How to Manage Stress In Your Life

Learning how to manage stress in your life is essential to help prevent stress-related mental and physical health issues. Identify your stressors, implement preventive stress management/stress relief practices into your daily routine, and advocate for yourself at work to help.?

By Brandi Fowler

Stressors can arise at any moment. It is critical to know how to manage them when they do.?

Unchecked stress can affect your health significantly, causing anxiety, depression, headaches, chest pain, sleep problems, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and more, according to the Mayo Clinic.?

Sources of stress can range from work complications to personal life issues and money. Recognizing and alleviating the origin is important.

“Whether it is personal or professional, we are at the time of year right now where there is this end-of-year strain on getting things done for so many people,” said psychotherapist and Diamond Mind Strategies CEO Ava Diamond. “In addition to this time of year, you have holidays, which often are mixed with both feelings of enthusiastic joy and complications from relationships and the associations people can have with holidays.?

“If people haven't figured out how to meditate, exercise for 30 minutes or go for a 20-minute walk yet, or whatever, then chances are they need something a little more practical for their lives.”?

Stress management and psychology consultant Amanda Muhammad suggested incorporating stress management techniques into your life to help.?

“One of my slogans is that we want to create a great day, and people deserve to be happy and to enjoy their life,” Muhammad said. “And if we want to do that, things are going to pop up. Things happen all the time that are outside of our control. So, we want to put things in place that? help us navigate it, so we can still enjoy life despite [what is] going on around us.”?

Identify Your Source of Stress When You Are Trying to Manage It?

You have to understand where your stress originates to manage it, so start by pinpointing the source and analyzing why it stresses you.?

“Is there a certain time of the day you notice that your heart races more or your stomach aches?” Muhammad said. “Is it in a certain environment or around a certain person? We might not be able to control the things that happen to us and are around us, but when we have a better idea of what stresses us out, we can start to put things in place proactively, preventatively to protect us.

“You know that Nancy on floor two irritates your soul [for example]. So you know that before you go to floor two, you might need to take a few breaths or remind yourself that Nancy cannot dictate your joy. You can start to put things in place.”

Also, recognize that you may be so stressed that it may feel normal to you, Diamond said.?

“Most people walk around with a condition of chronic stress and don't even realize it,” Diamond said. “They think it is normal. When we can take a step away from the stressor and reduce the cortisol, we are going to be much more adept at problem-solving, at communicating effectively, choosing the right words and language to align with our greatest intentions.”

Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone. Your body can release “cortisol after its ‘fight or flight’ hormones during times of stress, and it puts your body in a state of high alert,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.?

“When we are stressed out and in that fight-or-flight mode, we tend to choose words and behaviors that reflect fight or flight,” Diamond said. “When we can step out of that and give ourselves a chance, it will save us from adding to the problem by using a tone of voice that we regret later or language that we regret later, actions that we wish we didn't take.”?

Incorporate Stress Management Techniques in Your Day to Help Alleviate Stress When It Occurs

You can better combat stress when you have a game plan for ways to do it as stressors arise.?

“It is all about putting things in place that interrupt that cycle between experiencing stress and reacting to it,” Muhammad said. “Your reactions are your thoughts, your words, and your actions and response to the stress that you are experiencing. We want to make sure we put things in place that are actually going to change the way our brain processes and responds to stress we experience.”

You can do that through breathing exercises, gratitude practices, affirmations, journaling, and perspective building, Muhammad said.

“It is important to take time to get that stuff out of your mind onto paper and finding a different outlet to release it,” Muhammad said. “Then, [build perspective]. Look at things from different angles. I believe that life is always teaching us something and everybody is my teacher…stress management is energy management.”

Taking two minutes to yourself can also help, Diamond said.?

“Use your imagination [when you do],” Diamond said. “Use all of your senses to recall the most peaceful place in your life. What does it look like, sound like, smell like, feel like on your skin? Let yourself go there for two minutes. Sometimes it takes rehearsal to do it.?

“It is a meditative practice, but it is not about getting into a meditative state that you need to practice and get to for seven minutes for it to be effective. This has an effect immediately. You lower the cortisol just enough, and when you can do that, you can make a better choice for what comes next with your behaviors.”

In addition to that practice, Diamond suggested taking those two minutes to stretch or loosen back and neck muscles, take a walk, etc.?

“When we do anything that can loosen up the muscles in our back and neck especially, the message we give back to our brain is that we are more relaxed,” Diamond said. “Whether the stressor has discontinued or not, we are helping our brain to lower the cortisol level by stretching our muscles. And you can do that for two minutes effectively and have an impact.”

Diamond said the 2-minute break benefit boosts when you can do it every 90 to 120 minutes.?

“Not only do you lower the stress of the work that you are doing, you actually perform better,” Diamond said. “On top of that, you gain a sense of healthy control, which is what stress is mostly about in the workplace. Sometimes we say, we don't have enough time. Everybody has two minutes several times a day.”

Establish Better Work-Life Balance to Manage Stress In Your Life?

It is essential to create a better work-life balance when trying to manage stress.?

According to LinkedIn News, if you spend most of your time working and don’t take time to balance your time outside of work, you can experience fatigue, lost time with friends and loved ones and detrimental health effects.?

Poor work-life balance can cause stress, which worsens your health, and can “put you at risk for substance misuse,” the Mayo Clinic reported.

Diamond suggested thinking of work-life balance as quality-life balance instead.?

“Quality-life balance means that you invest in the quality of your life equally in all areas of your life,” Diamond said. “[It is] important to redefine the terms and make sure that quality life is what you are focusing on. When you are at home, rejuvenate by making sure, even if it is only 10 minutes that you have, to be very focused on the relationships, fun, and comfort in the household.?

“Better to do the high-quality 10 minutes than the hour-and-a-half where you are on your phone sitting at the table or getting distracted by calls or other work-related things.”

Also, advocate for yourself at work, Muhammad said.?

“No one else is going to care about the state and health of your life as much as you,” Muhammad said. “A lot of times what ends up happening at work is we sit around and we wait for our manager, the leader, the C-suite, the organization-at-large to implement changes that will make our life better.?

“I’m on the side of I refuse to wait because it is my life. So, if there is something I need, I have to speak up and advocate for that.”?

Muhammad also recommended preparing yourself for stressors at work, such as colleagues who stress you out or create conflict.?

“Know [what] stresses you out,” Muhammad said. “Know how to prepare and affirm yourself, and get your confidence up so you can go into these meetings, into these rooms and not feel victim to the environment.?

“Know who you are, know your power, and know that this is your life and you have to take control of that.”

Top Takeaways

How to Manage Stress In Your Life

• Start by identifying your stressors and the reasons they stress you out.?
• Incorporate stress management techniques into your daily routine, like two-minute breaks to stretch, massage your neck, etc.?
• Work on creating a better work-life balance.?
• Advocating for yourself at work and preparing for encounters with colleagues who stress can help alleviate work stressors.?