Most people know what stress is, and they aren’t particularly fond of it. While occasional stress can be a good thing, because it helps us to get things done and identify dangers, if we find ourselves highly stressed or stressed often, it can decrease our quality of life and damage our health. That’s why every April is designated as Stress Awareness Month. At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health in Charleston, West Virginia, we help our patients learn how to manage their stress, so it does not interfere with their mental health.
Sources of Stress
Stress is unique to each individual. What one person finds mildly annoying might feel unmanageable for another person. A person’s coping skills, support system, and stage of life can impact how they experience a potentially stressful event. For an adult, they may feel stress around money, work, their intimate relationship, or parenting. Teenagers, on the other hand, are more likely to be stressed by the demands of school, their social interactions with peers, changes to their body, changing schools, conflict with their parents, or struggling to balance competing priorities like working, socializing, and planning for the future.
Indications of Stress
Sometimes, we don’t even realize how stressed out we are until we stop to observe our symptoms:
- Physical symptoms such as headaches, digestive issues, or generally feeling ill
- Mental symptoms such as having a short temper or rigid thinking
- Emotional symptoms such as anger/irritability, sadness, fearfulness, or frustration
- Behavioral symptoms such as increased substance use, sleep issues, or overeating
Things That Undermine Stress Management
If you’re finding that you’re not handling your stress very well right now, you might consider the possibility that one of these things is impacting your ability to cope as effectively as usual:
- A big change – birth of a baby, changes at work, death of a loved one, moving, etc.
- Poor sleep
- Inadequate nutrition
- Physical health issues
- Insufficient support
Ways to Fight Routine Stress
The following tips may help you manage your daily stress more easily:
- Allow yourself to be human and make mistakes. Be realistic about what you can accomplish.
- Set priorities and let go of the things that don’t matter.
- When you find yourself being negative about your accomplishments, respond with positive thoughts about yourself.
- Remember to WAIT: Watch what is going on inside your body, Accept your stressors without reacting, Invite your initial reaction to relax by showing yourself compassion and empathy, Tell yourself that you have the situation under control.
- Make self-care a priority. It’s easier to manage stressful situations if your basic needs are being met.
- Limit how much time you spend on social media and consuming the news.
Planning for a Big Stressor
If you’re anticipating something in the future that is likely to increase your stress levels, you can take steps to make the event more manageable:
- Think of ways you can make the event easier for yourself. This could involve meal prepping, completing small parts of the task ahead of time, and taking some time off work before or after the big stressor occurs.
- Be attentive to signs that you might need to step back. If you’re hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, you won’t be at your best. Build in some time to get a snack, take a nap, pet your dog, call a friend, or whatever will help you recover.
- Don’t procrastinate. It’s only human to avoid something unpleasant or that you don’t want to deal with, but if you know this is something you have to get done, you will be less stressed if you start preparing early.
- Use your village. Reach out to a friend, colleague, family member, or your therapist if you start feeling overwhelmed. They might not have a solution, but they may be able to offer a different perspective or at least help you feel less alone.
- Avoid substances. While you might be inclined to take the edge off with alcohol or another drug, no one does their best thinking under the influence, and you will make better choices if you abstain.
At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health, we have been providing behavioral health treatment for more than 60 years. Our experienced, compassionate team is here to help children, adolescents, and adults who are struggling with behavioral health concerns.
