Five- Techniques for Managing and Mitigating Stress

According to the Global Organization for Stress, at least 60% of working adults in the world's largest economies suffer from stress. Statistics show an even higher rate in countries such as Australia. It is estimated that 91% of citizens suffer from stress in one area of their lives, while in America, at any given time, it is estimated that 75% of the population suffers from stress at a high level.

Stress is a Global Pandemic:

What if stress per se is not the problem? Research shows that the only people who suffer from lasting and harmful effects of stress are those who believe that their stress affects them, while people who don't think that stress is a bad thing can deal with their problems without having negative effects on them.

We can manage stress with some sound thinking and adaptation strategies, which can positively impact your life. Stanford psychologist Kelly McGonigal has found ways to take advantage of stress.

five techniques for managing and mitigating stress:

1. Realize that reality is the reflection of your view of stress:

Our beliefs directly influence the physiological behaviors of our bodies. Research by Columbia University psychologist Alia Crum shows that our thoughts shape our physical reality. In one shocking study, her team told housekeepers that their work was like exercising. It gave them estimates of how many calories they spent on each assignment, resulting in losing weight in one month. At the same time, housekeepers who were not told anything remained in the same physical condition. The mere belief that they were burning calories through work caused their bodies to burn more calories as if doing more intense exercise.

Your body responds to your beliefs about stress similarly, whether you think it is harmful, something to avoid, or a positive sign that you are progressing under challenging circumstances. You believe that determines how your body responds to stress.

Psychologist McGonigal's research has found that people with negative perceptions of stress are likelier to experience fight-or-flight stress responses. This includes fearful reactions to stress, such as feeling panicky, unable to focus, acting irrationally, etc. People experience these symptoms because their bodies release too much cortisol and other potentially harmful hormones.

On the other hand, people who treat stress as a positive emotion face challenges in responding to it. This type of response gives you an intense desire to prove yourself, increases your focus under pressure, and gives you the energy you need to succeed in whatever situation you are in. People with positive beliefs about stress have these properties because their bodies produce higher levels of the performance-enhancing stress hormone (DHEA).

2. Redefine stress:

When you deal with it correctly, stress can be one of your most essential qualities that enhances productivity and performance in difficult situations. McGonigal explains the five benefits of stress:

1. It increases your energy levels. When you invest in it rather than hate it, stress can be a source of energy and the motivation you need to tackle your issues head-on.
2. It feeds streaming situations, and if it doesn't cause you to panic, it helps you increase your focus on the causes of stress and develop useful solutions with high efficiency.
3. It makes you more productive. One benchmark study found that stress levels worldwide positively correlate with each country's well-being, according to GDP and other factors. In other words, stress inspires people to be more creative.
4. It reprograms your mind to learn from experiences. Our brains change our perceptions and reactions to our motivations to avoid dealing with the same tiring situation again, preventing us from repeating mistakes.
5. It makes you more flexible. Learning from stressful experiences and thinking about how to overcome them could increase the tension threshold, and you don't worry about minor issues anymore.

3. See stress as your friend:

Changing your perspective and reacting to stress can take time if you are used to viewing it as a danger in your life and as you work to accept that stress can be a positive feeling.  McGonigal recommends dealing with your stress by accepting it as your friend. When stressed, a common reaction is focusing on ourselves, which exacerbates the problem. The solution is to channel your energy into caring for people around you and befriending new people with whom you can form mutually supportive relationships.

Doing so increases oxytocin levels, a bonding hormone. It can reduce stress levels by distracting yourself, making you feel satisfied in helping others, and allowing you to feel safe in your relationships.

4. Control the level of cortisol in your body:

When things are unplanned, our brain releases cortisol or the stress hormone, making our bodies respond reactively. We feel panicked and insecure, but with practice, we can train our brains to know that everything will be fine when things don't go the way we want, which over time will create new neural pathways to replace old cortisol pathways.

To control the level of cortisol in your body, follow these tips:

- Do the opposite of what you usually do:

If you need to arrange your bed and neatly organize everything before leaving the house in the morning, allow chaos to grow day by day instead, prepare dinner without a recipe, or place random ingredients, color outside the lines, complete your tasks without arrangement, break all the rules you used to follow. If you are someone who loves order in your life, you will soon see that there is beauty in chaos.

- Ignore time:

Time tracking is an easy way to control. We set ourselves aside specific time slots to complete tasks throughout the day. We can feel nervous if things take longer than usual, but we must accept that we cannot control time.

So, choose a day when you never look at the clock but just spend your day doing routine work and doing it as you see fit but without observing the time. Choose the time of the day to spend without plans, and stop thinking about time so much then you will see that it is not as important as you thought.

- Give yourself a priority:

Trying to please people is a tiring habit, and suddenly you will find that you have put everyone around you at the forefront of your interests and forgotten yourself, so give yourself a priority. Just give help to your friend or co-worker. Finish everything you have to do first, and don't stress yourself if someone is asking too much of you, then make sure your mind and body are in a state of relaxation. Putting your needs ahead of everyone else helps keep stress levels low.

- Get rid of your grief:

If you feel depressed, sad, or tired.

5. Use body language:

The moment you start feeling inward stress, your cortisol levels start pumping, dragging you further into the cycle of anxiety. To feel that you are entering a stressful mental space, devote some time and effort to some powerful and valuable physical movements, such as:

1. Get your shoulders back.
2. Point your chest and forehead upward.
3. Put your feet firmly on the floor, keeping your shoulders apart.
4. Put your arms on your sides.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia found that when athletes win a race, their body language is very clear, and when they lose, their body language expresses defeat. Do you want to sound like a winner? So, put your shoulders back, steady your feet, open your chest, and keep your head up. The more confident the appearance of your body, the more confident you are in yourself, and this is called a high physical force that occupies space inside your body.

Three types of positions of strength and confidence you can try:

- Pride:

When we win a race, we smile happily and throw our hands over our heads.

- Wonder Woman:

Placing your hands on your hips and standing firm and steady with your feet wide apart is a great pose for showing confidence.

- Dancing:

The more you can move your body and take up space, the more likely this will turn into muscle memory. Playing and dancing to your favorite song is the best way to relieve stress.

Next time you're stressed, try using your body language to take back control and get the right hormones pumping, and you'll be surprised how different you feel.

In Conclusion:

Stress can often make you feel weak or insignificant, so it is important to stay positive and know that you are good enough. You can step back from any stressful situation and recharge yourself. In that case, you can transform again to a correct and more useful mindset, which helps you achieve more productivity and creativity.