Donna L Brogan.com

Stress symptoms may be affecting your health, even though you are not aware of it.  In your mind, that headache, forgetting things more often, or not being able to do the things today that you used to be able to do are not necessarily due to getting older or illness.  Yes, stress symptoms can affect your body, your feelings, your thoughts and even your behavior.  If you recognize these common stress symptoms, you MUST take steps to manage them.

Other potentially serious health problems can be to blame for these stress symptoms too.  If you have taken steps to control this stress, but the symptoms still don’t go away, see your doctor right away.

Stress Management

Evaluating how you deal with stress is the first step in effective stress management.

No wonder you are stressed!  You have more things to do everyday and not enough help.  So what happens?  When you get home you take it out on your family.  You feel like crying all the time.  You don’t know how you will get through the day.  So how do you handle it?  Some people can take things in stride.  My husband is one of those people.  Nothing seems to bother him.  His favorite saying is “Let’s not rush into anything”.  Others get anxious at the first sign of trouble.  This is more like me.  I am somewhat of a perfectionist and if things don’t seem to go just right I lose my cool.  Other people may fall somewhere between these two ways of reacting to stress.  That is because they feel more confident and prepared to handle things that may come up in those day-to-day events.

Here are some coping behaviors – which one are you?

• Do you tense up?  Muscle tension, upset stomach, shortness of breath, headache or other physical symptom.
• Do you reach for something to eat?  Even when you aren’t hungry?
• Do you get impatient?  Do you pace the floor, twitch nervously, have trouble concentrating or falling asleep at nigh?
• Do you get angry?  Stress may be  the cause of a person having a short fuse, especially when you are under pressure.  You may find yourself arguing with a friend or loved one, sometimes with very little provocation.
• Are you reduced to tears?
• Do you give up?
• Do you have negative thoughts?  You automatically expect the worst and magnify the negative aspects of a situation?
• Have you started to smoke again, turned to alcohol or drugs?
• Do you rely on a single coping technique?  Crying, expressing your anger, exercising, confiding in someone – these are coping techniques.

Once you identify how you cope with stress symptoms, you can begin to think about alternative strategies.  Changes won’t happen overnight but you can learn to deal with those stress symptoms.

Thanks for joining me on my journey through stress.  I hope you have learned something from me and I would love to hear what you think.  Feel free to leave any ideas of your own or your way of dealing with stress.

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