The Importance of Stress Management

The Importance of Stress Management

Periodic fluctuations in stress levels are a normal and natural part of being alive. As long as we have needs and wants, it’s not really possible to completely eliminate stress from your life. However, when stress levels become increasingly high and chronic, they could easily become a detriment to your health and wellbeing. Stress can cause a number of physical, mental and emotional issues in any person at any age. Stress may be the underlying source of an ailment or the primary interference in your ability to naturally heal and function. Again, there is no realistic way to totally remove stress from your life in the long-term, but strengthening your ability to minimize and manage stress is just as important as proper nutrition, physical activity and access to essential health treatments. Stress management is part of staying well and thriving.

Since stress affects us all differently, there’s no one universal approach to stress management. The key is to find a stress management technique or combination of techniques that are effective and healthy for you. Some means of relieving stress can actually be counteractive to a healthy lifestyle, including excess eating or substance abuse. Identifying and avoiding such choices are equally important, as unhealthy stress relievers can create a cycle of reoccurring trauma and deterioration of your quality of life.

Stress management should be based in behaviors and choices that are essential to healthy living. If you feel you are dealing with an excess of chronic stress, or you are feeling discontent and experience symptoms such as anxiety and depression, digestive or respiratory issues, hypertension and heart disease, weight gain, and issues with mental processing, it’s likely you need to develop or reevaluate your stress management techniques.

Just a few healthy stress management techniques to try in the face of heightened and chronic stress:

• Get Adequate Sleep or Adjust Your Sleep Cycle: If you find you’re not getting adequate sleep or you’ve started sleeping excessively, both are possible responses to stress and can perpetuate a stress management problem.

• Eat A Healthy Diet: Diets with sufficient vitamins and minerals, fiber, protein and healthy carbohydrates allow you to handle stress and balance chemical response to certain triggers.

• Get Physical Activity Through Exercise: Exercise is a natural mood booster and stress reducer that allows for better body function, heightened confidence and a number of other wellness benefits.

• Focus and Build upon the Positive: Find new ways to laugh more, enjoy hobbies, and strengthen your personal friendships and relationship with your family. Positive connection with others and actively taking steps to enjoy your life are healthy ways of reducing stress.

• Seek a Work Life Balance: Work and family life place high demands on everyone, but limiting your commitments to allow for personal growth and wellness is vital for balancing stress levels.

If you are putting your best efforts forward and you are still having difficulties managing stress, there could be another issue that’s interfering with your body’s natural ability to process and manage stress. A chiropractic examination can help determine if there are any physical causes for your distress. Chiropractic treatments are also a safe and highly effective way to release tension and stress, and serve as a reliable resource for health and wellbeing.