Health Library

You are stressed out if you often:

• Feel pressured or overwhelmed
• Have problems getting along with others
• Experience changes in behavior such as temper outbursts, unexplained anger, or crying for no reason
• Have erratic sleep patterns including too much or too little sleep
• Have difficulty communicating with others
• Feel impatient

1. To help:

Relax, take deep breaths, pray, or meditate. Relaxation lowers blood pressure, respiration, releases muscle tension, and eases emotional strains.

2. Keep a sense of humor:

Keeping a sense of humor during difficult situations is an effective mechanism for stress management. Laughing releases the tension of pent-up feelings and helps keep perspective.

3. Exercise:

Try to find exciting, challenging, and satisfying forms of exercise that are convenient. Brisk walking and swimming are excellent choices providing a great cardiovascular workout. Avoid vigorous training regimens that will take more time and commitment than you can afford.

4. Leave work on time:

Try not to bring work home. Keeping a separation between your professional and private life is essential to managing stress. If you must work beyond your regular hours, try to go to the office early when the phones are quiet, and you are fresh from a good night’s sleep. People tend to be more productive and focused in the morning.

5. Lower demands you put on yourself:

Make realistic goals so you have the opportunity to succeed. Unattainable goals usually lead to feelings of failure even when you have had a productive day. Make a list of what you want to accomplish for the following day. Re-list the items you don’t get to for the next day. Items you think you will remember in the morning are often forgotten.

6. Ask questions and communicate:

Communicate with co-workers and loved ones. Often stress comes from confusion or a feeling of not knowing what is expected of you. Clear communication can relieve you of these concerns.

7. Take care of taxing tasks in the morning:

Large or tedious projects that you schedule for the afternoon will often get put off due to the day’s events.

8. Break large projects into steps:

Look at large projects as a series of steps to complete one by one. Don’t worry about the enormity of a project. Section jobs into manageable portions and take them on one by one. Organization is the key to successful project completion.