7 Effective Ways to Reduce Stress

2. 1 7 Effective Ways to Reduce Stress & Improve Your Mood Aditi Jasra; MACP, MBA (Registered Clinical Counsellor Canadian Certified Counsellor Certified Yoga and Mindfulness Facilitator) www.wellnessnorth.ca 16th September, 2021 Wellness North Counselling

3. 2 Introduction 1. What is Stress and Its Different Types 2. What Causes Stress 3. How Stress Affects our Mood and Body 4. Seven Effective Ways To Reduce Stress Have you ever been worried about something in your life like an argument with a friend or family member? Did you ever have an experience that filled your day, week or month with misery, frustration or tension? Have you felt jittery before a big event, exam, performance or flight? Perhaps, you feel concerned when a loved one is looking at their text messages during dinner or when you are waiting on a friend and they are running late? Stress is not an uncommon occurrence. We are all affected by it in one form or the other. People from different backgrounds, countries, ethnicities, social class, race experience stress and even though their way of dealing with stress might vary, they all notice its effects on their bodies. In this e-book, I strive to explain stress and its nuances in a very simple way and what can be done about it. So don't deny it. You've experienced some form of stress and either you've found an adaptive or maladaptive way to deal with it. Unless we recharge our physical, emotional, spiritual or mental battery after a stressful event, we can fold under its pressure. Instead of stress tearing your body down, understand it and use it to your advantage to improve your performance and your overall resilience to stressful situations. Wellness North Counselling

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5. 4 What Is Stress and Its Different Types Stress can be defined in a variety of different ways and different people will have different explanations for it. If you google the definition, it states 'pressure or tension exerted on a material object' or 'a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.' But from an expert's perspective, a Hungarian named Dr. Hans Selye adopted the term Stress from physics in his research, "the Body's General Adaptation Syndrome to Environmental Demands" which referenced Human Behavior. Since then, various disciplines in medicine have settled on the explication of stress as a response of the body triggered by unexpected environmental demands. That said, stress can be a result of either a negative or a positive cause. For instance, you were waiting on a promotion and were very hopeful about it but instead, your colleague received it. Now, how are you going to pay for that car loan? You brought that new car thinking that you had a sure-shot chance at it. That could be a form of negative stress. Now let's consider positive stress. You did well in the exam and you received good marks. Now your professors and your family are urging you to take two courses instead of one next semester. You want that too. Awesome! But are you ready to commit yourself to studying for the summer? This is positive stress. The Role of the Central Nervous System As of 2021, the research carried out on the body’s response to stress is not just profound but also diverse. This comes as no surprise in the complexities of the processes of our human bodies. To put it simply, the Nervous System plays an integral part in response to stress. It’s branched into: A) Central Nervous System (CNS): This is made up of the Spinal Cord and the Brain. B) Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Transmits information from body cells to the CNS and vice versa. Comprises of the nerve cells and nerve fibres. Wellness North Counselling

6. 5 When our body perceives a threat ( real or imaginary), it goes into flight, fight or freeze mode. Imagine, heavy breathing for extra oxygen for more energy, dilated pupils to effectively scan the surroundings, and contraction of blood vessels on the occasion of bleeding. The Autonomic Nervous system (ANS) is a part of our Peripheral Nervous system (PNS) and it further branches into the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic nervous system. Our nervous system responds by mustering all bodily energy through the stimulation of the sympathetic system when there is a sense of urgency or something important is taking place or when you need to be in an alert stage to get things done (e.g. when you are driving on a busy highway). Once the threat has been neutralized, the other ANS system – Parasympathetic takes control by giving you a sense of relief hence normalizing your physiological processes. The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating the ANS system. This defensive flight or fight response gets triggered due to the influx of hormones released in the body. Perhaps we humans in the modern civilization aren't often faced with real-life perils compared to the early man, but this defensive response is the default way of reacting to a stressful situation whether it's arguing with a spouse or the imminent prospect of getting hit by a speeding car. The Types of stress The types of stress could be influenced by factors such as age, demographics, and occupation. Here are the four common types of stress. A) Acute Stress: This is what you might identify as having a bad day. It could range from issues related to your job, family, friends, or regrets from the past and fears in the future. After the ANS responds to such types of stresses, you should be able to get back to normalcy. B) Episodic Acute Stress: Better referred to as cumulative stress, it’s tension accumulated over a lengthy time. It could range from hectic professions like is seen in nurses or paramedics (hopefully if you are in one of these professions, you have Wellness North Counselling

7. 6 enough protective factors or effective ways to decompress), regular abuse from a partner or tension from the government ie political unrest/lockdowns/covid-restrictions. C) Chronic Stress: This could be the buildup of cumulative stress if not treated. In most cases, it could result in severe mental disorders such as chronic depression to suicidal thoughts. D) Post-Traumatic Stress : This stems from severe life-threatening events mostly related to soldiers serving in long and violent operations. It could also be rooted in people with sexual assault histories, severe child or marital abuse, or civilians experiencing government instability during war like our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. 2. What Causes Stress? People's stressors depend on various factors. One might not have any financial constraints, but could be suffering from a chronic illness. Another might get a job post at a lucrative position in a well-off firm yet require them to move from to a different town. The factor is age is also coherent since an adult's stressors could not at all affect a teenager. A child's stressors can be different than those of an adult. Stressors too could either be positive stressors such as the example outlined about a rewarding job post requiring the person to move to a different city or the most common, negative stressors like illness of a loved one or financial struggles. Common stressors could include Positive Stressors like a job offer requiring you to move out, an exam that you are well prepared for, a meeting scheduled with your employer where he wants to offer you a raise and you're wondering what wrong you've done. As per research some of the Negative Stressors in a person's life can be childhood neglect, insecure attachment, spousal abuse, poverty, work overload, disease, natural disaster, or accidents. Having said that, how someone has adapted overtime to deal with problems is a factor in their healing as well as their ability to cope with minor and major forms of stress with the help of the right social support. Wellness North Counselling

8. 7 3. How Stress Affects our Mood and Body Once you fall victim to stress, it affects you physically, emotionally, cognitively, and how you normally behave in your everyday life and how you show up for yourself in different circumstances. Do you notice that you tend to avoid conflict or minimize your experience? Do you find yourself becoming defensive or argumentative? During a stressful situation, there is an influx of hormones secreted from the pituitary glands into the bloodstream. This is where one experiences high blood pressure and sweating. The aim of this is to supply you with enough energy to either deal with the threat or run away from it. Your emotional response would depend on the magnitude of the stressor, but your normal state will surge to irritability, shock, then sadness, and depression. If the source of stress is acute, aggression and loss of focus will be present, but if it's more of a chronic stressor, you'll fall into a depressive state where you'll be withdrawn and silent. Whether stressed or overstressed, your cognitive functions get impaired and this is the point where most of your efficiency gets abridged. You might experience disturbances in life or feel emotional overwhelm. Many times under stress, our levels of focus decrease because we are in a survival mode; our life depends on it so executive functioning goes offline. If you are too stressed, you cannot focus for long periods. Most of your blood will be channeled towards other body organs therefore your brain will lack the capacity to operate efficiently. This is the point where your ability to make good judgments is impaired and in most stressful situations, your utmost levels of efficiency and cognitive capacity are required, and ironically beyond a certain stress level, this starts to decrease. When it comes to stress relief, various methods can be applied whether it's in the event of the stressor or before the stressor to help you manage stress effectively. As you might probably expect, they'll require you to alter your way of life by either adopting new habits or dropping the old ones that deter you from dealing with stress effectively. Wellness North Counselling

9. 8 Remember that now we have enough research and data that we can adopt measures that can help us in reducing our stress levels. Acute stress can be handled efficiently before it becomes chronic. Hence, if you're experiencing anxiety attacks and elongated periods of sadness for the first time, seek help right away from professionals. When you're having a thought or behavioral pattern you can't control, this might be a result of OCD. These obsessive thoughts or habits might be trivial and if treated at the right time, more serious issues can be prevented like this condition overtaking your life and affecting your everyday life. 4. Five Effective Ways To Reduce Stress Some of the most common ways to support ourselves and recharge our batteries include : Eating a healthy diet Getting regular exercise Making Meaningful connections with supportive people Wellness North Counselling

10. 9 Finding our purpose in life Helping ourselves by setting healthy boundaries and reducing our interactions with toxic people Seven other stress management ways include: 1. Mindfulness - Wherever our attention goes, our energy flows. So paying attention to our thoughts and challenging distorted cognitions helps us change our emotions. Once you feel your mind drifting away in thoughts, you acknowledge these thoughts and then bring your focus back to your breath. 2. Deep Breathing This simple technique requires us to breathe from our belly. We can also explore a variety of different breathing exercises. This requires us to bring our attention to our breath and then channel it in a specific way. 3. Chanting Mantras - Similar to positive affirmations, this meditative state requires us to focus on a tailor-made prayer, intention, or a phrase spanning from a few mins to up to 20 mins. E.g. 'I am enough' 'May there be love, peace, and joy in my heart.' etc. This method is highly efficient in grounding us at the moment through mindfulness, in turn significantly helping us control short-term and long-term stress. 4. Relaxation Techniques - This could include visualization with the help of a guide, teacher, or through an app like headspace or intentional Progressive Muscle Relaxation. 5. Psychotherapy/Counselling - There is nothing wrong with getting help from skilled and trained clinicians who can tailor make a treatment plan that suits your specific situation and help you navigate through challenges in your life. Methods such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and Emotion focussed therapy are some of the common treatments for stress and other chronic mental conditions. Wellness North Counselling

11. 10 6. Journalling - Instead of letting thoughts circle around in our head, we can write them down in a notebook or a diary to express them. We can also focus on gratitude journaling i.e. focussing on what we are grateful for, what we have versus what we don't or what happened today that we are thankful for. Once gratitude journaling becomes a habit, there can be a positive shift in our mindset. 7. Move your body - Last but not least moving your body can be a great way to channel your energy. Our emotions need motion and this could be as simple as going for a walk to clear our heads or perhaps something more challenging based on our capacities like a kickboxing class or rock climbing, hiking, or swimming. Conclusion Stress has and will always be a part of life. However much it causes negative feelings, it could be channeled to the right causes such as growth, personal improvement, and on this topic, efficiency in work and finding solutions to problems. Nonetheless, this is if one learns to control themselves through stressful situations, finds ways to foresee and avert possible stressors, and ultimately, cultivates positive feelings such as optimism and happiness. Wellness North Counselling