Strategies to Handle Stress
By Sara Butler
Life has always been stressful, but at times it can be more stressful than others. Your body is equipped to deal with it, yet chronic stress has become a big problem for millions of people and is leading to ill health. Here are some strategies you can use to deal with long-term stress in your life in order to preserve your health and wellness.
Types of Stress
There are three types of stress people must contend with. They are:
- Acute stress – This is the fight or flight response where your body reacts in order to protect itself. After an episode of acute stress, it takes about 90 minutes for your body systems to return to normal.
- Chronic stress – This is a type of stress you deal with every day such as work performance or raising your kids. Unfortunately, this is often pushed aside, but left unaddressed this type of stress can be detrimental to your overall health and wellness.
- Eustress – This is the stress that can be interpreted as a good or a bad thing, depending on the circumstances. Graduations, a new baby, getting married, getting injured, financial issues or receiving a promotion at work are all things that can cause this type of stress.
Not all stress is bad. The difference between good and bad stress is largely dependent upon how you deal with it – which is why finding healthy ways to cope is so important!
How to Cope
You can’t keep your life free from stress, but you can change the ways you react to it. You can make a difference in the way you cope by employing these strategies:
- Eat right – A healthy body is better equipped to deal with stress in a healthy way. Make sure you eat enough quality protein, healthy fats, and vegetables while remembering to limit or eliminate processed foods and sugar.
- Exercise – Exercise daily to help support a healthy body and a healthy mind. It can help you to handle the physical aspects of stress in your life and will equip you to deal with physical stress better in the future, too.
- Think about it – You need to think about your life and connect yourself to it. Think about your sleep schedule, make a list of things you are thankful for in your life, make sure you have time to devote to yourself and your needs and try to step away from your electronic devices every once in a while to give yourself a break.
You can handle the stress life throws at you; you just need the right strategies to do it!