Stress management: 7 ways to combat stress

What is stress management?

Everyone has stress in everyday life. But not everyone can deal with it well – and if you don’t have the right stress management (also: stress management) and are therefore under constant tension, you risk consequences for your health. Basically, stress management is about methods or strategies from psychology that are intended to simplify dealing with stress factors. With the right stress management, we can better withstand the stresses of everyday life.

Why are we stressed at all?

Even though we often associate stress with something negative these days, it used to be essential for survival. Because stress is a bodily reaction that allows us to perform at our best in the short term – in the Stone Age we were only able to decide at lightning speed whether we should flee from an attacker, for example, or face him and fight. This mechanism has been preserved to this day. Stress leads to the following physical reactions:

Symptoms: How stress makes us sick

As long as the stress lasts only for a short time and the stress hormones can be broken down again after the “dangerous” situation, we need not fear any health consequences. However, if we are under constant stress and neglect stress management, the hormones can no longer be broken down – which can trigger many different symptoms. These include:

We reveal other stress symptoms here.

Beware of these stressors

There are some stressors that we encounter over and over again. These include:

Often several of these stress factors occur at the same time, which makes good stress management indispensable.

What to do? The best tips for coping with stress

The following stress management methods help to reduce stress:

1. Accept the state of stress

An ongoing theme: women in particular tend to always function and suppress the fact that they are actually on the verge of collapsing due to stress. Everyone has to learn individually to admit that they are overwhelmed by certain situations or tasks. It often helps to write down all your worries so that you can see in black and white what is bothering you and what stress reactions you actually have.

2. Include social environment

Once you’ve admitted to yourself that you’re suffering from stressful situations and need help, it’s time to let those around you know about it. Most people first confide in someone close to them, such as a spouse or parent. Depending on which personal stress factors and burdens play a role, it can also make sense to speak to the manager if there are professional problems. This is of course not easy, but only if the social environment knows about the difficulties and stress can they react accordingly (and hopefully positively).

3. Reconsider your attitude

Those who are already deep in the stress spiral tend to adopt negative thought patterns. These thought patterns should be positively reinterpreted in stress management, so that phrases like “I can’t” or “I have to” become sentences like “I can” and “I want to”. As a result, the person concerned feels more self-determined and learns that it is also in their own hands to deal with the stress better. This includes letting go if, for example, you have fulfilled every task so far in a perfectionist manner and accordingly have high standards for yourself. Accepting mistakes and refraining from perfectionism is a great strength.

4. Learn time management

Especially at work, good time management helps to process all upcoming tasks without causing too much stress. The correct prioritization of tasks helps to ensure that the work does not grow too much. To-do lists make it easier to get an overview of what is most important and what is most time-critical, even in stressful situations. In addition, your own working time should be divided into small blocks – for example, after an hour of concentrated work, you can take a five-minute break and get up and walk around a bit to clear your head.

Equally important: identify and eliminate disruptive elements. Anything that distracts from the task acts as a distractor – this includes e.g. B. Cell phones and social media. These should be hidden in the concentrated work block to avoid stress. For example, the mobile phone is muted and put in the drawer and the social media is blocked.

5. Find balance in stressful situations

From the office chair straight home to the sofa, where you just lie there until bedtime? Of course you can do it, but it shouldn’t be like this all the time. In order to cope with stress, we need to balance the stressors. This can be, for example, sports in a club, a weekly meeting with your best friend or a visit to a wellness hotel at the weekend.

6. Learn relaxation techniques

There are several relaxation techniques recommended for stress management. They help those affected to shut out the environment and draw new energy. The programs include, for example, yoga, autogenic training and what is known as progressive muscle relaxation. The programs can be learned at home, for example via online programs, as well as with coaches or courses at the adult education center.

7. Proper nutrition

A healthy diet is essential, especially in times of stress, so that the body is supplied with everything it needs. Unfortunately, when we are stressed, our brain would prefer to change course in the direction of health and thus the opposite: easily available calories that can be quickly converted into energy. That is why many people develop cravings for sweets and fast food in times of crisis. Better: Drink plenty of water and eat foods that have a blood pressure-lowering effect. These include, for example, fresh fish or types of fruit such as bananas and watermelons. Also helpful against stress is the intake of vitamin B1, which strengthens the nerves. Meat and potatoes, for example, can be on the menu. By the way, you can also increase your concentration.

Beware of these stress management behaviors

There is also a negative way of coping with stress, but this only pulls those affected deeper and deeper into the stress spiral and does not solve the actual problems. Essentially, the following patterns can occur:

Anyone who notices these behavioral patterns in themselves relies on negative stress management and should definitely deal with problem-solving strategies. Avoiding dealing with your own problems does not help against stress in the long run.

More tips for your health: Here are some more tips on how to reduce stress. We also explain eye training, the body scan and why the sense of touch is vital.

Bridget