Stress Management Anxiety Reduction
Stress management anxiety reduction
The last two decades have produced huge amounts of change along with huge pressures on workers to do more with less and to be adaptable. Stress management and anxiety reduction have never been more important. Much work placed stress comes from our desire to be in control and to bring some stability and balance into our lives.
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Unfortunately a significant impact of all the change we are experiencing at work these days is to undermine many people’s feelings of stability and control.
Be it dealing with the impacts of new IT systems, unreasonable bosses, yearly restructures or coping with the demands of working extended hours, reacting to these and other pressures can consume us.
Is it any wonder personal relationships can suffer as individuals have little time to their selves and due to fatigue find empathy and decision-making difficult?
So how to we go about stress management and anxiety reduction? Well forstly it is important to recognise that the stress reaction is a normal part of human functioning. It is very positive in preparing us to face the challenges of everyday life. In fact we function better when under some pressure; we are more aware, more attentive, clear thinking and physically alert.
So what determines whether stress has a positive or negative effect on us:
• Meaning: How much of a big deal is this for us
• The duration of the problem
• How many things are pressurising us at any one time
• Control our uncertainty of our ability to influence what is happening
• Our personality and perception of the world and our particular circumstances
• Flexibility including our health, general reserves and skills
Stress management anxiety reduction is concerned with the “fit” between the individual and their environment and this gives us 2 principle areas to work in .
One is to change aspects of the environment,
The other to improve individual coping skills.
Both these aspects are fundamental to the effective stress management anxiety reduction .
The basic physiological response to threat is the “fight and flight” mechanism. This is the process by which all animals prepare to defend themselves or to escape from danger. As soon as a danger is recognised the body is given an extra energy boost to enable the animal to deal with the situation.
Although the primary stress reaction is a very positive response – it may save our life in some situations – problems arise when we are subjected to pressures which occur repeatedly, or from which there is no escape. In this case our bodies go on reacting so that a build-up of tension develops. This is the second stage of stress – called the stage of resistance.
Eventually, if the threat continues, we may reach a stage of exhaustion. Following prolonged exposure our bodies may collapse under the strain.
Our physical health may be jeopardised or we may suffer anxiety psychological breakdown.
So to help our stress management and anxiety reduction lets check out what is stress in this video.
What Is Stress?
Stress is an adaptive response moderated by individual difference that is a consequence of any action, situation or event that places special demands on a person”.
– Matheson and Ivancevich
“Stress is anticipation of a future event that arouses, alerts or otherwise activates an organism”.
“Stress is an individual reaction”
“Stress can be defined as either a stimulus or a response. For example, the outside events which make us feel stressed like work pressure, family hassles and noise are known as stressors”.
Our reaction to these is known as our stress response. In managing the stress we can act on the stressors, our response or both.
The stress response is often referred to as the fight to flight response. Stress operates through the nervous and endocrine system – the two regulatory systems through which the body controls internal activity.
The nervous system is responsible for immediate short-term adjustments such as pupillary dilation. It operates quickly because it is based on electro-chemical communication.
The endocrine system controls long term regulation of somatic balance, such as a persons average blood pressure being 120/80.
Under prolonged fight or flight readiness, stress begins to take its toll. The bodily changes that occur are part of a general stress response known as general adaptation response (GAS) a three phase response to stressors that begins with an alarm, continues with resistance and may terminate with exhaustion. The more frequently an individual is in fight/flight response mode, the more susceptible the person is to fatigue, decreases in work performances, disease, disability, ageing and death.
Slight stress:
- increased activity, e.g. fidgeting
- “butterflies” in the stomach
- breathing more rapidly
- flushed, higher colour, particularly in the face
Moderate stress:
- repeated calls to the toilet
- greatly increased activity, eg pacing
- racing thoughts
- feelings of nausea
- clammy palms and forehead
- rapid pulse so that you can hear your heart pounding
- rapid, shallow breathing
- shaky hands and voice
Extreme stress:
- freezing, eg stage fright
- pallor
- gabbling and incoherency
- blank mind, unable to manage even simple thoughts or words
- feelings of being a long way away, seeing and hearing through “cotton wool”
You have just found the most powerful method for elliminating panic attacks and general anxiety.
Relaxation Tips
Many of us tend to dismiss relaxation and breathing as techniques for controlling stress . because we believe that they are time-consuming and smack slightly of esoteric religious beliefs. In fact, we can learn to relax in many different ways, Some can take many years to master fully but others are very straightforward and, with a little practice, can soon become part of our daily lives.
Try Relaxation Techniques
Enjoy 10, 15 or 20 minutes of uninterrupted quiet. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Chant aloud the word “calm” or any other soothing word. Then let yourself chant mentally. Simply sit, hearing the mental repetition of the word. If you daydream or your mind wanders, guide your attention back to the chant. Do this daily and in a few months you may notice a new kind of relaxation in your life. (Any activity that will relax you is good; listen to music, take a walk, read or nap).
Why Relaxation and Breathing are Important
When we respond to stressors, our muscles tense and our breathing quickens as we prepare for “fight or flight”. Such a response is perfectly proper when faced with real physical danger – a poisonous snake, for example. Unfortunately, we have the same response to any stressor – waiting for an interview or speaking in public. Our bodies prepare for an action which isn’t forthcoming. Breathing is the only automatic bodily function over which we can exercise some control, and, by so doing, we can decrease our inappropriate stress responses and improve our stress management and anxiety reduction.
Learning Control
Most of the literature on stress management and anxiety reduction includes examples of breathing and relaxation exercises. Some are very complex, others extremely simple. We describe two simple exercises which will help you to control your stress responses. It is important that you practise the exercises so that you can call upon them when needed. We suggest 5-15 minutes a day as about right. Try to practice somewhere warm and quiet. Wear loose clothing in which you feel comfortable. Don’t try and force results – it can be helpful to “step outside” yourself and observe how you are reacting. There are a number of relaxation tapes available and these too may be useful for you.
Relaxation and breath control plays a major part in
stress management and anxiety reduction and dampening down inappropriate stress responses.
These are only a ‘taster’ and are intended to show how simple such exercises can be. Any good book on stress management and control will provide plenty of other exercises you can use. Exercises like these can be practiced both individually or as part of a group – perhaps during lunch hours.
Calming Breathing
• Sit back comfortably in a chair, with your shoulders relaxed. Imagine there is a string on top of your head pulling you up gently. Take five deep, steady breaths.
• Breathe in through your nose for a count of four, feeling your abdomen rise.
• Pause.
• Breathe out through your nose for a count of four, feeling your abdomen fall.
• Continue until you feel yourself calming down.
• This is a useful technique for steadying yourself – when dealing with a difficult client or before an interview, for example.
Floppy Doll
• You can do this either sitting on an armless chair or standing up.
• Take ten deep, slow breaths from the abdomen.
• Each time you breathe out, begin to flop forward at the head and neck.
• Continue breathing slowly, letting your shoulders and arms fall forward until you are dangling like a floppy doll.
• Rest in that position for a minute or two.
• Come up very slowly, breathing gently from the abdomen.
• Rest for as long as you can manage, still breathing slowly and deeply.
• Take a deep breath and you will feel refreshed and alert.
• This is a useful exercise for switching off the stress response. Use it after a heavy day so that you can get the most from your leisure time.
Start your journey today on stress management and anxiety reduction with this instantly downloadable MP3 program. Just download and listen with headphones via your computer or MP3 player. Alternatively you can just burn the program easily to a disc and listen to it on a CD player.
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