How to deal with feeling stressed - five tips
We all have some level of stress in our everyday life. You might think you're the only one, but unfortunately not. 74% of adults in the UK have felt so stressed and overwhelmed that they haven't been able to cope.
Stress and overwhelm can be triggered when we experience something new or unexpected that threatens our sense of self or feel we have little control over a situation.
Being constantly stressed can lead people towards more severe problems like overwhelm and burnout. With this level of stress in our system, we can feel like it's affecting everything we touch, impacting our day-to-day life and other things we do.
Without realising it, some level of stress and anxiety can often help us get things done. It's the body's natural defence against predators and danger - commonly referred to as the fight or flight response from when we were all cave people.
The science simplified.
Now science was not my strong point at school. But I wanted to explain what happens when you start getting stressed. Understanding the science helps me process what's happening, so I thought I'd share.
In very basic terms, a distress signal gets sent from the amygdala before comprehending what's happening. For example, when someone experiences a stressful event, the amygdala, an area of the brain that contributes to emotional processing, sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus. This area of the brain functions like a command center, communicating with the rest of the body through the nervous system, giving the person the energy to fight or flee. Then our adrenal glands pump, and adrenaline is released into our bloodstream.
Three areas of the brain that it’s good to be aware of.
Our brain was and always will work to keep us safe. However, if the brain continues to perceive something as dangerous, our body will continue to release cortisol, and then we stay on high alert. All those hormones will keep pumping around your body just in case you need to run a million miles an hour to get away from the lion.
From a psychological perspective, a psychological fear triggers this 'fight or flight' response.
The thing you're fearful of is something you associate with a negative experience. Fear is conditional, which means you've associated a situation or thing with negative experiences. This psychological response starts when you're first exposed to it and develops over time.
The thing that you're scared of is called a perceived threat, or something you consider to be dangerous. Perceived threats are different for each person.
When faced with this threat, your brain thinks you're in danger. That's because it already considers the situation to be life-threatening. Even if, logically, it isn't a life-threatening situation. As a result, your body automatically reacts with the fight or flight response to keep you safe.
It can show up in loads of different ways - feeling unsafe when walking down a street, pressure from your manager at work, chasing those deadlines, getting spooked by someone jumping out of a room, the list goes on!
So how can you take control of the stress you might be feeling now? Here are five tips to help:
Focus on what you can control, not on what you can't. Easier said than done, but keep practicing, and it will become second nature.
Target what is causing you to feel overwhelmed - don't let the default answer be 'everything.'
Step away from your desk and meditate. It doesn't need to be complicated; take five minutes away from what is causing your blood pressure to rise and reframe the situation.
Decide if what is causing your stress is a preference or a deadline. We often put these self-imposed targets that we feel we need to meet. But in reality, you're just putting more pressure on yourself. Stop.
You want to do everything, but assess if you NEED to do everything right now. You might be excited about everything you've got happening right now, but you can't do it all at once. So stop trying to.
