Stress Management Techniques

Jun 7, 2011
Victoria Williams

Stress Management - The Crystal Fairy

Healthy and unhealthy ways of dealing with stress.

Tense muscles are one of the many symptoms experienced due to stress. Many of us will unconsciously rub the muscles in the back of our necks after a hard day at work. When done by a professional, a good full body massage can be an incredible reliever of muscle tension.

Not only is it good for the body to relax these taut muscles, massage works wonders on the mind as well. Studies have been undertaken upon the importance of caring human touch, and it would seem that it has quite an effect on wellbeing and emotional development. The kind of sensations we experience during a good massage releases endorphins into our bloodstream.

The beauty of using massage as a short-term reliever of symptoms caused by stress is that with a little research into techniques anyone can do it. Therefore it is useful as a home remedy as you and your partner could help relieve each other's tensions with a gentle massage.

Meditation

Meditation can be an excellent source of long-term stress management. Finding the time every day to simply sit still and concentrate on relaxing the mind and body can have an extremely positive effect on an individual’s attitude to life, and therefore their way of coping with potentially stressful situations.

When meditating the key is to switch off the conscious part of the mind and enter and almost trance like state. About twenty minutes per day is recommended for starting out. Some people use a focus to enter a meditative state such as listening to running water, rustling leaves or even their own breathing. Others focus with their eyes upon an object such as a candle. Some people simply close their eyes and switch off while others use the familiar chant of “ohm” to send them off.

However you practice meditation, the key to getting it to work for you is to practice everyday, like regular exercise, it is quite a skill to be able to switch off the mind completely, especially if you have a very stressful lifestyle. But with a little practice the benefits are many.

Unhealthy Strategies

Often, after a stressful event, people express violence. This may be directed at inanimate objects, or it could be innocent people, children or even animals.

Out-bursting with violence may release a build up of tension in the perpetrator, but the suffering placed upon any person on the receiving end is obviously not worth the relief the stressed person experiences. Feelings of guilt and shame after the event will often exacerbate feelings of stress and can result in a vicious cycle. If this is a regular occurrence it will lead to a very disharmonious lifestyle for anyone involved and would mean living in constant fear of and outburst. Experiencing stress for long periods of time can cause lasting damage to the bodies systems, as we know from research into Selye’s General Adaptation Theory.

The same would apply even if the violence is directed at inanimate objects such as doors, walls or windows. More stress can be created through the after effects of having to replace or repair broken items and it can be just as stressful watching a loved one punch a door, especially for children.

Some people may have a glass of wine of an evening, to help wind down after work. For many people this is acceptable, but what about in cases where one glass becomes two, and then one bottle and then two bottles a night? Soon it becomes impossible to relax without having that drink and suddenly a wee drink to wind down has become alcohol dependency.

Of course this is not the case for everybody, but it does occur and the negative effects of alcohol abuse, whether through dependency or binge drinking, are manifold. They include memory and cognition damage, mental health problems and depression. Also liver damage is possible with sustained use and the risks for certain conditions increases such as heart disease and stroke. Needless to say not only are these symptoms damaging to a person’s health, they will also increase stress for friends and family as well as the people themselves. This is clearly not a healthy way of managing stress.

Self Evaluation

I have personally used Yoga as a stress reliever and have found it an incredible help. I am very prone to holding tension in my shoulders and neck, which leads to chronic headaches as well as back pain.

I find that the stretches involved in Yoga help to release this tension. After a session I find I have an enormous sense of wellbeing and calmness. I believe that it is the concentration and rhythmic breathing involved which are mainly responsible for these feelings and that the techniques are similar to meditation in that they focus the mind and free it from other worries. I have tried meditation but find it almost impossible to switch off my mind. Yoga for me works better.

Yoga-lates is a variation upon traditional Yoga, which I have also had success with. The benefit of Yoga-lates is that you are getting a work out at the same time, which not only helps fitness but will release endorphins in the same way that exercise does. I find either one of these methods to be a fantastic stress reliever. My only problem is finding the time to do them!