Stress can sometimes seem like a natural and unavoidable consequence of being alive. However, stress is defined as mental tension or worry caused by a difficult situation and should go away as the problem is dealt with. What tends to trip up people of all ages is constantly jumping from one difficult situation to another while letting stress and anxiety build up. This is unnatural and can be avoided or treated with quick tips and tricks.
How Is Stress Harmful?
Before identifying stressful triggers and relieving tension, it is a good idea to understand ways stress can be hazardous to your health. One of the conditions associated with stress is dysautonomia, or the group of health issues related to autonomic nervous system problems. If you already have chronic health problems, increased tension will likely exasperate those conditions.
What Does Stress Look Like?
While the causes of stress can vary for each person, there are some distinctive ways to tell if you are experiencing an abundance of stress. Some common symptoms include irritability, headaches, stomach aches and sore or tense muscles, all without other explanations. For instance, if spending an hour at a work meeting makes your arms and legs feel like you just put in an hour at the gym, you probably held too much tension during that time.
How Can You Spot Stress Triggers?
The easiest way to spot stress triggers is to stop and think about when you started feeling the symptoms as soon as you notice having them. If your jaw hurts after a phone call, ask yourself what it was about the call that made you clench your teeth. Sometimes it can be challenging to identify the triggers of the underlying problem because of an acutely stressful event. For instance, it is essential to recognize that you are more likely to explode on an annoying coworker during a stressful project because you can address the ongoing stress while acknowledging the coworker as an acute trigger for your irritability.
Many people find tracking stressful triggers in a journal or notebook helpful in spotting trends and identifying underlying issues. For instance, having a short temper with a loved one during a lunch date with him or her could be stress caused by the loved one, the topic of conversation or the restaurant. You can plan a different lunch date with that person in a new place, choose other issues to discuss, or take someone else to the same venue to track the stress.
What Are Some Short-Term Stress Relievers?
Short-term stress relief can be found in meditation, exercise and stretching your sore joints. You can also take a break from the stressful event, call a friend for help or write in a journal. Sometimes, taking a break from the situation can help you do more than relax, and you may return to the problem with renewed motivation and fresh ideas.
How To Treat Stress in the Long Term?
Just as stress can cause health problems, unhealthy sleep patterns, untreated conditions and chronic pain can cause or amplify tension. Long-term stress relief includes eliminating or reducing as many triggers as possible. While quitting your job can increase your stress, finding other solutions, such as talking to management about your workload, switching positions with the same company and delegating tasks to your team, can reduce your overall stress levels and make it easier to handle acute stressful situations. Other long-term solutions include seeking the help of a mental health professional, reducing your use of social media and taking care of your physical health.
Stress and tension are leading causes of severe health problems such as heart attacks, chronic migraines and insomnia. You can identify your stress triggers by noticing when you are displaying symptoms such as irritability and muscle tightness and reflecting on what factors contribute to your mood. You can then reduce stress in the short term by taking a break, stretching sore muscles and talking to a friend before working to reduce your triggers for long-term relief.