Stress Management
Stress is a pandemic in our world, and no single person hasn't experienced it. Knowing how to manage it can make all the difference in difficult times. Hopefully the information we've gathered can help!
Problem-focused coping is attempting to alleviate stress directly, by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor. We tend to use this when we feel we have a sense of control over situation and think we can change the circumstances or change ourselves to deal with the situation more capably. On the other hand, emotion-focused coping is attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction. We tend to use this when we believe we cannot change a situation. An example of this would be reaching out to friends for support and comfort. It is important to recognize what type of situation you are in and work to cope accordingly with balance. Neither trying to solve a problem when it cannot be changed or only focusing on how you feel when there is a simple solution are good.
Stress is the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, or stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging; a stress reaction is the emotional and physical response to a stressor. On the bright side, a momentary stress can mobilize the immune system for fending off infections and healing wounds, and experiencing some stress in life can build resilience that produces growth. However, stress can trigger risky decisions and unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking or drinking. Pregnant women with overactive stress systems tend to have shorter pregnancies and cause risk to their infants.
Different types of stressors are:
- Catastrophes: unpredictable large-scale events, such as earthquakes, floods, wildfires, storms. Relocation after these catastrophes can lead to greater negative impacts. The trauma of uprooting and family separation may combine with challenges of adjusting to a new culture’s language, ethnicity, climate, social norms.
- Acculturative stress: culture shock and deteriorating well-being. This can be lessened when people engage in meaningful activities and socially connect.
- Significant life changes: transitions in life, like a friend moving away, having a loved one die, and graduating high school. These are most common in young adults, and tend to lead to very high stress levels.
A cluster of crises puts one even more at risk. Widowed people have doubled the risk of death in the week following a partner’s death.
Daily hassles: For example, dead cell phones, aggravating siblings, or an overwhelming number of tasks.
it has been demonstrated that there are higher stress levels for adults who face more daily hassles of housing problems, budgets, poor health, and more. These daily pressures may be compounded by prejudice against gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.
Prolonged stress leads to unhealthy blood pressure, sleep deprivation, and therefore reduced achievement. The popular idea of catharsis, where "releasing” aggressive energy through action or fantasy relieves aggressive urges, is false. It usually fails to cleanse rage, and may provoke further retaliation, causing minor conflict to escalate. Expressing anger can magnify anger because of the behavior feedback effect (see Understanding Emotions). Better ways to manage anger are to:
- Wait. This reduces the immediate cognitive arousal of anger.
- Find a healthy distraction or support. Focusing on anger can only increase amygdala blood flow, making you angrier.
- Distance yourself. This reduces rumination, anger, and aggression.
Stress may not directly cause illness, but it does make us more vulnerable by influencing our behaviors and physiology. Social support can alleviate this my calming us and reducing blood pressure as well a stress hormones. In an experiment, married women were subjected to the threat of electric shock while lying on an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine. Women who were holding their husband’s hand showed less brain activity in threat responsive-areas. Furthermore, aerobic exercise, sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness, also helps alleviate depression and anxiety. Moderate exercise, like biking, swimming, or running, can increase energy, better mood, and help with building stronger relationships. It counteracts depression’s low arousal by enabling muscle relaxation and sounder sleep, since toned muscles filter out depression-causing toxins. It also triggers positive neurotransmitters epinephrine, serotonin, and endorphins, fostering neurogenesis. This helps the brain to produce molecules that stimulate the production of new, stress-resistant neurons.
Outside of physical activity, relaxation procedures can remedy headaches, anxiety, and insomnia.
Surgery patients assigned to 2 groups in a study both received standard treatment, but the second group experienced 45-min relaxation exercise and received relaxation recordings to use before and after surgery. The patients in the relaxation group reported lower stress and showed better wound healing post-operation.
Mindfulness meditation is a reflective practice in which people attend to current experiences in a nonjudgmental and accepting manner. It has been utilized to reduce suffering, depression, and anxiety, and improve awareness, insight, and compassion. It's additionally been linked to improved sleep, interpersonal relationships, and improved immune system functioning.
Realistic anxiety over possible future failures can fuel energetic efforts to avoid this outcome, having positive effects on motivation and encouraging persistence. Success requires enough optimism to provide hope and enough pessimism to prevent complacency. Natural positive thinking bias can promote an unrealistic optimism about future life events. For example, the overconfidence of ability to control impulses, such as smoking, means a person would be more likely to expose themselves to those temptations. Overall, stress and anxiety is a part of cognition and can be an asset to our goals at time, as long as it's managed appropriately.