Mental Health: Stress and Anxiety Management

Mental Health: Stress and Anxiety Management

by Progga Paromita
paromitasem724@gmail.com

A study by YouGov shows that, about 74% people who are suffering from stress and anxiety are unable to cope with their mental situation. In present days we can see, the majority of the population are suffering from several mental problems including depression, phobia, post traumatic disorder, stress, anxiety and frustration. And 30% of them are in the severe level. This is one of the reason that the rate of suicide has been increased dangerously in previous years.

What is Stress and Anxiety:

Most of the people who are suffering from two of these issues don’t even know that they have problems since all of us have a little knowledge about mental issues. Still these mental issues are taboo in most of the countries. Neither people have the education nor the courage to open up.

Stress and anxiety both are emotional responses from the mental damages they are suffering from. Stress is related to person’s demand. People feel stressed when multiple and various competing demands are fighting in their minds. It comes from over thinking or mental pressure. On the other hand, Anxiety means a mixture of fear, worry, tension and unease of mind. Mostly people go through fear and get panicked when they are anxious.

If both works for just a short term issue, then it’s not bad or not a sign of mental disorder. It sometimes helps to solve a problems or can help you to overcome challenges. But if stress and anxiety become a long term process, then it can lead you to several mental problems.

Causes and Symptoms:

The causes are various. Any reason which pressurize our mind can be a reason of stress or anxiety. Such as moving, not getting job, pressure on work place, previous trauma, family issues, accidents, any bad incident or memories, having any issues or accident related to family. Societal pressure and bullying, death, starting something new, challenges, some medicines, racial, sexual issues, body shaming, bad behavior, trust issues etc. some disorders related to chronic and long term anxiety and stress are Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Associated Disorder (PAD), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Social Phobia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Bipolar Disorder (BPD) etc.

The symptoms can be physiological and psychological both. Mostly the major ones are seen in long term stress and anxiety. The major symptoms are: stomachache, muscle tension, headache, rapid breathing, fast heartbeat, sweating, shaking, dizziness, losing or gaining appetite, frequent urination, trouble sleeping, insomnia, over sleeping, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea, head burn, panic or nervousness, feelings of impending doom, panic and uncomfortableness in social settings, irrational anger or any kind or emotion, mood swing, restlessness.

Stress and Anxiety Management:

Since it is proved that long term stress and anxiety can cause several mental and physical problems and these aren’t the same for every type of people of different ages. so these things should be focused on. The stress and anxiety management is basically coping with the simulation of them and balance them. Taking help from the experts isn’t the only solution if we want to manage stress and anxiety both. May be some simple steps, routined and balanced life can help us to get rid of them. Remember one thing, no matter how busy you are, putting some time and spending some quality time with yourself, also work life balance can reduce the level of these two.

But before that you need to -

1. - understand and realize that you are stressed and anxious. Focus on your physical, emotional and mental situation.

2. - identify the causes behind your symptoms. Not necessarily, these symptoms have to be for stress or anxiety.

3. - look upon your lifestyle that you are balancing it or not and find out the connection with your behavior and physical problems.

4. - try to work on the specific areas of your problems. You have to find the solution related to your causes and symptoms.

Stress and anxiety management can be in two forms basically. The 1^st One is working on your mind and the 2^nd one is doing some physiological and habitual practices. Following the habits, rituals and maintain certain things which are given below can help anyone out with stress and anxiety.

· Exercise: This is one of the most important thing to fight with stress and anxiety. People who exercise regularly are most likely to avoid and manage anxiety. But remember, no matter which type of exercise you choose, you will have to choose it according to your physical structure and situation, your capabilities, your food habits and after knowing if you have any chronic illness.

· Reduce Your Caffeine and Use of Supplement: This can help you to balance your work, can help you to sleep well and also can minimize dehydration. Excessive consuming the caffeine can imbalance your hormones and can make you jittery and anxious. You should measure how much caffeine your body can take without any side effects. Other than that, you can rely on or consider supplements like Lemon Balm, Omega-3, Fatty Acid, Green Tea, Valerian and so on.

· Write Things Down or Journaling: A good way to manage and balance your stress is writing several things down or noting down related to your work, your stress and anxiety or other things which may help. You can write things you want to do in a day, you can write how you are feeling, if you are stressed or not. It can help you find out the solutions, also noting these things can help you in future. You can read them again and who knows if you become and writer and help others.

· Spend Time with Close Ones: Spending time with close one such as, family, good and understanding friends or talking to anyone we are comfortable with can help you to reduce your pain and problems. Talking to a particular person might lead you to a complete solution.

· Yoga, Breathing and Mindfulness Practices: The best, easier and universal way of exercising is doing yoga every day for at least 20 minutes. The goal of yoga is to help you out with body and mind both. Here you can use power yoga for your body and can use mindfulness yoga for your mental health. Breathing exercise can help with both body and mind. You will feel relaxed both in your body and mind.

· Light a Candle, Play Music, Go to Nature and meditate: You can use incense, essential oil with the relaxing scent of lavender, rose, jasmine, chamomile, sandalwood, frankincense etc. or you can use scented candle. Light and burn them up, play healing or relaxing music and meditate or take a power bath. You can practice spirituality also by trying on Grounding, Centering, Sun and Moon Meditation etc. this will take you to another world and help you relax.

· Laugh and Cuddle: Laughing can help you out by relieving your stress responses, relieving tensions by relaxing your muscles. Laughing for a long time can improve your immune system. Any kind of bodily touch like kissing, hugging, cuddling, sex can reduce these two. Positive physical touch from the loved ones can help release Oxytocin and Lower Cortisol. Which helps you to relax and you will feel relieved and have a tension free mind.

· Say “NO” When it’s needed: Remember one thing, not every time you will have to say yes. Learn your limits before getting into anything. The things which are giving you pressure, you don’t want to do or you can’t do, say “No” to such things to keep yourself happy and more active.

· Spend Time with Pets and Children: For me, pets are the best thing ever to get relaxed, reduce mental pressure and pain. Playing with pets and children and spending lonely time with them can help you to relax and release several relaxing hormones. These work the best when you want to cope with the stress and anxiety you are facing. What you will get is your childhood life.

· Eat and Sleep Well and Timely: Maintaining a good food habit and sleeping habit can give you a routined and toned life which can reduce stress. Eating timely and having some healthy food can reduce some amount of your stress and you can cope with eating disorders. Also going to bed early and waking up early can give you the beautiful views of sunrise and you will breath into a fresh, morning air. This will help you to relax your mind. Also try to sleep for 6-8 hours per day to ensure your proper rest before you start working.

These are what you can try first before you take any help from the experts, there will be some therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy and Systematic Desensitization which may help further. Other than that you can try some mental practices, such as:

You have to accept that you cannot control everything, mostly those which aren’t in your hand, Be positive and keep a positive and optimistic attitude, get involved or keep busy with those works which you love to do and don’t feel pressure for, go for a life break to spend time only with you and travel alone or with your loved ones, learn more about yourself and get to know what triggers your stress and anxiety, distract yourself more onto other things rather than keeping your mind only on the works you feel stressed and anxious for, try to be patient and understand the facts before jumping into any conclusion or behave in improper way.

Some simple practices can help us out to take care ourselves and also we can possess a lot of mental and physical problems easily by handling them. Then why not learn and research a bit and show love to ourselves??