Tips for stress-heads

The demands of life are taking their toll on us Aussies with results from a 2009 study showing that almost nine out of ten of us are stressed.

Work seems to be the blame for most of our stress, while finances, thoughts about the future, health and personal relationships are also believed to be causes. High levels of stress can be detrimental to our health, so for good health it’s important that we all learn to manage stress.

Defining Stress

If you asked a group of people to define stress, you would probably get a range of answers. This is because there is no definition for stress. Stress varies between people, as we all have a different perception of what constitutes a stressful event. What one person finds a stressful situation, another person may not think anything of. Identifying the demands of a situation and developing the right coping skills can help you reduce the amount of stress in your life.

Stress busters

Developing strategies to manage your stress is different for everyone, so you need to experiment and find what stress management methods work best for you. Here are a few stress busters you can try:

• Take a reality check: Rate how stressful the situation is on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being not that stressful and 10 being extremely stressful). To put things into perspective, the death of a loved one should rate a 10, while the crashing of your computer should receive a lower score. This exercise will help you identify unnecessary stressors in your life. Developing coping skills can help reduce unnecessary stress.



• Call a friend: Take the focus off you and chat about them. It will help deviate your thoughts from the stressful event and you’ll feel heaps better by the time you get off the phone.



• Enjoy a cup of tea while taking a mental break: While you enjoy a cup of tea, play a game of solitaire or complete a crossword. The activity will take the focus off your stressors while the tea, which contains l-theanine, will keep you alert, yet relaxed.



• Complete a yoga class: Enjoy a 30 minute yoga session in your office, at home in a local park. You could even take a break at lunchtime and head to your gym for a session.

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