How Not To Deal With Stress

There are several techniques for dealing with the physical and emotional causes and consequences of stress. Short-term symptom relief and long-term cures for chronic stress are possible. But there are many common strategies employed that are counter-productive. There are a million ways to go wrong. Here are some of the more typical errors.

In an attempt to alleviate the tension and worry that accompany stress, some individuals will unwittingly engage in self-destructive behavior.

The stress that can lead to being short-tempered can urge someone to lash out angrily at a trusted friend or loved one. It can incline some to excessive alcohol drinking or coffee drinking with the result of high caffeine intake, leading to more stress symptoms. It can lead to aggressive or violent behavior.

One of the most common results of stress is insomnia. When something is troubling you, and you are physically uncomfortable, it's difficult to relax enough to sleep. When you do manage to fall asleep, it's often interrupted during the night, or not the type of deep sleep that is genuinely restful.

Taking a sleeping medication may be helpful in some situations, but long term dependence on any kind of drug to deal with life's problems is self-defeating. Instead, learn and use some simple meditation techniques to focus the mind and induce a relaxing state.

A heightened focus on problem solving is natural for some types of individuals. But obsessing, even in the face of serious issues, is counter-productive. Try to see the problem as you would if it were being experienced by a friend. You would be concerned, of course. We're often much better at maintaining objectivity when the problem belongs to someone else.

Some people try to cope with stress by doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Throwing oneself into projects at work is one way of shifting focus away from problems at home. But avoidance can only be partially successful, and only temporarily at that.

Some problems do go away on their own and ignoring them can be a viable strategy. But circumstances combined with evaluations that lead to chronic stress do not disappear simply because we're not thinking about them. A temporary break to gain perspective and get the emotions under control is healthy. Hiding one's head in the sand is not.

Fundamentally, all these incorrect and unhelpful methods have a common root. Reality doesn't go away when some aspects of it are inconvenient or unpleasant. Life is filled with obstacles placed in the way of achieving values. The existence of those hurdles and the need to overcome them - when combined with doubts about our ability to do so - leads to stress.

Curing Stress Techniques
The first step is always to increase awareness in two direc...
curing_stress___techniques.html

Conquering Stress
Meditation has also been practiced, in Asia and elsewhere, for centuries. It's easy to ...
conquering_stress.html

Stress And Diet
Supplements can be helpful if your diet doesn't contain a large enough amount of chemicals that help reduce stress. S...
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Stress At Work The Cause
There are a hundred immediate possible causes for job-related stress. Employees and managers alike are often given unre...
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Stress And Pets
For many, having pets clearly has an abunda...
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What Is Stress
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Stress At Work The Cure
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Curing Stress Pruning The Roots
A person who feels confident in his or her ability to quickly overcome hurdles (and at a modest 'cost'...
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Stress And Your Mate
Close relationships, such as those with a spouse or 'significant other...
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Tackling Stress In The Modern World
You may be unlucky enough to have a boss who imposes unreasonable deadlines to meet poi...
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Stress And Parents, Teenage Dilemmas
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Social Anxiety Disorder
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Stress And Your Health
Some of the more elementary and obvious effects of stress are well known. Headaches, excessive muscle tension, high b...
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Stress And Alcohol
Large alcohol consumption stimulates the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands. One result is an in...
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Stress Around The Holidays
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What Causes Stress
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Stress And Parenting
But very few goals are so fundamental and so long-term that they should be regard...
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The Effects Of Stress
These two realms are not unrelated. The hypothalamus and th...
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Stress And Money
The bottom line is that money issues are often stressful for just about everyo...
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Short Term Memory
You should never jump to conclusions though. Loss of short term memory alon...
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Stress And Exercise
Along with endorphins there are other neuro-transmitters produced - serotonin, dopamine and norepinep...
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