By Dr. Sarah Talebizadeh, Psy.D. C.Psych.
19 May, 2020
When a situation or event is perceived by a person as being overwhelming, beyond their abilities to cope, and threatening to their well-being, it is considered “stressful”. Stress can result in feelings of exhaustion, fatigue, and depression, and even resultant health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Stress can affect the person in many ways including their work, school performance, relationships, social and recreational functioning, etc….
The Fight or Flight Response
When this system is on for a long period of time, it can hinder many bodily functions including our immune system.
Sources of Stress
External
- Physical environment: noise, bright lights, heath, confined spaces
- Social: conflict or confrontation with others
- Organizational: rules, regulations, deadlines, downsizing, mergers, changes
- Major life events: death of a relative, lost job, promotion, wedding, moving into a new home, new baby
- Daily hassles: commuting, misplacing things, running errands
Internal
- Lifestyle: caffeine, sleep issues, overloaded schedule, unhealthy diet, alcohol, drugs
- Negative self-talk: pessimistic thinking/attitude, self-criticalness, over-analyzing
- Cognitive: unrealistic expectations, taking things personally, all-or-nothing thinking, exaggerating, and rigid thinking
- Personality Traits: perfectionism, workaholic, pleaser
How to decrease Stress
- Change lifestyle habits
- Decrease caffeine intake (coffee, tea, pop, chocolate)
- Maintain a well-balanced diet
- Maintain a regular sleep schedule
- Decrease consumption of junk food
- Engage in social and leisure activities
- Regular Exercise (at least 30 minutes, 3 times a week)
- Practice relaxation, meditation, yoga, self-hypnosis
- Change stressful situations or learn new skills
- Time and money management
- Assertiveness
- Coping skills
- Effective problem-solving skills
- Change your thinking
- Assess your expectation (realistic expectations)
- Keep a sense of humor
- Recruit a support system
- Reframe negative thoughts using cognitive restructuring
- Challenge catastrophic thinking using cognitive restructuring
- Read Mind over Mood