The first Wednesday in November marks National Stress Awareness Day in the UK. The purpose of this awareness day is to remind you that stress is normal and affects us all. We want to educate you on how to better manage your stress, so it doesn’t affect you negatively.
Stress is a normal part of life that everyone experiences from time to time. However, it is important to understand that stress can lead to mental health problems or can worsen any existing mental health problems that you have. If your day-to-day life is feeling too much and you are constantly overwhelmed with stress and worries, it’s important to try and step back from your situation before it affects your health and well-being.
What is stress?
Stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure. Stress affects your body by producing the hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. Theses hormones are released as they are your body’s natural reaction to help and deal with pressure or threats. This is referred to as your “fight or flight” response.
Stress can have its positives, as a small amount can be useful. For example, it can motivate you to take actions and get tasks completed and can also make you feel excited. However, it can have negative effects for example negative mood and behaviour changes, changes to your body and relationship issues.
Whether you have experienced a prolonged period of stress, or have several stresses piling up, you may feel like you are unable to cope, leaving you with racing or unclear thoughts. There are many psychical symptoms that can affect your body too, including:
- Experiencing headaches or migraines
- Raise in blood pressure
- Cause/worsen heart problems
- Stomach issues
- Eating problems (not wanting to eat or comfort eating)
- Increased chance of experiencing a stroke
While not all examples of stress affecting your physical health are severe, some of these examples can be life threatening. This is why it is extremely important to try and manage your stress, maintaining a positive mental and physical well-being.
How to better manage your stress
Some ways you can better manage your stress can depend on circumstances, such as if your stress is coming from your tough workload, speak to your manager about your struggles and ask for more assistance or time to complete. Some more general ideas to help your well-being and lower your stress levels include:
Speak to someone about your worries
Whether this be a loved one or a medical professional, just let your feelings out to someone who will listen. Letting your feelings out into the open can help you feel less alone in your struggles, and if talking to your GP, they could suggest talking therapies for you if you would like someone to speak to more regularly.
Set aside time for yourself to do something that you enjoy
This could be a hobby that you enjoy, or something that you’ve been wanting to do for a while and just haven’t had the time to. Completing this does not only make you happier, but help you forget your worries even just for the time being.
Sleeping
Worrying can make it difficult for you to sleep or stay asleep, therefore it’s important to try and distract yourself and wind down before bed. Doing this can help you sleep better which in turn will ensure you have more focus and energy to tackle your struggles and face them head on.
Saying no to things
If your stress is coming from having to face situations that you don’t want to, it’s important to know that you can say no and avoid these difficult situations altogether.
Managing stress is difficult, but the longer you suffer, the more difficult it is to cope and resolve further down the line. Sometimes you must accept that there are factors that are out of your control, and during this time it’s important to identify what is in your control and what you can change to help you enjoy more and suffer less.
