Deal with your stress in healthy ways
Do you have some stress in your life? We all do. While not all stress is bad (a certain amount keeps you motivated, alert and at your best mentally), chronic stress can lead to physical and emotional ailments. In addition, dealing with your stress in unhealthy ways can lead to even more stress. So once you’ve identified your stressors, it’s time to take a look at the ways you currently cope with stress. If your coping strategies are unhealthy, it’s important to adopt some healthier coping mechanisms.
Unhealthy Coping Strategies
Many of us are guilty of coping with stress in unhealthy ways. Do any of these behaviors sound familiar?
- Procrastinating
- Lasing out at others (unfounded irritability, angry outbursts, physical violence)
- Sleeping too much
- Not sleeping enough
- Smoking
- Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol
- Staring blankly at the television or computer for hours on end
- Emotional eating
- Cutting yourself off from friends and family
- Using pills or drugs to relax
- Staying obsessively busy to avoid facing problems
- Compulsive spending
The problem with these coping strategies is that they do nothing to contribute to your emotional and physical well-being and don’t do anything to lessen your stress. In fact, these behaviors can worsen your stress and lead to other stressful problems. Instead, you need to learn to engage in healthier coping strategies.
Exercise is a great way to cope with stress
Healthy Coping Strategies
While these strategies will not eliminate your stress, they can help you handle it more positively, instead of adding to it. Try using these suggestions until you find a few that work for you.
- Laugh (It’s the best medicine)
- Dance (No one is judging, so just let go!)
- Lose yourself in a good book
- Talk to a friend, family member or mentor
- Create something (woodworking, sewing, gardening, painting, drawing)
- Sing (You don’t even have to be good! I sound particularly good in the shower or in my car with the radio up and the windows down.)
- Exercise (I find kickboxing and running particularly helpful.)
- Scream into a pillow
- Pound a pillow
- Meditate…or just take some deep breaths
- Write down what’s bothering you and then rip it up and throw it away
- Participate in enjoyable activities with other people
- Take a nap
- Smile
- Keep a gratitude journal (What are three things you’re thankful for today? Write them down, no matter how small.)
- Take a vacation…or even just a day off
- Play a game (cards, crossword puzzle, sudoku)
Stress is just part of our lives, but the way you cope with it can go a long way toward managing it and keeping it from taking over your life.
Watch for the next article in this series, ” Stress Management: 12 Strategies for Minimizing Stress.”
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Nice list! I’m mostly guilty of the unhealthy ones, but have also tried most of the healthy ones, too. One I find works well for me is instead of screaming in a pillow, go for a drive (or on the commute to/from work)(and assuming you are alone) and just yell. No words are needed – just the loudest sound your voice can make. I usually end up laughing. Both of which, for me, have been great to reduce stress.
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In theory I’ d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.
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