Stress makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. The thought of anticipated crisis and the possibility of mistake makes you play things safe and the very act of deciding on what’s right or wrong for you. We’ve learned to treat stress as the enemy. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case.

1. 10simple
solutions
to stress management
ww.1882.com.au/blog
simple solutions for better life

2. 10 simple
solutions
to stress management
Stress makes your heart pound, your breathing
quicken and your forehead sweat. The thought of
anticipated crisis and the possibility of mistake
makes you play things safe and the very act of
deciding on what’s right or wrong for you. We’ve
learned to treat stress as the enemy. But while
stress has been made into a public health enemy,
new research suggests that stress may only be bad
for you if you believe that to be the case.
ww.1882.com.au/blog simple solutions for better life

3. what is stress
anyway
We all feel it now and then but when it comes to
defining stress we can all find it difficult to clearly
state what stress is. Stress is not a useful term for
scientists because it is such a highly subjective
phenomenon that it defies definition. he term “stress”,
as it is currently used was coined by Hans Selye in
1936, who defined it as “the non-specific response of
the body to any demand for change”. But this
definition is far from perfect. Yes – stress is the
reaction of our body to the surrounding environment.
But we all react differently. While everyone can’t agree
on a definition of stress, all of our experimental and
clinical research confirms that the sense of having
little or no control is always distressful – and that’s
what stress is all about.

4. coping with stress
is essential
You may find it difficult to define it, but you have to
learn how to cope with it. It may seem that there’s
nothing you can do about stress. The bills won’t stop
coming, there will never be more hours in the day,
and your career and family responsibilities will
always be demanding. But you have more control
than you might think. In fact, the simple realization
that you’re in control of your life is the foundation of
stress management. Managing stress is all about
taking charge: of your thoughts, emotions, schedule,
and the way you deal with problems.

5. 10 simple
solutions
to stress management
Discover the simple 10 solutions to stress management
with the tips based on one book by Claire Wheeler
called… accordingly 10 Simple Solutions to Stress.
Claire Wheeler, M.D., Ph.D. is a physician, psychologist
and author specializing in mind-body medicine and
nutrition. She is an instructor at Portland University’s
School of Community Health and Oregon Health &
Science University Medical School. Claire is a senior
faculty member for the Center for Mind-Body Medicine,
based in Washington, D.C. With the Center, she has
helped train hundreds of health care professionals from
all over the world in the science and practice of mind-body
medicine.

6. measure and understand
your stress
Once you decide you are willing to start working
on your stress levels, the best way to start is by
simply measuring the and understanding your
stress reaction. You can do it with a therapist or
simply start by asking yourself questions about the
situations you feel the tensions in. You may also
start with a stress questionaires available online.

7. find healthy ways to deal
with your stress
Many people refrain to simple yet totally unhealthy ways
of dealing with stress. Alkohol, drugs, nicotine or even…
avaiding stress by all means that takes a form of total
withdrawal. The fact is that you do not need to give up
on life. You need to accept stress and learn to reframe it,
just like Kelly McCogonial urges us to do in her
inspirational TED talk.

8. use your strenghts
to manage your stress
We all have our weaknesses but we also have our
incredible strenghts. And there is one area of
psychological research that instead of focusing on what’s
wrong concentrates on what is great. That is the positive
psychology. With the help of it, you can discover FLOW,
positive energy and reframe your attitudes towards
many stressful events.

9. use mindfulness
to fight of your stress
We often view things as stressful when in fact they are
not life threatening at all. This is calle inadequate stress
reaction. The key to living a more aware and peaceful
life is mindfulness. Mindfulness is Buddhist practice
adapted to mental health purposes. The essence of
mindfulness practice is focusing on one thing in the
moment–each breath you take, each step as you walk, the
sights or sounds around you.

10. Discover nutrition
that works as a weapon
With the right nutrition, you can reduce the impact that
stress has on your body and effectively repair any damage
that has been done prior to this. What a balanced nutrition
also does is prepare your body for stress that may be thrust
upon your body in the future. As the research shows when
you’re under fire at work, juggling multiple responsibilities
at home, or going through a difficult time emotionally,
there are certain foods you should reach for. Really, though,
you should strive to eat these foods regularly (not just in
times of stress) to help maintain mental, emotional, and
physical balance in your body. Those are dark chocolate,
protein, bananas, coffee, curcumin, purple berries, omega-3
acids, kiwi and fermented foods like kefir.

11. learn your body
to tame your stress
The physical benefits of exercise—improving physical
condition and fighting disease—have long been
established, and physicians always encourage staying
physically active. Exercise is also considered vital for
maintaining mental fitness, and it can reduce stress.
Studies show that it is very effective at reducing fatigue,
improving alertness and concentration, and at
enhancing overall cognitive function. This can be
especially helpful when stress has depleted your energy
or ability to concentrate.

12. Express yourself
creatively
Expressing yourself creatively is yet another social factor
that can help you deal with stress, as Claire Wheeler
suggests. Acting our emotions out is and can be
beneficiary, even when those emotions can be perceived
as negative. Creative expressions are powers of creating
or being productive. Stress decreases your productivity,
but expressing your thoughts and emotions through
creative expressions can help you to combat stress.
There are multiple examples of creative expressions
including photography, knitting, quilting, painting and
crafting. Creative expressions are also being used as a
part of a management strategy for various emotional,
behaviors, mental and physical health problems.

13. Grow a social
network of support
We do not happen in a void and no man is an island.
That is rather obvious but what the reserach shows is
that strong social network of family and friends makes
us more resilient and stress proof. Strong and fullfiling
intimate relationships boost our immune system and
heal our nervous system.

14. become an oasis
when all seems to fail
Finding peace in times of crisis may be difficult to
achieve but meditation and CBT therapy can be helpful
in builing strong healthy coping mechanisms to
minimise the deadly effects of stress. Also reframing the
very essence of perceiving stress not as a foe but as a
friend is one interesting approach.

15. Discover spirituality
to deal with your stress
Spirituality, religion and philosophy are truly great tools
that help us not only rediscover the meaning of life but
face the everyday stress. The philosophical systems like
stoicism (advocated by Tim Ferris) are one interesting
way of putting things in perspective and learning to
manage stress daily.

16. 10 simple
solutions
to stress management
Those were 10 Simple Solutions to Stress that were
inspired by Claire Wheeler’s, M.D book of the same
title. If you are looking for more in depth information
on:
• refraiming stress
• using the right diet
• finding taylored solution to stress managemenet
read this post
and get more insights on stress
management techniques

17. 10simple
solutions
to stress management
ww.1882.com.au/blog
simple solutions for better life