How to Control Stress Throughout the Day

Stress can adversely affect your well-being. Whether it's long-term from doing a job you dislike or short-term from taking an exam, stress can create health problems or make already existing ones worse. The longer stress is allowed to affect you, the more likely it is your health may suffer. That is why it is important to find effective ways to reduce and control your stress level throughout the day. After all, arriving home in the evening wound so tight that sleeping becomes a problem is not going to do you much good, either.

Instructions

• 1

  Identify situations that make you stressed. You cannot relieve stress if you do not know what is causing it. Make a list of times when you experienced more stress than normal and find the common denominators. Is it your job? Does dealing with your kids make your blood boil? Do you have financial problems? Or does your high stress level have more to do with how you deal with situations rather than the situations themselves? Once you know, you can eliminate negative situations, cut down on time you spend in stressful ones and look for healthy, effective ways of coping throughout the day.

• 2

  Assess how you currently cope with stress. Do you have healthy mechanisms to lower your stress level, such as taking a walk or talking to a friend? Does managing stress mean having a cigarette, getting angry or drinking too much? Make a list of coping strategies you have used in the past. Identify healthy ways you dealt with stress by listing those that contributed to improvements in your physical or emotional well being. Eliminate the negative ones by pinpointing those that made you feel worse. Any time you experience a stressful situation throughout the day, react to it with something from your list of positive strategies. Over time, this will become automatic.

• 3

  Solve several small problems throughout your day. Phone a friend to make up after a disagreement. Make an appointment with a plumber to get a dripping faucet fixed. Small problems like this are often easily solvable whereas trying to fix a big problem, like finding a better job, may be difficult or take a lot of time. If you try and fail it will only make you feel worse. Focusing on and succeeding at things you can control gives your self-esteem a boost, which will reduce your stress throughout the day every time you are successful. This boost in confidence can also help you as you tackle larger problems.

• 4

  Take a break at least once a day and get some exercise. Exercise is a wonderful way to control stress. It makes you feel more relaxed, boosts your appetite and can even improve your self-confidence. Make time in your day for a short walk, a lunchtime game of racquetball or a yoga class. Just a few minutes can lower your stress level and make the rest of the day more manageable.

• 5

  Eat healthy and consistent meals. Start your day with a nutritious breakfast. Make sure you eat healthy snacks and meals throughout the day, as skipping a meal or surviving on coffee will make your stress level worse. A body that gets the right nutrition is better equipped to handle various levels of stress throughout the day, without becoming too exhausted to cope.

• 6

  Call a friend. If you are in the middle of a stressful situation, take a break and talk to someone who is not involved. Just five minutes getting advice from a friend can cause you to look at things differently. Often it takes a person outside the situation to point out that things are not as bad as they seem.

• 7

  Learn to say "no." Increasing levels of stress throughout the day often come from over-scheduling yourself or agreeing to do things you do not want to do. There are a finite number of hours in a day. Do not try to cram impossible amounts of tasks into them.