How to Deal with Stress
Our beliefs and thoughts create our emotions and behaviours, by changing the way we process the situation that appears we change our feelings, and therefore our behaviours and responses.
NLP, Hypnotherapy and CBT has been proven to deal with this quickly and in comfort.
Changes more often than not, happen in only one session.
What is stress?
It is always important to define and clarify what stress is, and is not before I offer solutions. Stress is how we react when we feel threatened or pressured, and in situations that we feel we cannot manage or control.
When we experience stress, it can be as:
- Individually, for example, when you have lots of responsibilities that you find you are struggling to handle
- Part of a group or family, bereavement or financial problems are common causes of stress related issues
- Part of your wider community, religious, or other groups, that experience discrimination and or segregation
- A member of a society that for whatever reason has to deal with a major issue, covid-19 was such an event.
When feeling stressed in a group, remember that we may all experience stress differently, even if the cause of the stress is the same.
When does stress become a problem?
Sometimes, a small amount of stress can help us, by highlighting that something needs our attention, to complete tasks and feel more energised. Stress becomes a problem when it lasts for a long time or is very intense.
Stress can affect our physical and mental health if not dealt with.
Medical Professionals sometime refer to stress as 'acute' or 'chronic':
- Acute stress happens within a few minutes to a few hours of an event. Although it is intense, Acute stress subsides after a while.
- Chronic stress continues for a long period of time, it can return and cause problems. If you are under pressure a lot of the time, if your day-to-day expereince is difficult, you can suffer from chronic stress.
Stress if undealt with can cause the following
- Stress can build into mental health problems. It may develop into anxiety or depression, a long perios of stress might lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Mental health problems can cause stress. If you already have mental health issues, stress can make coping even more difficult.
- Some people turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with stress. This could also affect your mental health, and cause further stress, it can be a repetative cycle.
Stress affects the way we feel, our emotions, our body and behaviour, in lots of ways. It is important to recognise when we are becoming stressed, and take appropriate action.
How stress can make you feel
- Irritable, angry, impatient or 'wound up'
- Overwhelmed, over loaded
- Anxious, nervous or afraid
- Like your mind is racing away and you cannot stop
- Unable to enjoy yourself
- Depressed
- Uninterested in life
- Lost your sense of humour
- A sense of dread
- Worried or tense
- Neglected or alone
Physical Problems
- Diffculty breathing
- Panic attacks
- Blurred eyesight or sore eyes
- Sleep problems
- Fatigue
- Muscle aches and headaches
- Chest pains and high blood pressure
- Indigestion or heartburn
If you feel stressed, it might make you:
- Constipation or diarrhoea
- Feeling sick, dizzy or fainting
- Sudden weight gain or weight loss
- Developing rashes or itchy skin
- Sweating
- Changes to your period or menstrual cycle
- Unable to remember things
- Existing physical health problems getting worse
- Find it hard to make decisions
- Unable to concentrate
- Constantly worry or have feelings of dread
- Short tempered
- Bite your finger nails
- Pick at or scratch your skin
- Grind your teeth or clench your jaw
- Experience sexual problems, such as losing interest in sex or being unable to enjoy sex
We may feel stressed due to many factors, and sometime we do not realise or understand what they are, let alone explain it to someone else.
You may experience stress if you:
- Feel under lots of pressure
- Face big changes in your life
- Are worried about something
- Don't have much or any control over a situation
- Have responsibilities that you find overwhelming
- Don't have enough work, activities or change in your life
- Experience discrimination, hate or abuse
- Are going through a period of uncertainty
- Eat too much, too little or the wrong foods
- Smoke, use recreational drugs or alcohol more than usual
- Restless, like you can't sit still
- Cry or feel tearful
- Spend or shop too much
- Change in your exercise patterns
- Withdraw from people around you