We all have those times when stress attacks us and holds our bodies hostage. We feel like the weight of the entire world rests on our shoulders. It’s a vicious circle with no end in sight, which worsens stress. However, it’s possible to use stress to your advantage without a stress management course. Let’s take a look at some stress busting techniques that work.

Attitude

Always maintain a positive attitude no matter how bad things seem to be. It’s not the problem that’s causing you stress. It’s your reaction to it; and you reaction to stress is determined how you perceive it. In order to make stress a positive factor in your life, you must change the way you think. When stressful situations come along, don’t view them as failure, view them as a challenge. This will take away the stress and make you determined to overcome life’s challenges.

Be Positive

When you’ve been faced with a stressful situation, think about your past accomplishments. This will give you more confidence to handle the situation because you will realize you can overcome the stressful situation.

Shift Your Perspective

Think about something else and break the chain of thought on the stress factor. Thinking about a recent family vacation, an accomplishment or any other positive experience will help reduce your stress. If nothing else, close your eyes for a few minutes and think about a tranquil place that will take you out of this world in your mind. Think about your favorite place to be. It could be a tropical island beach, a spot in the woods under a giant pine overlooking a brook, or sitting in the rainforest overlooking a cascading waterfall.

Coping with Stress

Stress can strike anytime, anywhere. If you find stress has suddenly reared its ugly head question if the problem has to be taken care of promptly. Ask yourself what you should be doing right now. Should you be thinking about the problem, or should you be using this time for rest, relaxation and a bit of fun? Think conscious thoughts and answer yourself in your mind. While thinking about what you should be doing, you are not thinking about the problem that is causing the stress.

Affirm

Affirmations should always be present. Repeat to yourself, “This isn’t a complicated problem,” or “I can handle this situation with no problem.” This takes you away from the automatic reflex of stress, which can include hyperventilating, sweaty palms and butterflies in your stomach. It helps you to separate your intellectual self from the part of you that is under stress. Therefore, you become calmer.

Take Deep Breaths and Count

When stress attacks, take a few deep breaths and count to ten. This will put you in the habit of relaxing as soon as stress strikes. If the phone has been ringing off the wall, or desk, and it’s ringing again, take a few deep breaths before answering it. Shake your arms and let them go as limp as those of a rag doll. This puts you in control and being in control lessens stress. This response will become habit after you’ve used the technique a time or two.

Look Out the Window

No matter what the view is, a few minutes looking out the window will take you away from a stressful situation. When your eyes relax, your body tends to follow.

Emotional Outbursts

Emotional outbursts can help you reduce stress levels. Yell or cry. If you are at work, this isn’t possible, but when you are in a private office, a washroom or your car, an emotional outburst can provide a release for built-up stress.

Massage Muscles

You, like everyone else, have particular muscles that knot and tense up when you are under stress. Stress produces adrenalin and adrenaline produces stress. It’s a vicious circle that can remain unbroken. Break the circle by massaging the knotted and tense muscles. These are often in the neck and shoulders. When you massage them, you will feel some of the stress drain away.

Exercise

Exercise is a great stress buster. Go for a walk, use the treadmill or hop on a real or stationary bicycle. Because humans respond to stress with muscle tension, stretching muscles and getting a bit of exercise reduces stress and our muscles relax, leaving us to face our problems and challenges in a calm and relaxed way. Regular exercise builds stamina, which will keep stress levels normal. If you experience a stressful situation, take a walk or do other exercise that will help you get your stress under control because exercise burns the chemicals that make us feel stressed.

Massage Your Temples

Massaging your temples or pressing between your eyes is the art of acupuncture. This is an old Oriental remedy that is still used today to relieve pain and treat a wide range of maladies. If you massage the muscles in your temples, it in turn relaxes other body muscles. Massaging between the eyes or the forehead also can help to relieve stress.

Teeth Clenching

When humans are under stress, they tend to clench their teeth which tense up muscles in the jaw. Drop your jaw and roll it to relax the muscles. This will reduce the sensation of stress throughout your entire body.

Breathing

Stress and tension can make it hard to breathe. This in return can cause more stress. Relax your breathing by rolling your shoulders and then relaxing. Inhale deeply as your shoulders go back. Repeat this procedure five to ten times for best results.

Take a Hot Bath

Hot water can defeat stress. When we experience stress, our bodies tense up, which reduces blood flow to the extremities. By taking a hot bath, circulation will be restored and your body will relax. Never take a cold bath or shower and expect stress to be reduced. In fact cold water has the opposite result. Cold water tends to bring tension to muscles, driving blood away from the extremities. If you are at the office or in a place where it isn’t possible to take a hot bath, run hot water over your hands until you feel a reduction in tension.

Relaxation Tapes

Relaxation tapes are available in most department and health food stores. Listen to the soothing sound of a cascading waterfall, the call of birds in a rainforest, waves lapping at the shore of an island paradise beach, or the sound of wind in a stand of pines. All of these things distract you from the stressful situation and will help you get your stress under control so you are calm.

Music

If you like music, use it to beat stress. Put on your favorite music CD. Music is soothing and a very powerful tool when trying to reduce stress.

Inner Peace

Yoga, Zen, meditation, prayer; they all work to reduce stress by shutting off the stress reducing enzymes in the body. This turns off all hormones and behaviors that are the body’s response to stress and it inhibits our fight or flight response. Use your de-stressing technique at least for 10 minutes each morning and night. This will prepare you for the day and a good night’s sleep.

Warning

Too much stress can affect your health. Some symptoms that may occur are:

• Ulcers when you’ve had no history of stomach problems. (This can cause rectal bleeding)

• Dizzy spells and/or blackouts

• A racing heart and pulse

• Shaking uncontrollably

• Anxiety attacks

• Insomnia

• Severe headaches which are chronic and even migraines

• Chronic neck and back pain

• Sweating of the palms

• Nausea or vomiting

• High blood pressure – can cause heart attacks and stroke

Warning

If any of these symptoms appear, be sure to contact your doctor as soon as possible. Controlling stress is of utmost importance if you wish to maintain optimum health. If your stress level is not able to be controlled naturally, your doctor may be able to prescribe medications, refer you to a health care professional who specializes in coping with stress, or point you to a stress management course. Take care of yourself. Stress can be fatal if left untreated.