Health
7 tips to help you use stress to your advantage
Having an adequate reaction to stress can be a useful tool to maintain your focus and ability to move forward in times of uncertainty, says Peter Bregman, leadership coach and author of “Point B: A Short Guide to Leading a Big Change.”
“Of course, it would be ideal if we all had stress reactions that led us to eat healthily, exercise, or meditate, but that is not the case. Almost always, we react negatively and almost in a self-destructive way,” adds Bregman in an article for the Harvard Business Review.
Making stress work in your favor is not impossible, and to help you achieve it, we share the following tips. Remember that consistency and willingness are very powerful.
1. Worry less and think of solutions
Worrying is the process of imagining painful outcomes and is of little use. Instead, focus on finding potential solutions to what stresses you, using stress as inspiration, says Matthew McKay, co-author of “Cognitive Techniques for Stress Treatment.”
2. Use adrenaline
When you feel stress, your brain releases chemicals like adrenaline, preparing you for flight. You can take advantage of it by identifying your physical responses, calming yourself by thinking they are normal, and then using the energy generated by that substance to carry out your activities.
To achieve this: Take a deep breath, count to four, and exhale, counting down from four to zero; repeat the cycle five times. Once you are calm, ask your body and heart what they need,” explains Eva Selhub, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
3. Be kind to yourself
Selhub states that you should not only “listen to your body,” but do so with care, as if you were trying to find out why a child is crying; this way, you can make decisions that nourish you instead of harming you. Self-compassion helps improve your overall quality of life.
4. Stimulate your mind
Doug Saunders, a professor at the University of Toronto, suggests using a strategy he calls “creating islands of peace”: choose an activity you enjoy and exercise your brain in such a way that time passes almost unnoticed. When your mind is relaxed, it tends to be more creative.
5. Get inspired
All your stressful moments have provided you with experiences, so when you feel upset, evoke memories of how you managed to overcome it before, indicates Robert Maunder, psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Hospital. Doing this will help you resolve the problem more quickly and earn you points at work.
6. Socialize
Stress can help you make more friends. If you get up from your seat at the office and chat with a colleague you like, your brain will release dopamine, the happiness hormone. In this way, you will not only reduce negative feelings but also become more sociable.
7. Love yourself and spend time with yourself
Not everything about stress has to be bad; think about the fact that if you feel very bad, you can choose to do something that brings calm to your body, such as sleeping, going to a relaxation center, or simply spending time meditating. This has benefits for your health and beauty.
Although we all experience stressful moments, learning to manage stress in your favor can help reduce the risk of having a heart attack or developing diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, indicates the National Institutes of Health.
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