The feeling of a total lack of time and unwillingness to perform familiar actions is the body’s signal of fatigue and overload. By slowing down, we subconsciously save energy to make up for basic needs. But what can we do if the rhythm of life and the incessant changes do not give us a chance to catch a break? Increase our stress tolerance and learn to take care of ourselves in time. How can we do this?
Stress and Why It Gets Talked About so Much
We are used to calling any difficulties and unpleasant occurrences as stress and are terribly afraid of this condition. In fact, stress is our normal reaction to novelty. When the body quickly mobilizes all its forces to quickly adapt to the changed circumstances. Whether it’s a move, a job loss, or a promotion.
Lingering stress is dangerous. When you take a long time to adapt to novelty, or when the changes are too often. It depletes the nervous system, destroys health and diminishes the quality of life.
Situations in which we are stressed:
- Being under a lot of pressure.
- Going through changes/still for a long time.
- Worrying and worrying about someone or something;
- Being in a situation we have no control over.
- Taking on too many responsibilities / having too much free time and no activity to enjoy.
- Feeling a surplus/lack of events and experiences.
You’ll say, “Well, that’s just normal life.” That’s partly true. That’s why scientists are sounding the alarm and insisting on the importance of timely self-care, stress-resistance training and the ability to respond flexibly to change.
How Stress Manifests Itself
Here are the symptoms that are common with stress. Check to see how many of them you’ve noticed in yourself lately:
- Sleep problems.
- Weight gain/loss.
- Abdominal pain.
- Irritability.
- Teeth grinding.
- Panic attacks.
- Headaches.
- Problems with concentration.
- Sweaty hands or feet.
- Excessive sleep.
- Social isolation.
- Fatigue.
- Nausea.
- Feelings of brokenness.
- Compulsive behavior.
During this period of adjustment to a new thing, don’t expect to be productive for long periods of time. Just be patient and give yourself time.
How to Reduce Stress and Take Care of Yourself
To avoid trapping yourself in stress, it’s important to know your natural pace and capacity, your hours of productivity and slump. Be mindful of your breaks and relieve stress in time.
Learn More About Your Peculiarities
How often you need a break, what time you need to finish work, what you need to concentrate on, how to release tension. Some people need a five-minute conversation, while others need to be in silence or go for a short walk.
Set up a Comfortable Workspace
Make a separate workspace for yourself and ask all family members not to distract you when you’re working. It’s good if you have a separate corner where you can close up if necessary.
Separate Work and Personal Time
People who work from home often think: “I’m home, I don’t need to waste time on the road. I’ll spend it on business: finishing an urgent task, answering my colleagues’ chats, sorting out the mail”. You can do this too, but not for long.
Don’t Work Too Late
This is fraught with fatigue, burnout, and chronic stress. Also try not to combine household chores and work tasks during the day – it’s likely you’ll mess up there and there. When work is over, switch to gambling at Woo Casino, walking with friends, or reading.
Delegate
Being able to ask for help from colleagues or reallocate your energies is an important skill for dealing with stress. If you feel the task is too big or complicated, get support before you start.
Plan
Make to-do lists, sort them by importance, and try to do the most pressing ones. Focus on one task at a time. Be sure to allow yourself time to rest. Take short breaks every hour. Paradoxically, but so you get more time than when you work, without taking your eyes off the monitor.
Limit Your Time on Social Media
Endless feeds steal time that could have been productive. Peeking in at a few storizas, you disappear for half an hour or an hour, and when you return you rush through your work projects, thereby provoking anxiety. Determine how much time a day you want to give to social networks, and how much work. And try to follow that schedule.
Monitor the Reactions of Your Body and Emotions
Try to figure out why you are now sitting with tense cheekbones or why you suddenly wanted chocolate so badly. Perhaps you need to distract yourself and relax rather than build up tension.
Don’t Let Loneliness Overwhelm You
Social isolation and loneliness are serious problems that become a threat to public health. People who work remotely suffer from them in particular. It’s significant for a person to maintain a social connection with others – for a long time, it depended on their survival and well-being. Arrange different informal hangouts, create a supportive environment that will help you feel among your own.
How to Increase Stress Resistance: Techniques and Exercises
Unfortunately, stress is impossible to remove from life. To maintain your mental health and keep your balance, you need to train your stress tolerance. Here are a few techniques that will help you do this.
Cognitive techniques help you track your thoughts and develop an optimal attitude toward the problem. It’s useful to keep a stress diary and make lists of solutions to problems.
Working With Emotions
Identifying the emotion you are experiencing when you are stressed is already part of the response. It helps you learn more about yourself. How do you do this? Imagine what your emotion looks like and then draw, sculpt or sing it. Imagine the problem already solved and think about how your emotion will affect the outcome.
Mindfulness and Breathing Practices
Ask yourself: “What’s happening right now?”, switch to your senses, pay attention to something new nearby. Observe your breathing, leaving your thoughts for at least a couple of minutes. This will allow you to shift your focus and concentrate on the sensations.
For relaxation, use simple meditation or just breathe deeply and slowly. This will help activate the parasympathetic nervous system and calm you down.
Physical Activity and Rest
Twenty minutes of brisk exercise will help increase your stress tolerance, and regular physical activity will increase your production of “happy hormones.” Choose a yoga or qigong class for deep relaxation and to combine breathing exercises with physical ones.
Nutrition
Avoid alcohol, caffeine and nicotine, although they are very tempting to consume during times of stress. It’s better to choose a balanced diet. Foods shouldn’t be too sweet or salty.
Chewing helps to cope with stressors – then the body switches to digestion and reduces the emotional intensity. It is better to chew solid, healthy food. If there are no carrots at hand, chewing gum will do as well.