Stress Awareness Month
It’s Stress Awareness Month. Share these valuable tips with your family, friends, and coworkers. Let’s help each other learn how to become stress resilient and live in this stressful world with real joy. Managing stress means knowing what triggers your stress response. Here are a few tips to help you during this Stress Awareness Month.
Learn the symptoms of your stress response and the solutions to help you deal with your stress.
Triggers. Each of us is quite different and has different stress triggers. For some, it may be a messy house or someone being late. For others, it could be someone talking loud or talking too much. Knowing what triggers your stress response is your first step. Get a pen and paper to write down your triggers. Don’t forget to ask your friends and coworkers when they notice you getting stressed. That is great information you need to know.
Symptoms. Each of us has different symptoms. There are physical symptoms such as headaches, gastrointestinal problems, your heart racing or your breathing changing. Emotional symptoms may be anger, aggressiveness or feelings of anxiety. Relational symptoms could be you withdrawing from people, volatility with others or shutting down.
Solution. Try Dr. Kathleen Hall’s S.E.L.F. Care Program®. These are four simple, quick, research-based solutions that are easy to remember. When your stress is triggered quickly spend a few minutes doing one of these stress reduction options.
S=SERENITY. Stop and take a few deep breaths, do a short meditation, listen to your favorite music or maybe nature sounds for a few minutes.
E=EXERCISE. Excuse yourself from the stressful situation and walk up and down the stairs or around the building for a few minutes. Try a couple yoga stretches to relax your body.
L=LOVE. Text, call or email someone you love. When you connect and talk with someone who cares it reduces your stress.
F=FOOD. Keep B6 foods and other stress reducing foods around. Simple foods like a banana, turkey, sunflower seeds or a glass of milk can calm you down.