Stress is part of life. How you deal with it can make a massive difference to tackling life's challenges and making the most of every day.
You're not alone if you suffer with stress
Over half of British adults say life is more stressful now than it was five years ago.
Money (26%) and work-related issues (28%) were given as the main causes of stress.*
If you feel you may have stress: find out more
*Source: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk
The stress response is essential for our wellbeing. It’s our body’s way of preparing to fight or flee danger, passed down from our distant ancestors.
But now, instead of being chased by a woolly mammoth, our ‘threat’ is something like a work deadline. And stress is a physical and emotional reaction to feeling unable to cope with it.
If you feel you may have stress
We all react to stress in different ways. You may have become so accustomed to feeling a certain way that you don’t even realise it’s linked to being stressed.
Some symptoms include:
Coping with stress starts with understanding your triggers, the parts of your life that cause you to feel the symptoms of stress.
Money keeps many of us awake at night. When bills mount up, it’s tempting to try and ignore the problem. But that may only make things worse.
Prioritising your bills will make you feel more in control. Plan a realistic budget. If you’re having problem paying bills, talk to the companies concerned. You might be surprised to discover how they can help you out. And the Citizen’s Advice Bureau have people trained to help.
Every job has pressures and responsibilities that can lead to feelings of stress, or finding it hard to cope and do your job well.
Start by taking the time to think about which aspects of your job seem to be the most stressful. For example, if you find time management challenging, try to write down your day’s tasks and do a difficult one first. You may feel a lot better about the rest of them.
Some family stress is almost inevitable. The best advice is not to bottle things up. The brief stress of resolving a problem is much better than the lasting stress of a dispute that goes on and on beneath the surface.
Kalms Day are a traditional herbal remedy used to relieve stress.
