Stress Management

Learn how and why you should manage your stress...

managing stress

The world is full of plans, plans with stated goals and strategies designed to reach those goals: business plans, sports playbooks (game plans), marriage plans, college plans, plans for the weekend. But if you ask someone what his or her “stress plan” consists of, you’re not likely to hear an answer.

Yet the stress plan, a guide to managing stress (What is stress?) in all its forms, is probably one of the most essential tools for survival in today’s world. In today’s U.S. culture, stress is woven into everyday normal functioning, and it often strikes hard. It leaves no one untouched.

There are the obvious stressors, such as the death of a loved one, divorce, and a serious illness. But there are a number of everyday stressors that can have insidious consequences on our health, stressors such as sitting in daily traffic jams, finding good child care, and getting shuffled through endless “help line” phone calls.

Stress Management Plan

Whatever the stress or stressor, having a stress management plan in place, and following it during both high and low stress times, decreases the negative consequences of stress on our mental and physical health.

Mental health counselors and therapists help clients develop and follow stress management plans, but everyone benefits from planning for and dealing with stress. Counselors incorporate proven strategies and interventions when augmenting stress management plans for clients (Counseling Careers). These strategies include the following:

The Stress of Living in LA

If you live in Los Angeles, stress could be contributing to chronic health problems, according to a survey released in November, 2010 by the American Psychological Association (APA).

LA residents reported that their stress levels are rising along with chronic health issues such as arthritis, asthma, and chronic pain. They blame the economy and money as the main stress culprits. Approximately 75% said the economy is causing them stress in 2010 as compared to only 57% in 2009.

And about 76% said that money caused their increased stress in 2010, as compared to 67% in 2009.

But while 62% of LA residents said that managing stress is important, only 34% said that they actually do a good job of managing it.

This might help explain the rise in serious health conditions for those living in this city of over 4 million.

In addition, weight issues are affecting LA residents. The survey reported that 25% of residents were told by healthcare providers that they were overweight or obese in 2009. However, in 2010 that number had risen to 29%.

  • Exercise
  • Relaxation techniques
  • Yoga and stretching
  • Nurturing friendships and relationships
  • Breathing techniques
  • Taking daily “mini” vacations

Exercise

Aerobic exercise, which is sustained exercise for at least 20 minutes using the major muscle groups, is recommended at least three times each week. (If uncertain about your current state of health, see your physician before starting any exercise program.) For stress, moderate exercise for extended time periods is effective for relieving all types of stress – and for preventing adverse effects on your mind and body when intense stress strikes randomly.

When you exercise, you take your mind off of everything. Fast walking, swimming, running, aerobics classes, treadmills, exercise bikes, and other health club aerobic machines are aerobic exercises that engulf individuals in a rhythm different from their everyday routines. Aerobic exercise also gets rid of excess adrenaline and other chemicals that are released into your bloodstream by the adrenal glands. (The Effects of Stress.)

Depending on an individual’s physical condition and history of exercise, counselors will develop exercise programs that include one or more types of aerobic exercise. They also will recommend anaerobic or low-impact exercise, such as weight lifting and strength building exercises.

Researchers have found that low-impact exercising has similar effects as aerobic exercise on mood, and relieving negative emotions and feelings. Low-impact exercise also strengthens and tones the muscles needed for aerobic exercises.

Expensive health club memberships are not required for most exercise programs. In fact, exercising outdoors in terms of brisk walking or hiking are excellent forms of stress-reducing exercises, and in many cases, provide benefits over exercising indoors.

Relaxation techniques

Finding a way to relax is one of the hardest endeavors for those embroiled in stressful circumstances. Thoughts race uncontrollably creating a sense of urgency, also triggering physiological effects: racing heart, shallow breathing, and muscles contracting.

Individuals feel as if stress controls them, that they have no power over its consequences. But counselors show individuals how to use relaxation techniques to stop and reverse what stress does to the mind and body. Using some of the relaxing activities listed below, individuals can conquer stress:

  • Meditation
  • Deep breathing
  • Listening to music
  • Solving puzzles
  • Playing an instrument
  • Enjoying art and craft projects

Any activity that moves a person into a meditative zone where he or she forgets the worries associated with stress works as a relaxation technique. Therapists and counselors advise clients to develop past times and practices that nurture this type of concentration, and to develop a daily schedule for engaging in a relaxation technique.

Yoga and stretching

Yoga is used as a spiritual discipline for many, combining mind and body to bring about a state of holistic well being. However, the gentle stretches used in many yoga practices are also used for their physical benefits. For those interested in yoga, a counselor will help individuals find suitable classes depending on physical ability and spiritual interest.

For those equally interested in yoga’s health benefits alone, the stretches and poses can be incorporated into daily or weekly exercise routines.

Stretching, however, with or without the use of yoga, is an important way to reduce stress. When people become stressed, they typically tense their muscles, and stretching relaxes tight muscles.

Stretching also provides benefits in increasing flexibility, which reduces injuries. It also adds to joint health by increasing range of motion and supporting balance. And it improves circulation, keeping blood moving to sore muscles.

Nurturing friendships and relationships

A lot of research over the past 10 to 20 years has focused on the benefits of having friends and family members to provide support, laughter, and distraction to stressful lifestyles. In fact, the research shows a strong correlation between healing and having close, caring relationships.

The key concept is nurturing. Friendship is give and take, a sharing of dreams, anxieties, and secrets. Friends want to spend time with each other because they value and respect each other’s opinions and beliefs.

Good friends help allay stress, help put stressors in context, and help to change conversations focusing exclusively on worries or anxieties to other topics.

Friendship and those in relationships also know when stress takes a dangerous turn in a friend’s life, moving them toward destructive, unhealthy, and dysfunctional behaviors. Sometimes it’s only the suggestion of concerned friends and family members that motivate individual to seek help from mental health professionals.

Breathing techniques

When you breathe deeply from your diaphragm, your body relaxes. Counselors recommend deep breathing exercises for at least 20 minutes each day. By establishing a breathing routine, individuals automatically revert to this important stress buster during extremely stressful situations.

Therapists and counselors show clients how to breathe deeply, but there isn’t any magic to this process. Anyone can sit quietly in a room away from distractions, and practice taking deep breaths, allowing the air to fill the diaphragm, and exhaling slowly through the mouth.

Taking “mini” vacations

Taking mini vacations doesn’t involve travel agencies or hotel reservations. Instead, a mini vacation involves finding time from a few minutes to an hour each day to let go of all “shoulds” and “have tos” and engage in something fun and relaxing.

Many individuals are so consumed with work, family and household duties that don’t take any “down” time to simply unwind. This creates more stress, often turning life into a vicious cycle of errands, chores, and obligations.

A daily vacation is a distraction from life’s busyness, and it takes the form of watching a television show, reading, or flipping through a magazine. For some it’s soaking in a hot bathtub, or taking a leisurely walk.

A career in improving lives

Today’s mental health counselors solve problems for everyone, not just those suffering with a mental health disorder. Stress management is one particularly important intervention that all individuals in today’s fast-paced society benefit from, and if incorporated into daily lives, helps prevent long-term mental and physical health conditions.

If you have a desire to work in mental health prevention in an area focused on the mind-body connection, consider a career in as a Mental Health counselor. A master’s degree and state licensing is required to practice in most states.

For more information, contact schools offering degrees in mental health counseling or psychology.