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.
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?
Well from everything I have read and experienced I can distill down into a simple message
Pressure is real
Stress and anxiety are optional
Iit 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 whetherpressure creates 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”
So this blog is for you if you feekl stressed or have bouts of anxiety. Read the articles, watch the videos and learn about current theories on how to manage our stress response . From time to time we will recommend other tried and tested resources and links for you .
Thanks for dropping by and we hope you get some value and inspiration from our blog.
Graham Hart
