Take Five and Take Charge of Your Stress
Five steps to healthier stress management
Stress is what you feel when you react to pressure. Many things can contribute to stress including work,
family or friends, health issues, a death, divorce or moving. Stress is a normal reaction and is caused by
your body’s instinct to protect itself from emotional or physical pressure, or in extreme situations, from
danger.
Stress becomes unhealthy when we react to these events in a negative way or try to control them too
much. Feeling depressed, laughing or crying for no reason, blaming others for bad things that happen to
you, headaches and trouble sleeping are all signs of stress. When this happens there are some things you
can do to make positive changes. These five steps can help:
Step 1
Make a list of the things that are causing your stress. Accept that you can’t control everything on your list.
Step 2:
Take control of what you can. For example, if you have too many personal commitments, eliminate ones
that may be taking too much of your time.
Step 3:
Give yourself a break. Remember that you can’t make everyone in your life happy all the time. And it’s okay
to make mistakes now and then.
Step 4:
Don’t commit yourself to things you can’t do or don’t want to do. If you’re already too busy don’t take on
more responsibilities than you have to, whether at work or at home.
Step 5:
Find someone to talk to. Talking to supportive family members and friends can help because it gives you a
chance to express your feelings. If you feel you can’t talk with a friend or someone in your family, seek
outside help.
While you can’t avoid stressful events in life, how you deal with them can make all the difference. Take five
now and take stress management to a healthier level.
Source: American Academy of Family Physicians