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Saturday, April 11, 2009

Stress Management


(After you read this post, also read all the earlier posts on this page for more benefits).

What is Stress?
  • Stress has to do with demands, resources and uncertainties.
  • Demands are expectation and desires of self or others to be fulfilled, obligations and duties to be carried out and responsibilities and pressures to be shouldered.
  • Resources are your own resources like your physical strength, your knowledge, your talent and capabilities, your skills and competencies as well as any kind of physical/inanimate or human resources under your control or available for use as organizational support or social support.
  • Then there are uncertainties of the outcome or results in relation to the expectations, desires, obligations, duties, responsibilities and pressures as well as there are uncertainties about the existence and potency of the resources within you and outside you.
  • These uncertainties are then the main causes to trigger tension and stress in your mind.
  • In short, when your perceive that your resources will fall short of tackling the demands on you and therefore, you perceive uncertainty in meeting the expectations or you actually do not meet the expectations demanded of you, you will experience stresses.
  • When your resources can achieve the expectations demanded of you with certainty, there is hardly any stress. Since there may still be some uncertainty due to some unseen factors, there may still be a bit of stress but that stress will be somewhat positive type, good enough to boost adrenal level and your motivation to use your resources in the best possible manner to achieve the end result with certainty or near certainty. Such a stress is called challenge stress and it is good.
  • Other type of stress that is negative in nature is called the hindrance stress. This is an outcome of the hindrances in the resources to achieve the desired results. These hindrances are: lack of your capabilities, knowledge, competencies, skills and red tape in systems, lack of family or social support etc.
  • It is necessary to learn to manage this hindrance stress.
Causes and Sources of Stress

Demands made on you or changes happening around you making some more demands on you are the fundamental causes of stress. The list of causes and sources of stress is given below:

Environmental factors

  • Economic uncertainty: changes in business cycle, recession, loss of job, unemployment
  • Political uncertainty: impact of political systems like democracy, communism or dictatorship, instability of governments, wars, terrorism etc
  • Technological changes: Obsolescence in knowledge and skills of people due to constant technological changes, impact of technologies on people in variety of ways
Organizational factors
  • Role demands: pressures of job position, roles conflicts, transfers, promotions, job rotations, change of job
  • Task demands: hazards, overload, working conditions, deadlines, targets
  • Interpersonal demands: lack of support from bosses and colleagues, distrustful environment, politics
Personal factors
  • Family problems: death of loved ones, separation, divorce, marriage, pregnancy, childbirth
  • Economic problems: insufficient earnings, loss of job, over expenditure, debts, retirement
  • Personality problems: pessimism, submissive, aggressive, loner
  • Illness: Not well, injury
Early Warning Symptoms of Stress and Consequences of Stress

Physical symptoms
  • Nagging tiredness and continuous sense of exhaustion
  • Frequent illness
  • Sexual problems: impotency, frigidity
  • Excessive worrying of real and imaginary problems
  • Frequent crying or desire to cry
  • Insomnia
  • Headaches
  • Cramps and muscle spasms
  • Inability to sit without fidgeting
  • Nail biting
  • Nervous twitches
  • Tendency to sweat for no good reason
  • Lack of appetite
  • Craving for food when under pressure
  • Frequent indigestion
  • Frequent acidity and heartburn
  • Constipation or diarrhoea
  • High blood pressure
  • Breathlessness without exertion
  • Nausea
  • Fainting spells
Behavioral symptoms
  • Escapist tendencies like shirking or avoiding responsibilities and work both at office and home
  • Feeling of inability to cope
  • Difficulty in concentrating
  • Inability to finish one task before rushing on to the next
  • Difficulty in making decisions
  • Feeling of being a failure as a person, as a professional, as a parent etc
  • Feeling of being bad or feeling of self hatred
  • Personal negligence in terms of appearance, hygiene, safety
  • Lack of interest in life
  • Feeling of neglect
  • Loss of sense of humor
  • Constant irritability with people
  • Awareness of suppressed anger
  • Loss of interest in other people
  • Feeling of being the target of other people's animosity
  • Feeling of having no one to confide in
  • Inability to show true feelings
  • Intense fear of being alone
  • Intense fear of open or enclosed spaces
  • Constant or recurrent fear of falling sick
  • Extremism at work, in spending, alcohol, gambling
  • Dread of the future
Emotional or psychological Symptoms
  • Mental fatigue
  • Lack of concentration
  • Mood swings
  • Restlessness
  • Unusual impatience
  • General apathy towards life
  • Irritability
  • Unnecessary argumentation
  • Excess of aggressive or submissive or defensiveness
  • Insecurity
  • Forgetfulness
  • Low self esteem or low self worth
  • Suspiciousness
  • Getting frustrated with others
Possibility of Ailments Due to Stress
  • Hypertension
  • High blood pressure
  • Heart attack
  • Migraine
  • Hay fever
  • Allergies
  • Asthma
  • Peptic ulcers
  • Colitis
  • Constipation
  • Indigestion
  • Diarrhoea
  • Nervous dyspepsia
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Tuberculosis
  • Overactive thyroid gland
  • Intense itching
  • Skin disorders
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Menstrual difficulties
  • Depression
Tackling Stress

Prevention is always better than cure. Given below are certain tips to manage stress:
  • Resource sufficiency: One must continually work towards improving one’s thinking patterns, knowledge, competencies, skills and will power.
  • Plan (goal/target setting and time management): Set your personal, family related and professional plans properly on time line and muster the resources to achieve them accordingly. Your plans should be realistic and you should review them from time to time and modify them if necessary. Refer: (Goal/Target Setting) http://goal-target-setting.blogspot.com/ and (Time Management) http://time-life-management.blogspot.com/
  • Balance: Balance you personality. Your personality should not be extreme “A” type or extreme “B” types. Try to achieve a balanced personality. Refer the post Personality Type: Stress Management below on this page.
  • Physical exercises: Get into habit of doing some or the other physical exercises for around 30 minutes to 1 hour every day. Learn to play some outdoor game. Gardening can be a good exercise. Walking is the excellent exercise. Refer the post titled "Stress Management: Simple Steps - A to Z Mantras of Stress Management" below on this page.
  • Relax: Take a few minutes out and learn to relax by listening to good music or meditate or lie down and practice relaxation through auto-suggestion, take deep breaths several times a day.
  • Entertain: Entertain yourself alone or in company by enjoying concerts, dramas, movies, games and sports etc.
  • Social Interactions (fellowship): Invite or get invited at social gatherings like parties, weddings, dinners. In case of any stressful problem, talk it over with someone you trust.
  • Take a break: Move away from your family and professional settings for while, take vacation and go for an outing, excursion or travel.
  • Refrain from smoking and alcohol: If you are habituated to these, stop.