Stress is a part and parcel of life. Maybe the only person without stress will be a lifeless one! While stress is positive for it keeps the steam going for accomplishing any task, sometimes it becomes too much, leading to health problems. The first thing the doctor prescribes for stress is medication to reduce the symptoms, when in reality many techniques can be learnt to handle stress, without having to pop pills everyday.
Identify the stressor
Exhaustion, lack of sleep, headaches and hyper sensitivity to even minor issues are all pointers to indicate stress. Once you recognize that you are stressed, identify the source of the stress because stress is not what happens to you but the way you react to situations. Find out if it is the home front or the boss and colleagues at work. You can try and avoid colleagues who irritate you. If it is boss, don’t overwhelm yourself to the point of exhaustion. Set small goals and accomplish them. At home learn to delegate work, so that the family is involved in running the house. Children love to feel responsible. So, divide work sensibly.
Improve general health
You seldom see a healthy person looking irritated and exhausted. Healthy people can cope with a lot of work and pressure, being more positive and adaptable. The daily routine of rushing to office in peak hours of traffic, working and being at least a foot ahead of your colleagues, managing the children and the home are all so taxing, that priorities like eating good, healthy food and having enough sleep fade away into oblivion. This makes one irritable and edgy, and being unable to face situations calmly, leading to stress. Give yourself time to have healthy breakfasts and dinners. Sleep for at least 8 hours everyday and give your body a chance to heal itself. Avoid alcohol, drugs or so called entertainment that is just loud dissonant noise and mostly themes centered on crime and violence. They only aggravate stress.
Time management
Time management is very important. All our tasks are time bound and most of the stress related to work is because of paucity of time or tasks that are unfinished. With electronic gadgetry and mobile applications flooding the market it is very easy to schedule and prioritize tasks. It is worthwhile spending some time for scheduling ‘to dos’ whether it is a daily task, weekly or monthly. This can take care of all phone bills, monthly rentals, store bills, school and college fees, shopping lists, medication etc. Getting small details organized, goes a long way in beating stress in a practical way.
Music therapy
The reason why music is a way of life for people from all corners of the globe and from all walks of life is because it is soothing and puts one in a different world altogether, making you forget your worries and anxieties. The calming effect of music makes you more energized and strong, to face any situation in life. That is the power of music. Music as a therapy has been found to be so beneficial that hospitals have started to use it for pain management, to ward off depression, to ease muscle tension and for children with ADD. Research has shown that the rhythm or beat can stimulate brainwaves to resonate in sync. So, a slow tempo promotes a calm and relaxing effect. Listen to music before retiring to bed to give you quality sleep.
Yoga and meditation
Yoga brings together the body, mind and soul. It is not just a set of exercises but a holistic approach to stretch your muscles, relax your mind and energize your body. Combined with deep breathing and meditation techniques with imagery, it calms your mind and brings a positive outlook with each session. But it involves commitment and requires at least an hour set aside for it every day but the results are immense and certainly worth the effort. Meditation is easier. It is free and can be practiced anywhere without any paraphernalia. Just one session of meditation will prove its efficacy in reducing stress, and the long term health benefits are too many to be ignored.
