Decreasing Stress and Anxiety

Stress is something we all experience.  Stress can be a result of a short-term issue or a long-term situation.  Long-term stress can cause numerous negative emotional and physical outcomes.  Dealing with stress for an extended period of time makes our body think it is in a dangerous fight or flight situation, triggering an unnecessary fight or flight response from the sympathetic system.  This can result in decreased immunity, digestive issues, sleep disruption, depression, anxiety, and reproductive system complications (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], nd).  

Enough of all that complicated medical talk!  More importantly…what triggers all this stress we experience!?  Ahhh…so many things!  The majority of the time it is exactly that…we are trying to do so many things!  In a single day many people wear so many different hats…taking on a variety of roles!  A single person may take on anywhere from 3-20 roles a day!  For example, I am a mother, spouse, coworker, employee/worker, and teacher all before 9am!  Fulfilling all of those rules requires me to take on a different persona, often many different ones at a single time!  This role demand, aka responsibility, of an average day is typical for many people and can be the trigger for stress!  

Identifying healthy coping methods for decreasing stress and anxiety is key to avoiding the emotional and physical outcomes of chronic stress.  There are so many great resources for healthy coping out there; however, unless an individual takes the time to self-reflect and understand the root cause of the chronic stress it is difficult to discover a successful coping strategy!  Coping strategies are not a one-size-fits-all type of approach to dealing with stress!  That is why finding an individualized approach to decreasing your stress and anxiety is so important!  Signing up for a consultation with Liz DeFinnis is a great start to tackling that crushing feeling of being overwhelmed!  

References

National Institute of Mental Health. (nd). 5 Things You Should Know About Stress. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml