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Stress

Student’s Name

Tutor’s Name

Course

Institution

Date of Submission
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Abstract

Stress is the condition a body experiences when it is put under extreme pressure. Chemicals are released into

the bloodstream when a body feels stressed. These chemicals help to give the body strength and energy. Stress has

both positive and negative effects.

Stress can affect a person positively. It may help in bringing out the best in an individual. Inspiration can arise

when a person is under pressure. At some point, the performance of some individuals is not affected by stress because

they have become immune to it.

Stress can also affect an individual negatively as it can limit performance, cause anxiety, and other

psychological problems.

Whether at the workplace or during other day-to-day activities, we all experience stress at some point. Some

people get stressed out because of the pressure that is put on them at work to meet up with deadlines or to keep up

with specific rules and regulations. Aside from unconducive workplace, the stress levels of individuals can also be

influenced by the environment and other external factors. Some of these external factors are; resource availability,

organizational work ethics, workload, social setting, or even available technological resources.

It is normal to feel some amount of stress, but when it becomes too much, it may cause physical or even

mental illness. Individuals with high stress levels are victims of high blood pressure or fatal heart attack. Due to these

factors, identifying the causes of stress and its effects is significant in formulating strategies of protecting individuals’

health.

Most of the times, anxiety or nervous tension is confused for stress. That should not be the case. Stress is

known to be caused by fear, but anxiety is not stress by itself. Stress is something a person can quickly recover from

when the right actions are taken. Stress can be avoided in a work environment where all working conditions are

conducive. When people work in situations that they are not adapted to, they get vulnerable to stress. Such stress

gradually disappears as one continues to adjust to that environment. Depending on the stress level, pressure can be

classified as mild, stiff or even chronic.

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When a person develops loss of appetite or an increase in blood pressure, they might be going through a mild

form of stress. If these symptoms are not adequately managed, they may result in a strain that is stiff. Failure to

counter pressure at the stiff level eventually leads to chronic stress. In the chronic stage, individuals are mentally

unstable and thus unable to cope with problems as they often get frustrated. The individuals develop psychological

issues. This stage is often termed "Burn out." It causes emotional weakness and apathy. People who get to this stage

are usually the ones who undergo high pressure during their day-to-day activities. Their environment is too

overwhelming for them to cope to and they thus need professional guidance to assist them to tackle their situation.

In this book, we will be discussing the causes of stress, different types of stress, the effects of stress on

individuals, and the measures to counter pressure.

Stress is not an isolated case. It is a general issue that lots of people from all classes of life have experienced in

one way or the other. Statistics show that over 500 million of the world’s population experiences stress. Stress can be

said to be a situation in which the mind and the body of a person function abnormally because of exposure to high

pressure that pushes them into accomplishing goals that are somewhat difficult and overwhelming to their emotions.

However, a lot of people have developed stress coping mechanisms that enable them to deal with stress-

related issues. Such tools include behavioral, cognitive and psychological methods. This is not to categorically state

that all these methods work on people experiencing chronic stress. Some of the chronic stress subjects may need to

seek medical attention as this level of stress may lead to mental health issues. Stress is widely considered to have

negative impacts on individuals, which may not be the truth at all. When pressure is experienced in small amounts, it

can push individuals to achieve their best. The constant change of the world brings about the need of meeting up with

the emerging demands. Humans will hence experience stress while trying to keep up with the new trends which are

now viewed as part of life. However, it does not mean that seeking solutions to minimize the adverse effects of the

dynamic world should not be treated with the utmost care.

The major problem associated with stress is that a lot of people are unable to determine at what point it is

necessary to seek assistance. Research lists that an individual should find help as soon as the signs and symptoms of
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stress are revealed on a regular basis. Talking about stress with people who will listen and give advice and guidance

on how to handle or minimize its effects tend to reduce stress levels. These people may be friends, family members,

doctors or psychologists.

With all that has been said about stress by different researchers, a satisfactory conclusion can be drawn from

the fact that pressure is not only manageable but can be reduced to its barest minimum through the implementation of

specific activities and changing lifestyles that induce stress. Some lifestyle changes that help in reducing stress

include developing new interests and hobbies to get the mind off worries, making new friends and finding time for the

old ones, finding a balance in life, practicing straightforwardness and assertiveness, doing away with procrastination,

getting enough sleep, exercising more, eating healthy and having holidays. All these lifestyle changes are only but a

few strategies that can help reduce stress levels.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Stress as a word and a daily experience has become very common in our world today. The fast-paced global

environment and the need for high-end competition continue to give the world’s population a reason to accept stress

as part of their everyday living. Does stress make us more productive or does it have a negative impact on our lives?

Almost every adult carrying out their day-to-day tasks are said to have experienced stress several times during their

lifetime. Stress in humans is one of the contributing symptoms to suicide. While this is not the only factor, it is a

significant symptom amongst people who have committed suicide. This makes it a crucial aspect of life. Statistics

show that one person in the world dies by committing suicide every 40 seconds. How does one know when it

becomes more than just a body reaction to the environment or a situation?

Stress is a condition which makes your body react to different physical conditions and circumstances that tend

to affect or attack it. However, these conditions are translated as stress in mind. The status of stress in the body is

mainly influenced by how you respond or maintain it. You can keep yourself in that mental state or work on leaving

that stressful mental state.

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The condition of stress in our body is not an abnormal condition; instead, it helps the body prepare for the

inappropriate situations that might attack or harm it. When the body is stressed, it is ready to fight or run from its

attacker. While this appears to be very healthy; controlling stress levels and stress responses of the body is where the

challenge lies.

Therefore, stress is not just a feeling that would go away with time or something to be seen as a usual way of

life. Feeling stressed might be normal or abnormal as well. It becomes the responsibility of the individual to ensure

that the body does not get used to feeling stressed. It is more than those tired days. Certain hormones like adrenaline

and cortisol are released in the body when it starts to feel stressed. Adrenaline refers to a hormone that is secreted by

adrenal glands and leads to increased blood circulation, breathing, and muscle exertion.

On the other hand, cortisol refers to a hormone that is produced by adrenal cortex when a person is stressed

out and is inflammable. The body becomes very attentive and ready to act more than it usually does. You begin to feel

prepared to work and move.

Feeling stressed often gets the body on a state of action, keeping the brain in the mode of run or attack,

whereas the senses are sharpened to take on anything. When the body feels this way for long periods, it begins to

adapt to the change. An individual at this point may start to interpret circumstances and situations that might not pose

much difficulty as stressful. When this happens, the body goes through another kind of stress.

This feeling triggers adverse reactions in the body because it is a condition that sets in the body rather than a

temporary condition. The feeling then starts affecting the organs and the muscles that are strained to keep up with the

new state.

Stress to some extent has become a certainty in life and unavoidable, but like everything else in life, it can be

managed to reduce its effects significantly. Recently, stress and stress management have become widespread than

they were a decade ago. The realization that many people suffer from stress and are actively seeking for help to

combat its effects has made the need of studying and understanding it critical. In general, there is a notion that stress
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comes into reality when things are not going as planned, and this varies from one person to another. However, the fact

remains that these things can be changed for the better with work and a little change in attitude.

This phenomenon has numerous definitions, but none is yet to encompass the full meaning of what stress is

because most of the descriptions are based on a perspective. The definitions are inconclusive as the definition of stress

differs from an individual to the other.

According to the American heritage dictionary, stress is defined in a way that puts it into perspective that

refers it as " a mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external

influences and is capable of affecting physical health, usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood

pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression.”

Stress is often related to anxiety, but it can also be ascribed to lots of negative emotions, and these emotions

include sadness, resentment, anger, shame, fear, worry, anger, frustration to mention but a few. If this is critically

looked at, one can see the connection between stress and lots of negative emotions as most are a response to

accumulated stress. With all that being said, it can be stated that there is a threshold in which stress is healthy, and

anything above that threshold becomes harmful and needs to be corrected.

The way people respond to stress varies from person to person. Individuals react very differently, and some of

the common reactions to stress include sleeping problems, sweating, eating disorder, change in appetite, smoking,

drinking alcohol, lashing out at others, and many other responses. All these responses are triggered when an

individual experiences stress. These responses are known as flight or fight response. It is important to note that these

responses are not just physical as previously mentioned but are behavioral and emotional as well and they may

include anxiety, irritability, and low self-esteem. This will, of course, make the individual withdrawn, irrational,

indecisive and tearful.

Stress is not predictable, and that is what makes it hard to anticipate or prevent. Most of the situations that are

likely to cause individual’s stress are very unpredictable, uncertain and uncontrollable. This sort of conditions may

lead to an unexpected conflict, a loss or falling short of expectation. The situations that induce stress might as well be
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time restricted such as having a deadline to a specific set of work, examination, competition, presentation, and other

time-limited activities. Ongoing situations are also capable of inducing stress. These may include meeting family

demands and worrying about a current job security.

CHAPTER 2: TYPES OF STRESS

There are three types of stress:

• Acute Stress

• Chronic stress

• Episodic stress

Acute stress

Acute stress is the most common form of stress. It results from pressures of the recent past or from a particular

situation such as a deadline task, a performance or in the event of facing a difficult challenge. Acute stress lasts for

short periods and may lead to damage to the human body. However, the severity of the damage by acute stress is

lighter than that caused by chronic stress. Cases of prolonged acute stress eventually result in chronic stress. Acute

stress is associated with irritability, headaches and stomach disturbances for a short period.

Short-term Effects of Acute Stress

The most common signs and symptoms are:

• Transient Emotional Distress- Some of the signs and symptoms include anger or irritability, anxiety and

depression.

• Transient Muscular distress- Signs, and symptoms include tension, headache, back pain, neck pain, jaw

pain, and other muscular tensions that lead to pulled muscles and tendons and ligament problems.

• Transient stomach- Gut and bowel problems, heartburn, acid stomach, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation.
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• Transient hyperarousal- Elevated blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, rapid pulse, sweaty palms, heart

palpitations, dizziness, migraine headaches, cold hands or feet, shortness of breath, sleep problems, and

chest pain.

Acute stress can present itself in anyone’s life. It is, however, highly treatable and manageable.

However, repeated acute stress can become very harmful for your physical and mental health.

Chronic stress:

Chronic stress is the most harmful type of stress. If chronic stress is left untreated over a long period, it can

significantly and often irreversibly damage your physical health and deteriorate your mental health.

Even though people sometimes get used to chronic stress in a way that they may feel like they do not notice it,

it continues to wear people down and hurts their relationships and health.

For instance, chronic stress can be caused by some aversive experiences in childhood or traumatic experiences

later in life. It can also set in when an individual feels hopeless or when they do not see an escape from the cause of

stress and gives up on seeking solutions.

When individuals suffer from chronic stress, their behavioral actions and emotional reactions become

ingrained. There is a change in the hardwiring of the neurobiology of the brain and body which makes them

constantly prone to the dangerous effects of stress on the body and the cognitive mind regardless of the scenario.

Stress puts a lot of pressure on the body. This can be manageable in the short-term, but if it is constant, it can

be bad for both the physical health and emotional wellbeing of a person. Eventually, exposure to a lot of stress for an

extended period can cause an individual to burn out. Burnout is a state of complete mental, physical and emotional

exhaustion.

Long-term stress is exhausting and can prevent a person from taking part in activities that are typically

meaningful. This is emotional burnout. Some of the signs of burnout include:

• feeling exhausted and unable to perform basic tasks

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• Losing motivation in various aspects of life including work and friendship.

• feeling unable to focus or concentrate on tasks

• feeling empty or lacking emotions

• losing passion and drive

• experiencing conflict in relationships with co-workers, friends, and family

• withdrawing emotionally from friends and family.

Episodic stress

Episodic stress occurs when someone takes on too many tasks, making them overwhelming and thus unable to

fulfill the demand for such tasks. People experiencing this type of stress seem to have disastrous situations, live in

chaos and are disorganized. They are unable to attend to their daily duties in time due to their high level of forgetting.

They misplace things as they are preoccupied with fixing episodic events that occurred before the next one. It seems

like they live under Murphy’s Law; “What can go wrong, will go wrong.”

Like acute stress, our body organs become stressed and overworked and soon develop heart diseases, high

blood pressure, compromised immune systems, and possibly suffer from a stroke.

Some common reactions while experiencing episodic stress are having a short temper, very irritable, feeling

anxious, and feeling tense. Such people are always in a hurry and seem abrupt and hostile towards people.

Relationships become strained, and eventually, their loved ones feel stressed and irritated. They often initiate a

negative atmosphere at home, work, and other social settings. There is nervous energy, and some of them are unable

to perform in real life without chaos.

Type ‘A’ personalities like to take on a lot of activities, and most of them can organize themselves and meet

their demands. Other characters in this level of stress are unable to provide for their families, and they usually lack

time to reconnect with their families.

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The signs of episodic stress can range from cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioral symptoms and

include:

• Anxiety or a constant sense of worry

• A feeling that events are beyond or out of your control

• Displaying unusually high levels of poor judgments or making poor decisions on a regular basis

• An inability to concentrate for any length of time and memory issues

• Mood swings but mainly being irritable and impatient with those around you. These feelings can be made

worse by challenging events or situations

• A sense of being isolated or lonely, even when surrounded by people

• Sadness and depression

• Behavioral changes can include a change in eating habits or loss of appetite, changes in sleep patterns

(either sleeping too much or much less than average)

• Isolating yourself from family and friends and avoiding social occasions

• Using drugs or alcohol as a way to escape your feelings or to relax

• Neglecting your responsibilities or finding ways to prevent them

• The development of nervous habits such as nail biting or pacing

The physical symptoms of episodic stress can be similar to those of people suffering from acute anxiety.

These can include nausea and diarrhea, stomach complaints such as indigestion, pain, and discomfort, shortness of

breath and chest pains, a feeling of heaviness on the chest or rapid pulse, loss of libido, and joint and muscle pain.

Being sick from colds and flu on a regular basis and not recovering quickly can also be a sign that your body is

struggling to cope with a high level of stress. Over the past decades, episodic stress has been associated with heart

problems such as coronary heart disease and high blood pressure.

CHAPTER 3

Impacts of stress
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The effects of stress have been noted to be affecting the whole world in various ways. Stress has taken the

highest votes in the causes of suicidal cases. This havoc strikes slowly in a way that its patients cannot realize that it is

having the best part of them. Chronic stress causes different cognitive, behavioral, emotional and physical disorders

that have been proven to be hazardous.

Cognitive effects

These are the effects of stress that affect one’s ability to perceive knowledge of something. This effects

typically affect the mental part. Stress affects the mental part of its patient in several ways which include:

• Inability to concentrate

• Indecision

• Poor judgment

• Memory problems

• Self-doubt

Inability to concentrate

Chronic stress increases the stress hormones which are chemical substances in the brain thus making them

deplete in the brain’s nervous system causing a person lack interest and feel fatigued. With a tired mind, it is difficult

to focus on anything hence you cannot think clearly. This will, therefore, deny you the ability to concentrate.

Indecision

This is the inability to make a firm decision, or in other words, it is the inability to make up your mind. When

someone is suffering from prolonged stress, several things run inside the person’s head. This causes a lot of anxiety. It

is thus difficult for the patient to make a decision even on the simple things that don’t require much attention.

Poor judgment
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The brain works under circuitries that enable people to make decisions. Chronic stress impairs these circuitries

making decision making difficult. A research that was done on mice indicated that the mice with stress were most

likely to make risky decisions. Similarly to human beings, those with impaired decision making due to stress are most

likely to make risky choices.

Memory problems

Stress causes the stress hormones to move into the bloodstreams. This causes changes to how the brain works

either by physically changing parts of the brain. With the body adapted to handling short term stress, chronic stress

causes the body to elevate the levels of circulating cortisol. This may lead to long term brain damage which causes

memory loss.

Self-doubt

When you have old ideas and thoughts stored in your brain, you are most likely to block yourself from

reaching your standards and not getting to your goals achieved. Stress prisons someone into believing that success is

not meant for them for they see it be beyond their reach.

Physical effects

Stress if left untreated, it can lead to health problems that would require advanced medical attention. The body

when under stress produces a response by releasing the stress hormones into the bloodstream. This may affect the

heart and skin if left untreated. Some of the physical effects that are associated with stress include;

• Chest pains

• High blood pressure

• Skin complaints

• Aches and pains

• Frequent colds
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• Indigestion

Chest pains

Although many fear that having chest pains can lead to stress, the other way round is tenser. When you are

stressed up, your body responds effectively to the attack. This leads to increased muscle tension which also affects the

heart muscles which is painful.

High blood pressure

The body’s reaction to stress affects the blood stream making them narrow and the heart to beat faster. This

builds up tension within the bloodstream causing high blood pressure. Stress can be the root cause of stroke or heart

attack as it increases blood pressure which makes the heart to beat faster.

Skin complaints

Hormones like cortisol that are produced by the body when under stress make the skin to produce more oil

making the skin prone to skin problems. Stress also causes a chemical response to the body that makes the skin harder

since the skin becomes more reactive and sensitive. Adrenergic urticaria is a skin condition that leads to the formation

of red papules in the skin. This is a common skin problem caused by stress.

Aches and pains

While responding to attacks, the body muscles become tense. Stress causes hyperstimulation that causes the

body muscles to be tight and sometimes the muscles remain intact even after relieving stress. The tight muscles cause

pressure to build in the nerve which leads to pains.

Frequent colds

Chronic stress sometimes weakens the body’s response to cortisol hormone which in turn impairs the body’s

immunity. As we all are aware of, the cold strikes when our body is less immune.

Indigestion
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Stress increases the amount of acid in the stomach by depleting production of prostaglandins which protect the

stomach from the acidic effects. With these effects continuing, the body is exposed to risks of gastrointestinal diseases

such as indigestion.

Behavioral effects

Stress makes people anxious which leads to them doing things they are not aware of. Stress, however, affects

people differently. Therefore, different people show different signs of stress, for instance, when stressed some can

sleep for long hours while others find it difficult to sleep.

Some of the behavioral effects caused by stress are:

• Isolating oneself from people

• Sleeping disorders

• Increased drug abuse

Isolating oneself from people

When stressed, one finds it difficult to cope up with other people. They often shy off from activities that could

make them interact with other people. They limit themselves and think that people do not want to a with failures like

them.

Sleeping disorders

Those suffering from stress tend to either sleep too much or lack sleep. When your mind is filled with

emotions and anxiety, you find it difficult to relax your mind and have enough sleep. On the other hand, some people

when stressed tend to fall asleep to relax their minds. Rest during stress therefore varies.

Increased drug abuse

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Most people engage in drug abuse to cheer themselves up while others try to escape the guilt that may be

dragging them to stress. However, the stress often comes back after the drug’s effects fade away. To keep the stress

from coming back, they increase the consumption rate of these drugs.

Emotional effects

One's emotions are mostly affected by stress. Some of the psychological effects include moodiness, irritability,

depression, frustration, anxiety, and fatalistic thinking. Stress makes people feel emotionally alone and thinks that

they are the only ones who can understand themselves. They usually spend a lot of time revisiting whatever that made

them stressed up.

CHAPTER 4: EFFECTS OF STRESS

Stress has been attributed to several physical and emotional disorders in recent years, and the list includes the

following: heart attack, stroke, depression, suicidal thoughts, hypertension, high blood pressure and a weakened

immune system that exposes the body to all forms of diseases that the immune system is unable to fight off. Stress has

also been attributed to some viral infections such as herpes, some types of cancers, and cold. Research has also shown

that stress has a direct effect on the skin as well as causing ailments like rashes, hives, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel

syndrome, etc. Stress is also attributed to cases insomnia where individuals get little or no sleep at nights. The fact of

the matter is that there is hardly any form of illness or ailments that exists that stress has nothing to do with.

Everybody experiences stress, and it could be as a result of daily activities such as work or loss of loved ones,

medical diagnosis, war, bad news or demands from family. All these are situations capable of inducing stress. As

pointed out earlier, short term and immediate stress such as other acute stress are not entirely harmful to an

individual's health. Stress below the threshold can thus be good for an individual's health as it helps the body develop

mechanisms that help it cope with similar or more stressful severe situations. When a condition that induces stress

occurs, the body's defense mechanism produces hormones that increase the rate of heartbeat while preparing the

muscles for the actual response when needed. It is highly possible that this process can take a toll on the health of an

individual and this is when the stress levels stay elevated longer than usual.
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Stress affects almost all the body systems. The systems include a respiratory system, nervous system,

cardiovascular systems, digestive systems, muscular system, reproductive system, and the immune system.

Respiratory System

All forms of stress are not favorable to the human respiratory system. When a stressing situation occurs, it

may make the breathing process harder by causing a rapid increase in breathing. Such a case may eventually lead to a

panic attack or a heart attack.

Nervous System

When an individual is stressed, the body has a defense mechanism called fight or flight which responses by

fighting the potential threat. It is the nervous system that sends a signal to the adrenal gland to initiate the secretion of

adrenaline and cortisol. When these hormones are secreted, they cause the heartbeat rate to increase which in turn

raises the blood pressure of the individual in question and thus disrupts the digestive process and increases the glucose

levels of the bloodstream.

Cardiovascular System

This system of the human body is the most affected system by the acute stress. This momentary stress occurs

in short term situations. For example, the anxiousness of an athlete who is about to take part in a race is a short term

stress. The heart rate of the individual increases causing stronger contractions of the heart muscles. This causes the

blood vessels that carry blood to large body muscles and to the heart to dilate thus increasing the amount of blood

being pumped to these parts. When the individual experiences reoccurring acute stress then the coronary arteries get

inflamed which gives rise to a severe heart attack.

Gastrointestinal System

Some individuals when under stress tend to either eat more or less than usual. Increased food intake or alcohol

intake leads to heartburns or an acid influx in the stomach. This leads to stomach pain or even vomiting in case of

adverse stress. People undergoing stress may have issues with their digestion process making the intestines to be very
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selective of nutrients that they absorb. Stress also determines the rate at which digestion takes place; either it occurs

fast and causes diarrhea, or it occurs slowly and causes constipation.

Reproductive System

When women experience stress, abnormal menstruation periods can be experienced. These may either cause

more pain than usual or make it longer thus reducing sexual desire. Cortisol is produced in excess when men undergo

stress. This disrupts the normality of the reproductive system. When a man is experiencing a chronic form of stress,

sperm and testosterone production is hindered leading to low sperm count hence persistent cases impotence.

Immune System

During stress, the human immune system which is responsible for the defense mechanism responds to short

term stress. Over this short period, it helps the human body to avoid infections and secrete hormones that cause blood

clotting and healing of wounds. However, when an individual suffers from episodic stress or chronic stress for a

prolonged period, the immune system becomes weakened due to constant secretion of defense hormones causing the

response to infection to slow up. The human body is thus rendered susceptible to infections and diseases like flu,

common cold, etc.

Muscular System

The muscular system is the body system that allows body movements and the circulation of blood throughout

the body. This becomes an issue in the event of contractions occurring over an extended period especially in episodic

acute stress and chronic stress. When this happens the individual experiences severe headaches, migraines and other

issues such as musculoskeletal conditions.

Endocrine System

When the human body is under stress, the adrenal glands produce cortisol and epinephrine (referred to as the

stress hormone) after the stress signal is received from the brain's hypothalamus. The liver then produces glucose after
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the cortisol and stress hormone produced by the adrenal glands have been secreted. This enables the individual's

defense mechanism flight or fights to be active and ready for the potential threat.

CHAPTER 5: EVACUATING STRESS

There are various ways of managing stress. Some methods work better than others. Everyone is a different

from the other. Therefore, one individual’s body and mind will respond differently from that of another one. The

following are various ways of managing and evacuating stress:

a) Move

There are a lot of benefits derived from exercise. First, it is the best-known stress reliever in existence.

Regular exercise can reduce stress, improve mood, and improve self-confidence. Even if a person cannot spend 30 to

60 minutes in the gym every day, they can still reap the benefits of exercise. Just taking a moment to do ten pushups

or jumping jacks can improve a person’s mood and help them feel better. Taking a walk around the block or an office

or classroom is part of an exercise.

b) Stretch

The next best solution after a workout is mindful relaxation of muscles. If there is enough room, a person can

stretch their arms over their head or put their hands on their hips and lean forward as far as they can. In case a person

is stuck behind a desk, they can hold their feet out straight and point their toes as far away as possible.

c) Breathing

Just close your eyes and take a breath. Breathe in through your nose while being mindful of the air as it passes

through the nostrils into your lungs. Hold it for a moment and then release it. Starting with one, slowly count as much

as you can. If you lose your place, start over counting at one or on whatever number you remember last. Do not

worry about the numbers. There is no need to add more stress.

d) Relax
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While performing the breathing exercise, try to focus on individual muscles and purposefully relax them and

release the built-up tension. Start with your toes and move up to your feet then ankles. Remember to involve each

muscle or group of muscles all the way through your body during this exercise. If you are having trouble relaxing a

muscle, tense it up for a moment or ball up your hand into a fist and then let it out slowly. If you fall asleep while

trying to relax, that is ok too.

e) Slow Down

Most of the time there is a good chance that you are going too fast. Try to slow down and take a deep breath.

Try to focus on one thing at a time. Multi-tasking only makes us less efficient and heaps in more stress. Any job

worth doing is worth doing right. No one will remember how quickly you did something if you did it wrong and no

one will care how long you took if you did it right at the first time. Take your time and do things the right way.

f) Take a Break

It is incredible how much stress melts away when you leave all that you were doing behind. Just get up and

walk around. Spend five minutes playing a game or reading an article. Take a few minutes to catch up on an online

video. As long as you can keep yourself on track and get back to what you were doing, there is only useful in taking

five.

Now let's shift our focus a little from things to do right now to take an edge off your stress to jobs that require

a bit of planning and time to execute. They wind up being more preventative than reactionary to reduce stress

instantly.

g) Sleep

Sleep is the most important thing your body needs. You can go longer without food and water than you can

without a nap. If you are looking to relieve stress in your life start by evaluating your sleep. Most people need eight

to ten hours of sleep at night. Teenagers and Infants need even more than that. Taking a short nap or two during the

day is essential. The rest of the people who do not have that luxury need to guard their sleep time ferociously. Let

your body rest, and it will treat you well.

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h) Eat

Food is fuel for the body. It is the raw material that your body naturally turns into energy to power your brain

and your muscles. Eat enough of the right type of foods; proteins, green vegetables, fruits and grains at every meal.

Cheesy corn chips and soda or a dozen glazed donuts are not good choices for a meal to reduce stress. Give your body

what it needs to make energy, and it will reward you.

i) Hobbies

There is an entire world out there of fun stuff you can do that may or may not be directly related to your job,

school, or chores. Find something you enjoy doing. It is that simple. If you like working and playing by yourself,

you can collect stamps, build model cars, write, or draw. If you prefer group activities like playing games, reading

poetry or playing music there are lots of groups out there you can join and have fun with other people.

j) Talk about it

If something is stressing you out, you can always talk to someone about it. A friend or a relative if you like.

There are lots of other options as well though, like a trained or a licensed therapist. They are there to help, and you

pay them, so they have to be nice and listen no matter what you say. Pastors and clergy are other good options for

talking out stressors and problems. You can also talk about stuff anonymously online, but be careful with this one

because it can lead to fighting, which would be counterproductive.

k) Go easy on yourself

It is rare for everything to work out exactly as planned. Everybody does fail at a point in life. Do not thus

blame yourself over and over for failing. Instead, view failure as a lesson. For instance, a missed deadline can be an

opportunity to do something better. Massive, crippling anxiety is not your fault. Do not compare yourself to other

people as that will demean your self-esteem. There is a need to understand that it is okay to have a bad day and it is

okay to have good ones too. Let go of stress, and you will feel better, happier and get a lot more done.

CHAPTER 6
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Self-Care: Me, Before All.

In our current reality and the world around us, where stress is our most faithful daily companion, having a

routine where we as an integral person come first, and our care is a priority is very important. Self-care is nothing

more than what you do to yourself to better yourself. Self-care is those small actions which we carry out without any

other objective than to pamper and consent ourselves, in all possible ways in which the human being exists,

physically, emotionally and mentally. It may seem a bit selfish, but it is necessary if we want to live a happy life. For

this, you must first identify what we need in those aspects, that is, my body, my mind, and my emotions need to be in

balance with my inner being and my being exposed to the world.

How can we take care of others if we do not know how to take care of ourselves? Self-care answers these

questions. It is not selfish, but instead being balanced. If we are in balance and harmony, it will be reflected not only

in our health and physical appearance but in our treatment of people. We will know how to love them and take care of

them in a broader and empathic way.

It is effortless to get carried away by the daily routine and end up absorbed to the point of not having time for

anything but a few hours of rest at night. But there comes a time when we must stop and say, where am I? At what

point in my life do I find myself? This is where we reflect and understand that we must be a priority in our lives.

Once we have discovered and assimilated the importance of us as a priority in our lives and individuals in

society, by reflecting on what we need and identifying what affects us, we can work to provide a solution and thus

feel fuller with ourselves, lax and relaxed or just happy with our being. For this, we can work on different aspects of

our nature.

Physical care is the easiest to work with as we get to identify what ails us and provide a solution. For this, it is

highly recommended to perform some physical activity, which will help us to release the toxins accumulated by

stress, pollution, and poor diet.

Doctors recommend performing activities whose level of satisfaction is high so that they are played for

pleasure and not as a habit. These activities can vary from swimming (whose impact on the body is minimal and helps
 22

us feel light with immediate results using little effort), going to the gym and following routines for cardiovascular and

strength exercises, walking outdoors, performing treatments from beauty to your body, to yoga where you use your

own body as a weight for the different activities to be completed.

On the other hand, our mental care is based on enriching our intellect, increasing our ability to rationalize our

thoughts and know how to separate what worries us and what we cannot control, and what concerns us, and we can

control; we must focus to heal ourselves mentally and achieve an understanding that living now is what can better our

future moments.

Many times our mental stress is caused by thoughts of the "and if ..." of the past, or what we want to do, build

or avoid our future, forgetting that it is the where we live now and what we can change now can improve the future.

Once we understand this, we accept that we are part of a whole chain of actions and reactions, where there are times

when we only have to settle our thoughts, order them, dispatch what is useless and detrimental, what diminishes us or

make us doubt our abilities: leaving only in the positive, focusing on what we can do, in further developing our

intellectual, processing, memory, cognitive skills, simply accepting that we are imperfect beings, with vulnerabilities,

but with an impressive capacity for learning and improvement.

There are many ways to help us take care of and enrich ourselves mentally. One of the oldest but most

effective ways is reading economics; it does not require extra effort but has extraordinary benefits. You have to find

the right reading for you and your needs. You can find books on self-help or personal growth. If you need a guide to

let yourself be carried in the circumstances, grow through it to be a better version of yourself; you can learn new skills

or another language, they say that our perspectives on life and culture grow when learning a new language.

Meditation is one of the most fashionable activities currently, it requires very little time to apply it once we have

mastered it, and you only need a place that is pleasant and comfortable for you; when meditating we not only learn

how our body feels but our mind, every nook, every unexplored space, we learn to calm our anxieties, to identify our

insecurities and to be able to work on them, we learn to understand ourselves better, the inner self, and the needs to

correct them.
 23

Mental care is nothing more than understanding that we are not perfect and loving ourselves with our abilities,

and skills and our vulnerabilities. In this way, we will achieve the tranquility, harmony, and peace that we need to

surpass the moments and enrich ourselves.

Last but not least, is emotional care. Sometimes it is hard to realize how much emotional harm we have

allowed to ourselves. We do this by determining if the actions of others affect us and at what level. These are

activities that help us to take care of ourselves emotionally and disconnect from the imbalances that all of us can

suffer at some point; walls upon which we hit each other without knowing what to do to get out of there. The most

important thing that we must do appreciate ourselves as individual human beings, to recognize through self-analysis

how we feel identifying each one or the majority of emotions and what generates them. Understanding this can help

us improve, heal, grow and live in the appropriate, balanced and harmonious way we need, in a world of chaos and

individualism. Sometimes we only need to take a small vacation and disconnect from technology. A very enriching

activity and recommended self-discovery technique is to write a diary on what you feel and how you think, without

ties, without fear of what they will say. Ink your emotions and fears, making this a therapy to let go what affects us in

negative form and does not build in our life.

Self-care is nothing more than pampering and prioritizing ourselves, taking time in our weekly short or long

routines of our preference, that is only for us, where we can have a conversation with our inner self, advise ourselves,

love ourselves for me and understanding what you want to achieve.

The critical thing to dedicate time for self-care is that your health will thank you, you will feel more satisfied

and happy with yourself and your environment. Remember that Happiness is not a feeling but a way of life.

Conclusion

If all those that we have talked about earlier in the book are too much for you to absorb, please take this point

away while I do a short recap for you. Stress is always going to be your major distraction towards your goals, no

matter which life stages you are in now. To battle stress, remember first to identify the area of stress and how it

occurred. Who or what were the stressors and the factors that caused it? How did you feel at that point of time
 24

psychologically and physically? Try to apply the self-care techniques that best calms your mind and soul. Practice

deep breathing and step out for a walk. If it works, you will come back from exercise with a fresher and clear mind.

Stress could potentially affect you in many areas of your life; sleep, diet, mood, and your general wellbeing.

As you dive deeper, you understand that considerable stress is actively encouraged as it spurs healthy and competitive

challenges within oneself and their peers allowing them to know where their stress threshold is and how to control it

to better themselves. Healthy stress is usually taken on a lighter note, thus lowering the impact that it had on you.

However, negative pressure is not welcomed. It could potentially affect how you communicate with your loved ones,

your colleagues, and your family members. It lowers your productivity at work and in school, alters your mood and

feelings with people and circumstances, and in turn your overall wellbeing. Self-care is essential to combat and lower

your level of stress. So, you have to be aware of your stress level and aim to strike a balance in spending quality time

on your hobbies, with your loved ones, and away from stress.

In the previous chapter, I mentioned that keeping a diary can help you to be aware of your stress and feelings

towards it whenever they are present. It is one of the most underrated and cost-efficient tracking systems that I

strongly encouraged you to adopt and practice. Being portable, you could arrest your stress and feelings right at that

point they strike in a diary instead of allowing them to pile up on you.

Ultimately, you would know how to reduce best and fight off your stress. Always remember that stress usually

builds up in a short period. Time management and task prioritization can help you to place more emphasis on time

critical and vital task first enabling you to attend to them first before working on less essential functions. As a result,

you will experience a reduced stress build up.

Stress is everywhere, and it all depends on how you mitigate them. Conquer it, and you will understand

yourself better. Never undermine the effect of stress and your actions towards them.
 25

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