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How do i deal with stress


Tips for Coping with Stress|Publications|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC

Many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Public health actions, such as physical distancing, can make us feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress and anxiety.

After a traumatic event, people may have strong and lingering reactions. Learning healthy ways to cope and getting the right care and support can help reduce stressful feelings and symptoms.

The symptoms may be physical or emotional. Common reactions to a stressful event can include:

  • Disbelief
  • Feelings of fear, shock, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, or frustration
  • Changes in appetite, energy, desires, and interests
  • Difficulty sleeping or nightmares, concentrating, and making decisions
  • Physical reactions, such as headaches, body pains, stomach problems, and skin rashes
  • Worsening of chronic health problems
  • Worsening of mental health conditions
  • Increased use of tobacco, alcohol, and other substances

It is natural to feel stress, anxiety, grief, and worry during traumatic events such as mass shootings, natural disasters, or pandemics. Below are ways that you can help yourself, others, and your community manage stress.

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Healthy Ways to Cope with Stress

Feeling emotional and nervous or having trouble sleeping and eating can all be normal reactions to stress. Here are some healthy ways you can deal with stress:

  • Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including those on social media. It’s good to be informed but hearing about the traumatic event constantly can be upsetting. Consider limiting news to just a couple of times a day and disconnecting from phone, tv, and computer screens for a while.
  • Take care of yourself. Eat healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and give yourself a break if you feel stressed out.
  • Take care of your body.
    • Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate.
    • Try to eat healthy, well-balanced meals.
    • Exercise regularly.
    • Get plenty of sleep.
    • Avoid excessive alcohol, tobacco, and substance use.
    • Continue with routine preventive measures (such as vaccinations, cancer screenings, etc.) as recommended by your healthcare provider.
    • Get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible; get a booster shot if you are age 18 or older.
  • Make time to unwind. Try to do some other activities you enjoy.
  • Talk to others. Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Share your problems and how you are feeling and coping with a parent, friend, counselor, doctor, or pastor.
  • Connect with your community- or faith-based organizations.
  • Avoid drugs and alcohol. These may seem to help, but they can create additional problems and increase the stress you are already feeling.
  • Recognize when you need more help. If problems continue or you are thinking about suicide, talk to a psychologist, social worker, or professional counselor.

Check out Taking Care of Your Emotional Health for more information and resources.

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Helping Others Cope

Taking care of yourself can better equip you to take care of others. Helping others cope with stress through phone calls or video chats can help you and your loved ones feel less lonely or isolated.

Helping Children and Youth Cope with Stress

Children and youth often struggle with how to cope with stress. Youth can be particularly overwhelmed when their stress is connected to a traumatic event—like a natural disaster, family loss, school shootings, or community violence. Parents, caregivers, and educators can take steps to provide stability and support that help young people feel better.

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Tips

Tips for Parents and Caregivers
It is natural for children to worry when scary or stressful events happen in their lives. Talking to your children about these events can help put frightening information into a more balanced setting. Monitor what children see and hear about stressful events happening in their lives. Here are some suggestions to help children cope:

  • Maintain a normal routine. Helping children wake up, go to sleep, and eat meals at regular times provide them a sense of stability.
  • Talk, listen, and encourage expression. Listen to your child’s thoughts and feelings and share some of yours. After a traumatic event, it is important for children to feel they can share their feelings and that you understand their fears and worries.
  • Watch and listen. Be alert for any change in behavior. Any changes in behavior may be signs that your child is having trouble and may need support.
  • Stressful events can challenge a child’s sense of safety and security. Reassure your child about his or her safety and well-being. Discuss ways that you, the school, and the community are taking steps to keep them safe.
  • Connect with others. Talk to other parents and your child’s teachers about ways to help your child cope. It is often helpful for parents, schools, and health professionals to work together for the well-being of all children in stressful times.

Tips for Kids and Teens
After a traumatic event, it is normal to feel anxious about your safety and security. Even if you were not directly involved, you may worry about whether this type of event may someday affect you. Check out the tips below for some ideas to help deal with these fears.

  • Talk to and stay connected to others. Talking with someone you trust can help you make sense out of your experience. If you are not sure where to turn, call your local crisis intervention center or a national hotline.
  • Take care of yourself. Try to get plenty of sleep, eat right, exercise, and keep a normal routine.
  • Take information breaks. Pictures and stories about a disaster can increase worry and other stressful feelings. Taking breaks from the news, Internet, and conversations about the disaster can help calm you down.

Tips for School Personnel
School personnel can help their students restore their sense of safety by talking with the children about their fears. Other tips for school personnel include:

  • Reach out and talk. Create opportunities to have students talk, but do not force them. You can be a model by sharing some of your own thoughts as well as correct misinformation.
  • Watch and listen. Be alert for any change in behavior. Are students withdrawing from friends? Acting out? These changes may be early signs that a student is struggling and needs extra support from the school and family.
  • Maintain normal routines. A regular classroom and school schedule can provide a sense of stability and safety. Encourage students to keep up with their schoolwork and extracurricular activities but do not push them if they seem overwhelmed.
  • Take care of yourself. You are better able to support your students if you are healthy, coping and taking care of yourself first. Eat healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and give yourself a break if you feel stressed out.

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Mental Health and Crisis

Resources and Social Support Services

  • Food and Food System Resources During COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Disaster Financial Assistance with Food, Housing, and Bills
  • Coronavirus Resources for Renters
  • US Department of Labor Coronavirus Resources
  • If you are struggling to cope, there are many ways to get help. Call your healthcare provider if stress gets in the way of your daily activities for several days in a row.
  • During times of extreme stress, people may have thoughts of suicide. Suicide is preventable and help is available. More about the risk of suicide, signs to watch for, and how to respond if you notice these signs in yourself or a friend or a loved one, can be found here.
  • Free and confidential crisis resources can also help you or a loved one connect with a skilled, trained counselor in your area.

After a natural disaster, it’s normal to feel different and strong emotions. Coping with these feelings and getting help when you need it will help you, your family, and your community recover from a disaster. Resources to help with coping and stress after a natural disaster are available for teens as well as parents and professionals.

If you are in crisis, get immediate help:

  • Call 911
  • Disaster Distress Helpline: call or text 1-800-985-5990 (for Spanish, press “2”) to be connected with a trained counselor.
  • Call or text 988
  • Chat at 988lifeline.org
  • National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text LOVEIS to 22522
  • National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-4AChild (1-800-422-4453) or text 1-800-422-4453
  • National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or Online Chat
  • The Eldercare Locator: 1-800-677-1116  TTY Instructions
  • Veteran’s Crisis Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or Crisis Chat or text: 8388255

Find a health care provider or treatment for substance use disorder and mental health

  • SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and TTY 1-800-487-4889
  • Treatment Services Locator Website
  • Interactive Map of Selected Federally Qualified Health Centers

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For Everyone

  • How Right Now
  • Coping with a Disaster or Traumatic Event
  • General Public: Care for Yourself [348 KB, 1 page]
  • Young Adults: Care for Yourself [839 KB, 1 page]
  • HHS ASPR TRACIE COVID-19 Behavioral Health Resources external icon
  • Food and Food System Resources During COVID-19 Pandemic

For Families and Children

  • Helping Children Cope during the Pandemic
  • Helping Children Cope with Emergencies
  • Coping After a Disaster [1. 9 MB, 20 pages]– A Ready Wrigley activity book for children age 3-10
  • Teen Depression
  • Family Caregivers: Care for Yourself [732 KB, 1 page]
  • Students: Care for Yourself [688 KB, 1 page]
  • Food Assistance Programs

For People at Higher Risk for Serious Illness

  • Serious Illness Care Program COVID-19 Response Toolkit
  • Older Adults: Care for Yourself [911 KB, 1 page]

For Healthcare Workers and First Responders

  • Emergency Responders: Tips for Taking Care of Yourself
  • Disaster Technical Assistance Center
  • First Responders: Care for Yourself [770 KB, 1 page]
  • Clinicians: Care for Yourself [685 KB, 1 page]

For Other Workers

  • Working Adults: Care for Yourself [818 KB, 1 page]
  • Critical Workers: Care for Yourself [719 KB, 1 page]
  • Teachers: Encourage Your Students to Care for Themselves [976 KB, 1 page]

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Ways to Manage and Reduce It

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

In this Article

  • 1. Exercise
  • 2.Relax Your Muscles
  • 3.Deep Breathing
  • 4.Eat Well
  • 5.Slow Down
  • 6.Take a Break
  • 7.Make Time for Hobbies
  • 8.Talk About Your Problems
  • 9.Go Easy On Yourself
  • 10.Eliminate Your Triggers

These days it’s hard not to get overwhelmed once in a while. Between juggling work, family, and other commitments, you can become too stressed out and busy. But you need to set time aside to unwind or your mental and physical health can suffer.

Learning how to manage your stress takes practice, but you can -- and need to -- do it. Here are 10 ways to make it easier.

1.Exercise

Working out regularly is one of the best ways to relax your body and mind. Plus, exercise will improve your mood. But you have to do it often for it to pay off.

So how much should you exercise every week?

Work up to 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise like brisk walks or 75 minutes of a more vigorous exercise like swimming laps, jogging or other sports.

Focus on setting fitness goals you can meet so you don’t give up. Most of all remember that doing any exercise is better than none at all.

2.Relax Your Muscles

When you’re stressed, your muscles get tense. You can help loosen them up on your own and refresh your body by:

  • Stretching
  • Enjoying a massage
  • Taking a hot bath or shower
  • Getting a good night’s sleep

3.Deep Breathing

Stopping and taking a few deep breaths can take the pressure off you right away. You’ll be surprised how much better you feel once you get good at it. Just follow these 5 steps:

  1. Sit in a comfortable position with your hands in your lap and your feet on the floor. Or you can lie down.
  2. Close your eyes.
  3. Imagine yourself in a relaxing place. It can be on the beach, in a beautiful field of grass, or anywhere that gives you a peaceful feeling.
  4. Slowly take deep breaths in and out.
  5. Do this for 5 to 10 minutes at a time.

4.Eat Well

Eating a regular, well-balanced diet will help you feel better in general. It may also help control your moods. Your meals should be full of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and lean protein for energy. And don’t skip any. It’s not good for you and can put you in a bad mood, which can actually increase your stress.

5.Slow Down

Modern life is so busy, and sometimes we just need to slow down and chill out. Look at your life and find small ways you can do that. For example:

  • Set your watch 5 to 10 minutes ahead. That way you’ll get places a little early and avoid the stress of being late.
  • When you’re driving on the highway, switch to the slow lane so you can avoid road rage.
  • Break down big jobs into smaller ones. For example, don’t try to answer all 100 emails if you don’t have to -- just answer a few of them.

6.Take a Break

You need to plan on some real downtime to give your mind time off from stress. If you’re a person who likes to set goals, this may be hard for you at first. But stick with it and you’ll look forward to these moments. Restful things you can do include:

  • Meditation
  • Yoga
  • Tai chi
  • Prayer
  • Listening to your favorite music
  • Spending time in nature

7.Make Time for Hobbies

You need to set aside time for things you enjoy. Try to do something every day that makes you feel good, and it will help relieve your stress. It doesn’t have to be a ton of time -- even 15 to 20 minutes will do. Relaxing hobbies include things like:

  • Reading
  • Knitting
  • Doing an art project
  • Playing golf
  • Watching a movie
  • Doing puzzles
  • Playing cards and board games

8.Talk About Your Problems

If things are bothering you, talking about them can help lower your stress. You can talk to family members, friends, a trusted clergyman, your doctor, or a therapist.

And you can also talk to yourself. It’s called self-talk and we all do it. But in order for self-talk to help reduce stress you need to make sure it’s positive and not negative.

So listen closely to what you’re thinking or saying when you’re stressed out. If you’re giving yourself a negative message, change it to a positive one. For example, don’t tell yourself “I can’t do this.” Tell yourself instead: “I can do this,” or “I’m doing the best I can.”

9.Go Easy On Yourself

Accept that you can’t do things perfectly no matter how hard you try. You also can’t control everything in your life. So do yourself a favor and stop thinking you can do so much. And don’t forget to keep up your sense of humor. Laughter goes a long way towards making you feel relaxed.

10.Eliminate Your Triggers

Figure out what are the biggest causes of stress in your life. Is it your job, your commute, your schoolwork? If you’re able to identify what they are, see if you’re able to eliminate them from your life, or at least reduce them.

If you can’t identify the main causes of your stress, try keeping a stress journal. Make note of when you become most anxious and see if you can determine a pattern, then find ways to remove or lessen those triggers.

Health & Balance Guide

  1. A Balanced Life
  2. Take It Easy
  3. CAM Treatments

How do you deal with stress?

Krasnoyarsk social and business publication

News Articles Interview

currencies

Krasnoyarsk

opinions of Krasnoyarsk residents

April 23, 2010

— I work more. In this case, there is no time left for stress, and even more so for dealing with them.

When you are very busy, there are many urgent matters, the accumulated stress simply recedes before the onset of fatigue. In the evening you go to bed, you think: "would rather be morning. " And in the morning you get up cheerful and fresh and go to work again. And no stress. I use this method all the time. nine0003

In general, I try not to pay attention to stress. It arises from negative situations that happen in your environment. But there's nothing you can do about it, you can't run away from it.

Sometimes, when I am completely unbearable, I resort to the most common and popular method of relaxation. I'm drinking. But this happens rarely and without busting. Alcohol simply helps to most effectively and quickly relax the nervous system.

Igor Starostin
Autocredit Leasing Company
Owner

— The main thing for me in the fight against stress is a change of scenery, namely: to change the office chair for a walk along the embankment, to breathe fresh air.

After a few minutes of such a walk, it is already easier to convince yourself that the current situation is not a matter of life and death, and there will always be a way out. A positive attitude helps to cope with stress, try to smile more!

Irina Panichkina
Professional real estate and appraisal agency
Director

- Actual issue. Considering what a hard and frosty winter we had, and what a protracted cold spring, it is not surprising that the emotional burden is high, people are embittered. It feels like more stress.

I love sports and work in this field, so I deal with stress mostly in the gym. I can throw off the accumulated emotions only with the help of sports, and not so much physical exercises in the gym help more than group training to music. For a splash of negativity, I consistently do fitness once a week. I don't see any other way to relieve stress. nine0003

Maybe, if I had the opportunity, I would go to the taiga for a week. Sometimes you really want to escape from the city from people and everyday worries to nature. I want to withdraw into myself, to be alone, to cook in my own juice.

Natalya Kudryavtseva
Spartak Sports Complex
Senior Administrator

— The best way is to run away from civilization so as not to think about anything, but it's better to forget about everything altogether.

Therefore, I have a short struggle with stress - hunting and fishing. This is a traditional way for me, I got used to the forest from childhood. In winter, I relieve stress by hunting on a snowmobile or skiing. In summer, fishing in a boat on a taiga river. nine0003

In recent years, due to the fact that I have a family and two children, I try, of course, to devote more time to them, less time is left for trips to the taiga. So sometimes I go to the gym. But this is already a way that helps to throw off the accumulated during the day.

And so twice a month I steadily escape from the city to the forest, accumulate emotions, recover in nature.

Vladislav Korolev
Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory
Deputy

— I have two main ways to relieve stress. First, I spend a lot of time with the child. This is actually all weekday evenings. Constant walks, games, drawing classes, plasticine modeling, etc. nine0003

In fact, it's not only a lot of positive emotions, spending time with a child distracts from thoughts about work. My daughter actually does not even let me talk on the phone, she takes all the attention to herself. And all children's activities such as "scribbling", "drawing", reading books or watching cartoons are very relaxing.

The second way to relieve stress is traditional - an active lifestyle. On weekends I go in for outdoor sports.

I spend a lot of time at work all week, I don’t get home until 8 pm, so I usually try to get rid of my accumulated stress on weekends — I went skiing in the winter, now, with the advent of spring, I started cycling. It will be warmer soon, and I think rollerblading will be added to this. nine0003

Pavel Sachkov
LLC "STK-KARTA"
Director of the Department of Motor Transport

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How to deal with stress? Psychologist's advice

Explains the specialist of the Center for Emergency Psychological Assistance EMERCOM of Russia.

The world makes high demands on modern man. High speeds, massive information flows, changing conditions - all this causes stress. Let's try to figure out what stress is and when it becomes harmful. nine0003

Stress is an important response of the body. In situations of danger, it allows you to start "turbo mode" and quickly get energy, which is used to fight or run away. Stress allows us to cope with danger, and therefore it is not only useful, but vital.

During stress, a complex set of physiological changes occur: the brain reacts to danger, hormones are released into the blood, the frequency of breathing and heartbeat increases, supplying our muscles with everything necessary for intensive work. As a result, we experience a surge of strength. nine0003


Stress is an intense, but short-lived reaction: you can’t stay in “turbo mode” for a long time, after a period of activity there comes a stage when it falls. We need rest, because during times of stress we spend our own resources that need to be restored.

The stronger the stress response, the shorter the time we can be at the peak of activity and the more carefully we should pay attention to the recovery period. nine0003

Stress becomes harmful in two cases: when it is caused by a super-strong traumatic event that changes a person’s life, and he has to build new relationships with the world, and when it becomes chronic.

In a situation of traumatic stress, after the event itself, a long period follows when a person learns to live in new conditions: experiencing the consequences of a disaster, the loss of a loved one, or recovering from the loss of all property. This process requires a lot of resources. In a situation of chronic stress, we turn on an uneconomical mode too often, so resources gradually become less and less, we feel tired, sick, lethargic. nine0003

But we can influence our condition, and this allows us to better cope with life's adversities. The key to managing stress is the proper management of resources.

Resources are everything that allows us to solve life's problems, cope with crises, and overcome adversity. Physical, psychological and moral resources can be distinguished:

  • Physical resources are everything that improves our well-being: quality sleep, healthy eating, moderate exercise, attention to health, self-regulation skills. nine0110
  • Psychological resources - communication, passion, emotional and personal maturity, professional success.
  • Moral resources are the ability to answer the question "Why?". Viktor Frankl, a psychologist who helped other prisoners while in a Nazi concentration camp, put it this way: “There is no better help in the world for surviving even in the most terrible conditions than knowing that your life has meaning. ”
    • nine0111

    There are two strategies for managing resources: saving and multiplying. The savings strategy involves lower costs: try not to get into stressful situations, resolve conflict situations in a timely manner, learn not to react too emotionally to troubles. The resource multiplication strategy involves acquisition - for this you need to evaluate what allows you to receive physical and emotional strength, and not neglect these activities. The best result is obtained by using both strategies at the same time. nine0003

    The greater the arsenal of resources we have, the more opportunities we have to restore physical and mental strength, which means that in each specific situation we can choose the best strategy of behavior. It is important to find your resources in all three areas: physical, psychological and moral.

    Resource estimation exercise: