Stress involves the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure. This pressure may turn into stress when you feel unable to cope. People have different ways of reacting to stress, so a situation that feels stressful to one person may be motivating to someone else.

We all experience some degree of stress. Life can involve constant change, ranging from work challenges to adapting to major life changes like marriage, divorce, or the death of a loved one. Our experience of stress is created by our unique perceptions of our life experiences, based on our own mix of personality traits, available resources and habitual thought patterns

Many health problems are caused or influenced by stress, so it is helpful to understand how stress affects your body and learn effective stress management techniques to make stress work for you rather than against you. If you experience physical symptoms you consider may be related to stress, it is important to address this and talk to your doctor in order to safeguard your health.

Our aim should not be to eliminate all stress, but to eliminate unnecessary stress and effectively manage the rest.

Experts sometimes recommend keeping a stress diary to help you to identify stress. This involves keeping a diary, noting stressful episodes for two to four weeks. Then review it to spot any triggers. These may include:

• the date, time and place of a stressful episode

• what you were doing, and who you were with 

• how you felt

• what you were thinking 

• what you started doing next 

• how you felt physically 

• a stress rating (0-10 where 10 is the most stressed you could feel).

You can use the diary to discover what triggers your stress, how you operate under pressure – and to develop better coping mechanisms.

Learning a wide range of stress management techniques, and then choosing a mix that fits your needs can be a useful strategy for effective stress relief. Tips for management can include the following:
 

• Do something enjoyable every day – that all-important ‘me-time’

• Get all the restful sleep that you need

• Eat healthily and regularly. Do not resort to alcohol, junk food, nicotine or caffeine or other drugs for relief.

• Move your body frequently – do not sit for long periods of time

• Prioritise face-to-face contact with others

• If you cannot change a stressful situation, learn to avoid, adapt, alter or accept it. Procrastination will not make a stressor go away.

• Avoid social media as a means of zoning out of reality.

Although life can be full of ups and downs, a stressful attitude can permeate our experiences if we do not manage our stressors well. The Academy for Distance Learning provides a Stress Management course and a Life Coaching course that address this subject in detail and can help you to identify stressors of your own, as well as to help others with their stress-related challenges.