Stress Relief: Can it happen for you?

by crizza

Stress is the condition that results when person-environment transactions lead the individual to perceive a discrepancy, whether real or not, between the demands of a situation and the resources of the person's biological, psychological or social systems. It is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings.

Usually, stress is one of those things that can't be seen, but you know it's there. It's sort of like an evil entity that attacks the body and mind. You get the aches and pains, right? I think it's safe to say that we all do at times. For some of us it is much worse than it is for others. Maybe it's connected to work, or possibly related to your home life. Some folks even inherit high stress levels. Pretty much everything is genetic we're finding out. And then there's stress relieving. But, how is this done? Well, this really depends on you and what you prefer. There are several routes to stress reduction.

As a part of my experience, I have been a social worker for many years. I know that the course of my career I have worked with various groups of people needs assistance. My formal training is working with youth and families, so this is where the focus of my career has been. I was not working as a social worker very long before I realized that I needed to find a stress relief for myself to remain effective in my job.

Particularly, working with people in general can be stress producing and when you add in mental health and domestic violence issues as well as chemical dependency the amount of stress goes way up. One of the things that I was doing with families was helping them find stress relief, yet I knew that if I did not accomplish this myself first I would not be able to teach others.

You can find so many books, programs and audio tapes available that focus on stress relief. Many are very good, but they are also time consuming. I found that trying to fit in the programming to relief my stress was causing me even more anxiety. I went to a conference that had several break out sessions. One of the sessions was on stress relief. The presenter had great ideas of simple things that can be done in a few minutes throughout the day to help relieve stress from building up. One of the first things he started talking about was breathing. I had heard about deep breathing in the past, but the way he presented this concept and the exercises he showed us were very helpful. Breathing is something that we do all the time and learning to breathe properly can be accomplished in minutes. I find that when I am getting stressed I take shallow breaths and also hold my breath. Remembering to take a few deep breaths and hold them in and blow them out has an amazing calming effect. I have used this technique with children and parents as we are sitting outside of the courtroom waiting to go into family court. One day one of the public defenders heard me remind his client to take some deep breaths as we were going into the courtroom. The attorney told me after the hearing that he did this also and was amazed at the stress relief he experienced. There are many things that we can do during the day to reduce stress. Sometimes simply getting out of your chair and pacing or walking to a vending machine for coffee will help clear your mind and acts as stress relief.

In fact, vitamins is one of the most common dismissed answers if you have stress. You can take a multivitamin each day and it does aid with your stress issues. We all require daily nutrients that assist our body's recovery. I have been doing this since the age of 18, which adds up to over a decade now. And in all honesty, I feel little stress in my life. Relaxation is another secret in relieving stress. Just when you begin to stress-out about something, STOP. Relax and take your emotions to a different place. Stressing-out solves nothing. It's like worrying. Nothing great comes from it. All these things do is throw off your game so that you miss stuff that's really there. Calm down. I will offer a few ways you can do this and get that stress relieving game in full motion. Number one; try a massage therapist. This is something every human being should indulge in from time to time. It helps greatly with your body's circulation and it pulls much of the tension from your aching muscles. I fully admit that I would like a massage daily. Number two; get the proper amount of sleep each and ever night. This is essential. Your following day with be so much better. And number three; try meditation. This is one of the most outstanding ways to clear your mind of pollutants such as stress and chaos at work. Try a beginner's course for fun.

We all know that, the body’s natural relaxation response is a powerful antidote to stress. Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, and yoga can help you activate this relaxation response. When practiced regularly, these activities lead to a reduction in your everyday stress levels. What’s more, they also serve a protective quality by teaching you how to stay calm and collected in the face of life’s curve balls.

Literally, it's imperative that we don't allow stress to rule our lives. Whether it takes stress relieving via massage therapy or meditation, we must strive to keep it away. Life is so much better and richer without this irksome burden. Live stress-free.

Stress is present in everyone's life. For information on how to finally get some stress relief in your life, please visit our web site.