Which are the effective strategies for stress management?

EFFECTIVE STRESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
1. IDENTIFY THE STRESSOR
Avoid unnecessary stress by;
-Learning to say no
-Avoid people who stress you
-Take control of your environment

2. ESTABLISH ROUTINES
-Regular time for exercise and relaxation
-Regular mealtime bedtime and waking up time
-Plan on how to do tasks
-Use mindful meditation

3. Alter the stress by;
- be willing to compromise
- Set goals to achieve
- Focus on the positive things in your life
- Don't try to control the uncontrollable
- Seek social support Plan ones time, budgeting on ones finances, expressing feelings, adopt to the stressor, view the stressful situation from a positive perspective
- Learn to forgive
- Take time to relax

4. Change the situation or change your reaction----When deciding which option to choose, it’s helpful to think of the four As. Avoid; Alter; Adapt. Accept
i) Change the situation:
- Avoid the stressor that you are able to avoid.
- Alter the stressor that you are able to alter.
ii) Change the reaction.
- Adapt to the stressor that you can’t change.
- Accept the stressor that you can’t change.

5. Be an assertive communicator----Learn how to say “no.” Know your limits in both personal and professional life. Communicate your personal boundaries. Communicate your inability to accept added responsibilities when you are overwhelmed. Learn to communicate your feelings and thoughts.

6. Handle your Interpersonal Relationships effectively-Many experts agree that interpersonal relationships are the main source of stress. From birth to death, human being is searching for company, which can be a source of happiness/satisfaction or stress. Adopt three components in your interpersonal relationships in order to avoid stressful conflicts. These are Listening, Expression and Accepting. Listening helps you to avoid communication spoilers (judging, blaming, criticism, name calling, abusing, dismissing ordering etc). Expression—helps you to communicate assertively without hurting other people; and accepting assertive expression of thoughts and feelings from other people. Accepting entails valuing and respecting other people for who they are. Also where necessary be willing to compromise.

f) Control the Environment---if you can, avoid noisy surroundings, try to live in a space which is reasonably large, keep your surrounding clean and neat, enjoy nature often – picnics/beautiful landscapes, save free time for relaxation and recreation
7. Manage your time better. – Avoid procrastination. Have a to do list for the day and make it as realistic as possible. Analyze your daily tasks. If you’ve too much on your plate, distinguish between the “shoulds” and the “musts”. Drop tasks that aren’t truly necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely. Plan ahead and make sure you don’t overtax yourself.

8. Cognitive restructuring----If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations and regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude. This entails: Reframing problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective, rather than fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favourite radio station, or enjoy some alone time. Looking at the big picture. Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere. Also adopt a more rational/logical thinking. Avoid:
- All or nothing thinking.
- Jumping to conclusions.
- Negative prophesy and negative self talk.
- Pessimism and disqualifying the positive.
- Emotional reasoning.
- Perfectionism.

Below are some relaxation activities
• Sit comfortably, preferably in a quiet place, with your feet flat on the floor.
• Close your eyes.
• Breathe easily through the nose.

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Wilfykil answered the question on March 18, 2019 at 12:02