Posts Tagged ‘stress relief’

Minimizing Stress

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

Understanding Stress

Stress has been called “the invisible disease”. It is a disease that may affect you, your organization, and any of the people in it, so you cannot afford to ignore it.

1) What is Stress?

On occasions, all of us experience stress. Beneficial stress can help drive a few of us to become Olympic champions, but harmful stress can drive others to despair. A force as powerful as that should always be handled with respect.

A) The Definition Of Stress

Stress in individuals is defined as any interference that disturbs a person’s healthy mental and physical well-being. It occurs when the body is required to perform beyond its normal range of capabilities. The results of stress are harmful to individuals, families, society, and organizations, which can suffer form, “organizational stress”.

Note:

Learn how to spot your stress warning signals, and then act on them.

B) Its Effects On Society

The social costs of stress are already high-and are increasing steadily. Society bears the cost of public services such as healthcare for those made ill by stress, pension for early retirement brought on by stress, and disability benefits for accidents occurring because of stress. In addition to this, stress often makes people irritable, and this affects the overall quality of everyone’s lives.

Note:

Do not be afraid to talk about situations that you find stressful.

C) Its Effects On Companies

Stress costs industry over $150 billion a year in the US alone – through absenteeism and reduced levels of performance by those who are physically present but mentally absent. In the UK , as much as 60% per cent of all absenteeism is believed to be because of stress related disorders. Anything that can reduce the damaging effects of stress makes workers happier and companies richer.

Note:

Take a stroll when you are stressed – it can help restore your perspective.

D) Its effects On The Body

When the human body is placed under physical or psychological stress, it increases the production of certain hormones, such as adrenaline and cortical. These hormones produce marked changes in the heart rate, blood pressure levels, metabolism, and physical activity. Although this physical reaction will help you to function more effectively when you in pressure for short periods of time, it can be extremely damaging to the body in the long-term.

Manik Thapar (MBA)

http://www.careerpath.cc

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How To Identify And Relieve Stress

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

If you have been suffering with a lack of energy, complaining
about muscle ache and feeling moody, emotional, unmotivated and
extremely tired then it is quite possible that you are suffering
from stress.

The physical and emotional symptoms of stress can interfere with
not only our quality of life and enjoyment, but that of our family
and loved ones also.

So what can you do if you are feeling stressed?

WHAT MAKES YOU STRESSED?

Stress affects each and every one of us to some degree, whether it’s
the minor stress we feel when trying to get to the train station on
time or the more major level when we hear that we have lost our job
or that a loved one has passed away.

Regardless of our individual stress tolerance level, it is important
to identify the symptoms of stress and learn how we can adapt to help
reduce it.

While we may all have different tolerances for stress it is also
true that certain lifestyles or changes in lifestyle can lead to
stress – marriage, divorce, death of a loved one, job change,
job loss or debts are all major stresses.

Other factors such as allergies, shift work, strained
relationships and too much work are also stresses that in
combination can add up to stress.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M STRESSED?

Increased stress levels lead to a number of chemical imbalances
in our systems. These imbalances can lead to over tiredness due
to a lack of restful sleep, sore muscles due to a lower pain
tolerance and a negative mood due to a lack of energy and
‘feel good’ chemicals in our system.

If you don’t think that you’ve been feeling the physical effects
of stress perhaps you should look at your lifestyle. Are you
handling tiredness with caffeine and sugar? Are alcohol or drugs
helping you sleep or providing you a ‘feel good’ high? Are you
relying on the adrenaline of working too much for the positive
energy your body and mind needs?

HOW DO I RELIEVE STRESS?

The first thing to do when handling stress is to identify your
personal tolerance level. As different people have different
levels, only you can read your body’s signals and respond to
them accordingly.

It is important to reduce your responsibilities by simplifying
your life. This may simply mean saying no to some extra activities
or duties, or it may mean having a complete change in job or
lifestyle. If you are expecting a large change in your life such
as a new baby or moving house, then maybe you need to remove other
obligations to make room for these changes.

Exercise is a great stress reliever. Try exercising at least 20 minutes three times per week and reducing or totally eliminating
crutches such as alcohol, caffeine, sugar or drugs.

We are living in a world that encourages highly driven, ‘type-A’
personalities. For the good or bad we are not all made equal and
to lead the most contented life it is important to set limits for
ourselves based on our personal abilities. Having a low tolerance
for stress is no more a fault than needing glasses or being
shorter than average – it does however require us to accommodate
our tolerance and take on only as much as our bodies can
adequately handle.

By learning to your stress tolerance level and responding to it
in a positive way you can greatly change your entire outlook on
life. By reducing your stress level, you will find that life
becomes more enjoyable that you ever thought possible.

Mark writes articles on many different subjects. For more
information relating to stress and stress relief visit

http://www.stressreliefzone.com.

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