly worried about what to do? Does being worried help me to be more effective? Does it help me to be happy?

·         Analyze them you should: why should I do this? What if I don't do it now ?: change "should ..." to "I would like ..." or "I would rather ..." (produces less guilt).

·         Magnification. It is desirable to prevent hazards as much as possible, but without exaggerating the imminence of their occurrence. It would be similar to seeing a fierce tiger appear in our house, where there is a harmless kitten.

·         Differentiate possibility from probability. Learn to calculate the probability (from 0 to 100 for example) that the worst will happen if we do not achieve the objectives set. Sometimes we confuse something possible with highly probable when it doesn't have to be.

·         Know/learn to say "no" to those activities or tasks that are not a priority for oneself.

·         4. Behavioral techniques

·         It is vitally important to divert the focus of attention to pleasant tasks that distract the person as a stress management strategy. Rewarding tasks that “disconnect” the person. For this purpose, a weekly schedule of rewarding tasks can be made.

 

 

5. Relaxation techniques

Relaxation techniques are the quintessential strategies for coping with stress. Diaphragmatic breathing meditation is one of the classic deactivation techniques that usually work best.

 

Currently, the approach to stress from "Mindfulness" represents a good method of choice in the face of stress since it combines deactivation strategies such as meditation and thought control simultaneously.

 

In summary, Psychology has powerful tools that have proven to be effective in stress management. All these techniques are made explicit in numerous scientific publications and training courses such as the one offered by Psychological Training in its practical course on stress management techniques, the purpose of which is to provide useful strategies to deal with one of the most frequent emotional problems of the 21st century.