Dealing with Stress – 10 tips

1.Avoid Caffeine, Alcohol and Nicotine:
Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants and so increase your stress levels.Alcohol is a depressant when taken in large quantities, but acts as a stimulant in smaller quantities. Therefore using alcohol as a way to alleviate stress is not helpful.

2. Get Moving, Get active
When you feel stressed and tense, go for a brisk walk in fresh air. Try to incorporate some physical activity into your daily routine on a regular basis, either before or after work, or at lunchtime. Regular physical activity will also improve the quality of your sleep.

3.Get more sleep
Make sure that your bedroom is a tranquil oasis with no reminders of the things that cause you stress. Avoid caffeine during the evening, as well as excessive alcohol if you know that this leads to disturbed sleep. Stop doing any mentally demanding work several hours before going to bed so that you give your brain time to calm down. Try taking a warm bath or reading a calming, undemanding book for a few minutes to relax your body, tire your eyes and help you forget about the things that worry you.You should also aim to go to bed at roughly the same time each day so that your mind and body get used to a predictable bedtime routine.

4.Try Meditation
Countless studies have proven that meditation triggers in the body a relaxation response that is the polar opposite of the physiological stress response (fight or flight). Meditation is non-invasive, requires almost no effort, and need only take a few minutes time each day or even each week to reap its rewards. Try our partners at Centred Meditation, www.centredmeditation.com.au

5.Talk to someone
Stress can cloud your judgement and prevent you from seeing things clearly. Talking things through with a friend, work colleague, or even a trained professional, can help you find solutions to your stress and put your problems into perspective.

6.Keep a stress diary
Note down the date, time and place of each stressful episode, and note what you were doing, who you were with, and how you felt both physically and emotionally. Give each stressful episode a stress rating (on, say, a 1-10 scale) and use the diary to understand what triggers your stress and how effective you are in stressful situations. This will enable you to avoid stressful situations and develop better coping mechanisms.

7.Be solution focused
One problem-solving technique involves writing down the problem and coming up with as many possible solutions as you can. Decide on the good and bad points of each one and select the best solution. Write down each step that you need to take as part of the solution: what will be done, how will it be done, when will it be done, who is involved and where will it take place.

8.Manage your time
Make a list of all the things that you need to do and list them in order of genuine priority. Note what tasks you need to do personally and what can be delegated to others to do. Record which tasks need to be done immediately, in the next week, in the next month, or when time allows.
By editing what might have started out as an overwhelming and unmanageable task list, you can break it down into a series of smaller, more manageable tasks spread out over a longer time frame, with some tasks removed from the list entirely through delegation.

9.Learn to say ‘no’
A common cause of stress is having too much to do and too little time in which to do it. And yet in this situation, many people will still agree to take on additional responsibility. Learning to say “No” to additional or unimportant requests will help to reduce your level of stress, and may also help you develop more self-confidence.

10.Get your spine and nervous system checked
We adapt to stress through our nervous system. Your ability to adapt is determined by the health and function in your spine. At CHIRO H3 we assess your adaptive capacity through our space certified technology, the CORE SCORE. Look under services for more information.