Long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. Chronic stress can be suffocating, it can make it difficult to deal with your emotions, and lead to anxiety or depression.  Stress disrupts nearly every system in your body. It can cause weight gain, elevate blood pressure, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. Stress can cause inflammation in your body and suppress your immune system. 80% of your immune system is located in your GI tract. When your GI tract is comprised opportunistic pathogens and conditions can manifest.   

We understand the importance of stress management and how it can benefit your overall health and mood. Since everyone has a unique response to stress, there is not a generic solution to managing it. We will provide some information so you can experiment with different techniques and strategies. Focus on what makes you feel calm and in control.
 

Dealing with Stressful Situations: The Four A's

Avoid unnecessary stress

Not all stress can be avoided but you can work towards reducing many stressors. 

• Avoid people who stress you out – If someone consistently causes stress in your life reevaluate the relationship and communicate with them and/or end the relationship. 
• Take control  – Determine what makes you stressed and develop alternative solutions to avoid the situation. 
• Eliminate stressful conversation –  If you repeatedly argue about the same subject excuse yourself when it arises. 
• Cross-off your to-do list – Analyze your schedule and distinguish between the “shoulds” and the “musts.” Reduce the tasks that aren’t truly necessary. 

Alter the situation

If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. 

• Communicate -  Express your concerns in an open and respectful way to avoid resentment and come up with a resolution. 
• Compromise - When you ask someone to change their behavior, be willing to do the same. 
• Be more assertive - Deal with problems head on, know what to expect, how to handle and prevent certain situations. 
• Manage your time -  Plan ahead and try not to overextend yourself. 

Adapt to the stressor

Regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude.

• Positivity -  Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. Be grateful for everything you are and have. 
• Reevaluate -  Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? 
• Adjust your standards -  Set attainable standards rather than working towards perfectionism.  

Accept the things you can’t change

Accepting the situation, allows room for personal growth. 

• Focus on what you can control -   Such as the way you choose to react to problems.
• Learn from the experience - Look at your situations as opportunities and learning experiences for personal growth. 
• Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people make mistakes, and change happens. Work towards letting go of anger and resentment. 

We hope that some of these tips provide peace in your life.  Please let us know how we can assist.  We are planning a Stress Management workshop in the Autumn time.  Please stay tuned in next week for our newsletter on healthy techniques for stress reduction.