Mental Health and Well-Being
Here’s How to Defeat Chronic Stress for a Healthy and Happy Life in Five Steps
Responding to daily stressors methodically and mindfully might help us live a more resilient life.
We Need A Methodical Stress Management System
Chronic stress is not a trivial matter. It is the root cause of significant physical and mental ailments. Our quality of life and satisfaction depend on how we manage stress daily.
If not addressed timely, minor stressors can become a cluster of stressors and have a cumulative effect on our health. Stress might look subjective, but objectively approaching it can empower us.
Cumulative stress saps our energy and prevents us from living a fulfilling life. The body and the brain can experience a myriad of internal and external stressors each day. It is a natural survival process.
Stress is also essential for growth. Like all other health factors, stress also requires a balancing act through a methodical approach.
We can’t stop stress as it is essential for surviving and thriving. However, we can balance it by understanding the positive and negative aspects. Balancing stress via small lifestyle changes is possible.
Our habits play a critical role in balancing stress. Stressors are neutral, but the meaning we give them can be negative or positive. So our stress response is a vital need that can manifest as beneficial or detrimental to our lives.
Stress is multifaceted at several layers.
It has physical, mental, and emotional facets. Physical and emotional stressors can change our hormonal balance and re-wire the brain negatively and positively based on our responses.
We need a systematic approach to manage our stress and balance it.
Understanding the stressors at each layer and creating different coping mechanisms can be valuable. Based on my stress management experience, I provide five practical steps to balance stress in this post.
In my experience, balancing stress requires detecting, accepting, analyzing, and taking corrective actions, such as taking mini-breaks with breathing exercises to balance minor and major stressors.
1 — Recognizee Micro-Stressors
Awareness of minor stressors is critical as they make cumulative effects if not recognized timely. Stressors can be in various forms and shapes.
Minor stressors, when experienced frequently, can turn into larger ones. While physical stressors can be easier to recognize, emotional ones can be subtle and tricky.
Each emotion can create different stress effects in the body.
We usually see the symptoms of stress after they impact the body and the brain.
However, understanding the root causes is critical as signs can be deceiving due to the effects of hormones and neurotransmitters. To recognize stressors, we can look at them as objects.
2 — Visualize Stressors as Objects
One of the efficient ways to recognize stressors is visualizing stress generators as objects. I categorize my stress as physical and emotional. Both positive and negative emotions create stress.
In addition, identifying unnecessary stressors and visualizing them as single objects can give us valuable insights. I introduced seven unnecessary stressors in a previous article.
These stressors can have good or bad effects. For example, workouts give us physical stress. Our response makes the stress useful for growth. Our relationships with others can also create tension.
Relational stressors can be challenging to recognize.
However, observing conversations that trigger toxic emotions at work and in a family situation can be very valuable.
So, we can see conversational triggers as stress objects and monitor them habitually. Dealing with a bad boss or demanding partner can be stressful.
3 — Categorize and Label Stressors
We categorize it under three main categories: physical, mental, and emotional. Our thoughts and feelings can be labeled into various categories.
For example, a piece of thought can be a memory of a past incident. So we can verbalize: “here it is, a memory appearing as a stressor coming to my conscious.” Or an idea can be a concern about the future, which can initiate anxiety.
So we can label it as anxiety-initiating thought.
We can reduce undesirable or harmful effects of stress by recognizing and labeling thoughts and emotions as tangible stress objects.
We can respond to each stress object more effectively. Besides, we can gradually create a better stress profile when we approach stressors mindfully.
External stressors can be unconsciously internalized.
So, we need to recognize and label them. For example, watching a sad piece of news or reading toxic content on social media can rapidly trigger thoughts and emotions.
If we become aware of these external triggers, we can reduce their harmful effects proactively.
4 — Create an Effective Stress Management Strategy with Flexible Tactics
A two-pronged approach to our stress management strategy can be helpful. I use the terms preventative and corrective. Both are equally important in the process.
We can prevent the damage before it happens proactively and fix the damage when it happens. Having a stress management plan in life is not a luxury. It is essential for our survival in this complex world.
Our bodies expose to internal and external stressors constantly. The primary hormone to manage stress is cortisol. Our cortisol level can indicate our stress levels.
When the body is exposed to disproportionate stress, the brain creates higher amounts of cortisol to deal with. When excessive cortisol levels persist, our biology and psychology are adversely affected.
For example, we experience sleep deprivation, insulin resistance, chronic fatigue syndrome, and consequently, visceral fat accumulation during too much and too frequent cortisol release.
Strategy is a roadmap to stress management solutions. Our strategy can be a lifestyle choice. Strategy is like a map that we don’t change, but we can take detours to reach our destination. So tactical changes can support our strategy and make it sustainable.
Creating a strategy is an individual matter based on our lifestyle and goals. For example, one of my strategies to cope with stress is scheduling fun activities.
Joyful activities can be antidotes to stressors. Here are the practical tools that I found valuable in dealing with chronic stress.
5 — Implement Solutions Habitually
When we have a clear strategy, the next step is to create an implementation plan.
The plan can include activities such as monitoring stress objects with observation, analyzing them, and neutralizing them to create a balance.
The best implementation approach is to make it a lifestyle habit.
Our brain works with patterns to save energy. Our healthy habits determine our success.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Chronic stress is a serious health and well-being issue. Taking personal responsibility for proactive stress management is critical for a healthy, happy, and satisfying life. We also take timely actions to fix stress-causing problems.
The key points are recognizing minor stressors, visualizing them as tangible objects, naming them, creating a coping strategy, and implementing strategic and tactical items.
Emotional regulation is crucial to balance stress, as emotional stress is the larger part of the iceberg in the stress management process.
The fundamentals, such as nutrition, sleep, rest, fun, and movement, can be part of our stress management process as these fundamental needs are significant factors for our health and well-being.
We can manage stress more effectively when we approach stress objectively rather than subjectively. Therefore, a systematic approach to stress management can help us create a resilient life. I hope these five practical steps can help my readers design a personalized and sustainable stress management system for a joyful life.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a happy and healthy life.
If you enjoyed this story, you might check the Five Practical Ways to Achieve More and Better Results with Less Effort, as great results will come from a more innovative approach to work. We can work smarter by following these five tips.
In addition to health, mental health, fitness, and personal development topics, I also write about my independent reviews of well-researched supplements for metabolic and cognitive health.
Links to some reviews:
Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and other nutrients that might help to improve metabolism and mental health.
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Disclaimer: Please note that this post does not include health or professional advice. I shared my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only for information. If you have disease symptoms, please consult your healthcare professionals. Health is the responsibility of individuals.
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