Tips to Reduce Stress

Stress is our response to daily life. It affects us emotionally, physically, and behaviorally. The right amount of stress can be a positive force that helps us to do our best and to keep alert and energetic. Too much stress, however, can make us tense, anxious, and can cause sleep problems.

What Are the Signs of Stress?

Common signs of stress include depression, insomnia, tension, anxiety, work mistakes, poor concentration and apathy, among many others. If high levels of unwanted stress are not properly managed, your health and sense of well-being can suffer. Therefore, it is important to learn how to manage stress.

Tips for Managing Stress

• Assess what is stressful: The first step in getting a handle on stress is to figure out what is causing it. Take a good look at your daily activities and see what is causing stress in your life. Once you identify your stressors, you can take steps to reduce them.
• Seek social support: Spending time with family and friends is an important buffer against stress. It can be helpful to share your problems with people who care for you.
• Practice thought management: What we think, how we think, what we expect, and what we tell ourselves often determine how we feel and how well we manage rising stress levels. You can learn to change thought patterns that produce stress. Thoughts to watch out for include those concerning how things should be and those that over generalize sets of circumstances (for example, "I'm a failure at my whole job because I missed one deadline.") Many commercial audiotapes and books can help you learn thought management exercises.
• Exercise: Exercise can help you blow off steam thereby reducing stress. In addition, flexible, loose muscles are less likely to become tight and painful in response to stress.
• Eat a healthy diet: Junk food and refined sugars low in nutritional value and high in calories can leave us feeling out of energy and sluggish. A healthy diet, low in sugar, caffeine, and alcohol consumption, can promote health and reduce stress.
• Get adequate sleep: A good night's sleep allows you to tackle the day's stress easier. When you are tired, you are less patient and easily agitated which can increase stress. Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Practicing good sleep hygiene along with stress-lowering tactics can help improve your quality of sleep.
• Delegate responsibility: Often, having too many responsibilities can lead to stress. Free up time and decrease stress by delegating responsibilities

Reviewed by The Sleep Medicine Center at The Cleveland Clinic.