Posts Tagged ‘depression’
Reduce Stress and Be Happy
September 13th, 2008 | 
Author: 
Anything taken too much is bad for the health. A little stress is actually good, as it could serve to help you function at your best. However, stress that seems a little too much could take a physical, as well as mental, toll to your body. Stress should be managed in order for depression or anxiety to be prevented.
So how should you do it then? The following are tips and advice to help manage stress.
Write it out, schedule it out.
It is best to write down everything that seems to be overwhelming. You will find a things-to-do-list much easier to manage than having errands all crumpled up in your head. Writing down the tasks, and putting a specific schedule and time to do them, helps anyone manage activities one chunk at a time. Crossing out an activity that has already been accomplished is very rewarding and could actually help you feel more relaxed when doing the other tasks at hand.
One at a time works.
Focus and put all your attention specifically on one task at one time. It does not help to feel panicky about the other undone or to-do tasks. Thinking about them only adds unnecessary stress and could even hamper in doing the task you are attempting to accomplish at present.
Relax and take it slow.
At least, try not to expend too much energy on activities that are currently not priorities. This is in order for your energy to be not easily expended on the tasks that are not that important, at least for now.
Delegate, delegate, delegate.
You need not do everything all at once, and you need not do everything on your own. Ask for help, get help, or pay for help. When there is a feeling of being overwhelmed that is cropping up, hire someone to mow the lawn or get a sitter for your children. The feeling of being pressed to finish something on time will somehow be eliminated if tasks are delegated. It takes a load off unnecessary worry and anxiety. Moreover, it is easier checking up on how things are, than worrying yourself sick doing everything on your own, all at once.
Give yourself a reward.
You deserve it. Acknowledging your accomplishments, no matter how big or small, is an effort that is necessary before getting on to the next tasks and activities. It reduces stress and could even make you happier in doing the next task.
Give yourself a break.
You need it to be more productive. A ten to fifteen minute break during your work is necessary. Go visit a café nearby, take a quick brisk walk, or do anything to put your mind off work, at least for a while. This is necessary to refresh and recharge. Believe it or not, you can also stay in your work and sit with your eyes closed as you visualize a peaceful landscape or a relaxing scene. This frees the stress from your muscles and your mind.
Relax and be cool. Doing so makes you healthier, happier, and a lot more productive.
Tags: anxiety, body stress, delegate, depression, health, priorities, things to do list, unnecessary stress, worryRelated posts
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Causes Of Stress Overview
In the broadest scheme of things there are two types of stress - the type is largely self-induced and the type that causes you stress due to unforeseen or foreseen life-changing events.
Self-induced stress is largely due to your personality. Some personality types are just more inclined to ’stress themselves out’. This type of stress is mostly due to working too hard, having too little time, feeling out of control the whole time…
The other type of stress is due to major life-changing events that you might, or might not have control over. Some examples of events that you have control over are getting married, moving house, having a new baby. But then there are those events that you have no control over such as illness, death of a loved one and so forth. BOTH these types of events are stressful, even the so-called ‘happy’ events. The reason for this is that a change in life-style disrupts your routine, it destroys the mental map that you had of the world and it forces you to create a new map. Coupled with this can be extreme emotions such as grief, anger and feelings of loss. Altogether, these feelings add up and can cause stress - feeling of anxiety and fear, depression and anger.
These types of changes can be broadly grouped into these four categories:
- Family
- Personal
- Work
- Finances