Stress Management: What Is It, And How To Use It

 Despite all the conveniences available to us in this technologically advanced age, stress is still part of the overall system of our lives. Luckily, stress management provides comfort and release from these problems that tends to affect our physical, mental and emotional health.

What is Stress Management?

Stress management includes tools, procedures and methods that allow us to take control of our problems and make sure that they don't affect our daily routine. Problems that leads to stress that are specific in nature have different stress management techniques that can be applied to keep you in balance and harmony.

Breathing exercises helps big time!

Our body tends to react during times of stress; irregular breathing, sweating, aches and pains, slow metabolism and so on. Since these are all physical in nature, we have to deal with it in a physical way. One method is through breathing exercises. Simply speaking, these exercises control the flow and distribution of oxygen to different parts of your body.

One way to do this is to count your breathing. Breathe slowly and deep, relax your stomach as you do so. Try to keep a rhythm and follow it throughout the duration of the exercise. With enough practice, you can control your breathing instantly during times of stress which can help you relax and alleviate some of the negative effects on your body.

Relax your mind with meditation

Meditation is great way to achieve stress management, which deals more on the mental than in the physical. This is where the old adage "Mind Over Body" kicks in. Meditation allows your mind to relax and focus on a single thought and let others drift away to nothing.

The art of meditation have been used for centuries that started off as an offset of pagan religion. Nowadays, many people practice this method for different areas in their life; coping with work, focusing on your tasks, or simply to relax your mind to keep yourself in balance.

This can be quite hard at first but can be improved through practice. First of all, try to look for a quiet place where you will have the least amount of distraction. Then you need to relax your body from your toes to your head. When you feel heavy then you are already relaxed (this will change to a light feeling when practiced often), you can now concentrate on your mind.

Try to focus on a single thought. You might notice that you will be distracted by stray thoughts that seeps into your mind during the course of the exercise. When this happen, try to imagine you are watching movie. Observe these thoughts as if it was nothing and let it drift away to the next one. After a while, all these stray scenes will cease, then you have achieved meditation.

Seek professional help

A psychiatrist can be of great help during times of stress. The specialist will help you identify your problems and in turn find possible solutions without letting fear and worry get hold of your mind. They can help find the trouble areas and help you find solutions which you might be unable to realize on your own.

Dealing with stress can be stressful also. But with a relaxed mind and the proper techniques, you can take control of your life and not let stress control you.