Stress Management

Overview

When it comes to cutting stress from your life, there's never a wrong time for a new year's resolution. Through a combination ofstressor identification, positive thinking, a proper diet and exercise , and a willingness to stick with your goals, even the adult male juggling career, relationships, and a hectic fantasy sports schedule can live a stress free lifestyle.

Identifying Your Stressors

Stressors in one's life aren't always easy to spot. But you can be sure that you are not going to be able to control them--or even begin to fight them--until you can identify them. The following tips sound basic, but sometimes you need to focus on the basics to get the the root of a problem that you don't know how to deal with.

• Keep a Journal: A good way to identify and keep track of what is stressing you out is to keep a diary. Describe in writing how you are stressed out and what the circumstances were. It may not always be easy to figure out exactly what set you off, so be thorough and get down as much information about what was happening (and what had happened leading up to) when you realized you were particularly stressed out.
• Ask Others: A good way to get outside of the box and find out about how and when stress affects you is to ask someone else. A friend, coworker, or partner may have a better idea than you about the types of situations that stress you out. Don't be shy; someone who is close to you will care enough about you to help you deal with your stressors.
• Look for Physical Symptoms: The following list of symptoms are regularly associated with stress: Short Term: headaches, difficulty sleeping, muscle tension, fatigue, digestive disorders, increased sweating, skin irritations; Long Term : hair loss, periodontal disease or sustained jaw pain, asthma, immune system suppression, reproductive difficulties, chest pain and/or irregular heartbeats, high blood pressure
• Look for Emotional Symptoms: short attention span and inability to concentrate, loss of short term memory, poor judgement, difficulty making decisions, misunderstanding and confusion, repetitive and rapid thought processes, dwelling on thoughts of escape

Curbing Negative Thinking

You're not going to get very far in dealing with stress unless you can visualize a less stressful life. This starts with turning identifying negative thinking so you can control it and eventually stop it completely. The following is a short list of common elements of negative thinking, which need to be identified, managed, and overcome in the pursuit of positive thinking:

• Negative Filtering: The practice of focusing on the negative in any situation and filtering out the positive.
• Catastrophizing: You expect that worst possible thing to happen in any situation.
• Polarizing: You see situations only as good or bad--success or failure--with no area in between.
• Personalizing: You invariably blame yourself for bad things that happen around you.

Stress Management Planning

It's not just going to happen because you want it to. Cutting stress out of your life is a daily set of tasks that, together, lead to a simpler and more productive lifestyle. Start with the tips listed below:

• Evaluate: Periodically, throughout the day, stop to consider something that you have been giving a lot of thought to and ask yourself if you are feeling negative about it. If so, force yourself to put a positive spin on the topic. Don't lie to yourself or attempt to cheat yourself; merely find something positive in the topic and attempt to focus on that. This will get you used to the habit of positive thinking.
• Learn to Say "No": If you are going to successfully take stress out of your life, you are going to need to learn to simply say "No" tounnecessary tasks and behaviors in your life that cause you stress. This works for people and places, too. If there is something in your life that is causing you stress, consider how much you need it, or if there is a better way to receive the rewards you get from it--we're talking about your job, here. If there are other viable options that will allow you to take stress out of your life, explore them.

Creating a Productive Lifestyle

You've figured out the serious stressors in your life--the job, the debt--and have focused on methods of dealing with them. Now it's time to focus on the little things that bring stress to your everyday life. You can't always see them; and alone, they may not be that big of a deal. But added together, things like an unhealthy diet, lack of excercise, and an inability to slow down can add up to significant stress.

• Diet Negatives: A nutritious, well balanced diet can go a long way toward alleviating stress. Focus on eating nutritious foods in proper amounts. You should also considering limiting (or, in some cases, banishing altogether) the following elements from your diet: caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, sugar, salt. Try isolating each, quiting one at a time for a full month to see how your body reacts; you may not feel any difference buy cutting out salt from your diet, but your body may respond positively to cutting sugar from your diet. The better your body responds to what you put into it, the more able you are to control certain types of daily stress.
• Diet Positives: Eat whole grains and foods that are high in fiber, such as fruits. Eat plenty of yellow and green vegetables rich in vitamins and phytochemicals.
• Exercise: Anyone who has worked off the anxiety of an anxious day in the office by exerting energy and sweat on a bicycle can attest to the healing powers of exercise. As a proven tension reliever, exercise is an excellent way to relieve stress. Exercise literally improves your mood by creating positive biochemical changes in both the body and brain. Daily exercise can have the sustained effect of relieving stress on a regular basis.
• Deep Breathing and Muscle Relaxation: Deep breathing is one of the most simple and effective methods of relaxation. The act of stopping everything you are doing to breath deeply and focus on the body's intake of life-giving oxygen is a psychological statement of a willingness to release tension. With each breath, focus on allowing different parts of your body to relax. Feel free to take as long as you need--a ten minute break won't kill you. If need be, practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation, in which you tense a set of muscles, holding them in extreme tension for a few seconds, in order to allow them to relax in response. Sometimes you can't feel yourself tensing and releasing without pushing your muscles to extreme tension.

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