Managing Stress – Varsity Education

Vocabulary: chronic stress, stress-management skills, relaxation response, resilient

When Stress Becomes a Problem

Main Idea: Identifying what is stressful is the first step in learning how to manage stress.

You are keenly aware of stress when its cause is obvious, such as when you’re late for an appointment, your computer crashes while you’re doing homework, or when you realize that you’ve left the materials you need to complete a project at home. When you know the source of stress, you can find ways to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, people often don’t recognize the stressors in their lives. Many times, people recognize that they’re feeling stressed only after the stress has begun to affect their health.

The effects of stress are additive, meaning they build up over time. Unless you find ways of managing stress, it will take a physical and mental toll on you. An increasing number of teens are experiencing chronic stress, stress associated with long-term problems that are beyond a person’s control. For these individuals, stress has become a constant burden that can last for months.

Fortunately, there are positive actions you can take to deal with stress. Although you can’t eliminate all stress from your life you can manage it. The trick is to learn strategies to keep stress from building up and to deal with individual stressors effectively.

Stress-Management Techniques

Main Idea: You can develop strategies to both avoid and reduce your stress.

Stress-management skills help you manage stressors in a healthful, effective way. Some skills involve strategies to prevent stress. Others focus on coping with the impact of stress.

Simple Techniques for Children and Teens to Manage Stress

Avoiding and Limiting Stress

Avoiding situations that cause stress is the easiest way to reduce its effects. If you’re unable to avoid a stressor, you can try to restrict or limit the amount of stress you’re exposed to.

These are effective strategies you can try:

Use refusal skills. Determine whether you have time for a new activity before agreeing to take it on. If the new activity will add to your stress, use refusal skills to say no.
Plan ahead. Manage your time wisely by planning ahead. Think about how stressed you feel before a test. Figure 4.4 lists ways to reduce stress when studying for and taking tests.
Think positively. We can’t control everything in our lives, but we can control how we respond to events. A positive outlook limits stress by shifting your perception and the way you react to a stressor. For example, try viewing a typical stressor, like a job interview, as a learning opportunity instead of a threat.
Avoid tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Using tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs in an attempt to relieve stress will actually harm the body and cause more stress.

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Handling Stress and Reducing Its Effects

Some stressors may be unavoidable. Some days you may be running late for school because the weather is bad or the bus had a flat tire. If you have a part-time job, your boss might be stressed himself on some days, which makes your workday stressful. For stressors that are unavoidable, try to find ways to reduce their negative effects. To lower the impact of stress on your health, try these tips:

Practice relaxation techniques. Deep breathing, thinking pleasant thoughts, stretching, taking a warm bath, getting a massage, and even laughing can relieve your stress. Practicing these techniques regularly can help you achieve a relaxation response, a state of calm. Figure 4.6 describes a relaxation technique.

Redirect your energy. When intense energy builds up from stress, the best thing to do is use that energy in a constructive way. You can put your nervous energy to good use by working on a creative project, going for a walk or a swim, jogging, riding your bike, or playing a game of pickup basketball.

Seek support. Sometimes just talking about your problem can make you feel better. When you feel stressed, try confiding in someone you trust, such as a parent, guardian, sibling, teacher, or close friend. They can provide you with an objective view and valuable advice.

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Staying Healthy and Building Resiliency

Main Idea: Taking care of your health is essential to stress management.

In addition to learning stress-management skills, developing habits that maintain your general health will also help reduce the effects of stress. These self-maintenance habits help you deal with stress in positive ways. They can also play a role in preventing stress, reducing stress, and helping your mind and body recover from stress.

Get Adequate Rest

Too little sleep can affect your ability to concentrate. This can affect schoolwork, athletics, and even relationships. By contrast, adequate sleep can help you face the challenges and demands of the next day. Using time-management skills will allow you to get the eight to nine hours of sleep that you need each night.

Get Regular Physical Activity

Participating in regular physical activity benefits your overall health whether or not you are feeling the effects of stress. Physical activity can release pent-up energy and clear your mind. Done regularly, exercise increases your energy level and your endurance. It helps you sleep better, too.

Eat Nutritious Foods

Eating a variety of healthful foods and drinking plenty of water not only helps your body function properly, but it also reduces the effects of stress. In contrast, poor eating habits can contribute to stress, causing weakness, fatigue, and a reduced ability to concentrate. Overeating and undereating can also put your body under stress. Beverages high in caffeine and sugar, such as coffee drinks or quick energy drinks, can increase the effects of stress.

By including self-maintenance and stress-management strategies in your daily routine, you can become more resilient. This means you’re able to adapt effectively and recover from disappointment, difficulty, or crisis. For example, you would probably feel disappointed if you didn’t win the part you wanted in the school play. A resilient teen would bounce back from this disappointment and work harder for the next audition. Resiliency helps you handle difficulties and challenges in healthful ways and achieve long-term success in spite of negative circumstances.