Reduce Your Stress Now
Summary of techniques you can practice now for improved resiliency
I’ve been focusing on stress a lot in the last few weeks primarily due to its current prominence in the mental health of Americans (if not the entire world right now). March 11 marked the two year anniversary since the WHO declared us in a global pandemic. Since then we have seen and had to adapt to an ever-changing array of mask mandates, vaccines, workplace protocols, working from home, schooling from home, loss of loved ones, feelings of vulnerability, etc. The American Psychological Association keeps tabs on stress in America through regular polls and the recent findings are alarming:
To better understand the impact of the past two years on individual stress, the American Psychological Association partnered with The Harris Poll to conduct a survey between February 7 and 14, 2022. In light of recent events leading up to its release, the survey was supplemented by a late-breaking poll, fielded March 1–3.
These more recent findings were alarming, with more adults rating inflation and issues related to the invasion of Ukraine as stressors than any other issue asked about since the Stress in AmericaTM survey began in 2007. Top sources of stress were the rise in prices of everyday items due to inflation (e.g., gas prices, energy bills, grocery costs, etc.) (87%), followed by supply chain issues (81%) and global uncertainty (81%).
Just a year ago Stress in America™ One Year Later, A New Wave of Pandemic Health Concerns found COVID-19-related stress was associated with
- unhealthy weight gains
- increased drinking
- decline of healthy habits and activities
- worse mental health
- disturbed sleep
- increased reliance on unhealthy habits
In fact, “just over half of U.S. adults (51%) disagreed that overall, their life has gotten healthier over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and two in five (42%) said that they have relied on a lot of unhealthy habits to get themselves through the last two years.”
Obviously, stress is something that is seriously affecting our lives (not to mention our health) — with no end in sight as we watch the news and monitor our health, but it’s time to stop using unhealthy solutions to cope and start working on a positive plan.
Positive Coping
Rather than relying on alcohol or other substances, it’s time to start something new. This year CAN be the year that you get yourself some tools to be more effective at handling stress. This isn’t something that changes overnight so as you check out these strategies, keep in mind that coping is a SKILL and just like soccer, football, gymnastics (or any other sport), it takes practice to become proficient. I would recommend choosing one or two skills to try and work on it consistently for at least a couple of weeks before deciding whether it will work for you or not.
The Strategies
Some people notice their tension and stress manifest in more physical ways such as muscle tension, headaches, achiness, etc. For those people, I’d recommend starting with more physical practices such as breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, or active meditation. I’ve been sharing protocols for practices lately, so I’m going to organize them here rather than re-invent the wheel.
On the other hand, some people are worriers and really notice that it’s their thoughts and concentration that suffer during times of stress. For those individuals, the following might be better to begin with (though certainly all of these techniques are great and finding the one that works for you is the best plan).
If you’ve been trying these strategies and nothing seems to work, maybe it’s time to contact a professional. While the stigma of mental health treatment has certainly reduced in recent years, some people are just reluctant to reach out. However, it’s important to revise the way we think about this. Even Olympic athletes have coaches and so there is no reason that having your own consultant like a psychologist should be something to worry about. Instead, it just shows that you are smart enough to reach out to resources that are available to you to work more efficiently in problem solving!
