April 14, 2025
Tips for Managing Stress
April is Stress Awareness Month. Stress can significantly impact health and well-being, so it's crucial to understand and manage it.
Stress affects how people think, feel, and act. How individuals handle stress, relate to others, and make choices are all affected by their mental health. Mental health is more than just psychological well-being; it includes emotional and social well-being too. Stress can cause various health problems, including hypertension. Managing stress is essential for mental and physical health.
Here are some tips for reducing stress and improving overall well-being:
- Recognize and counter signs of stress. Your body sends signals that say "I'm stressed out!" These can include difficulty concentrating, headaches, cold hands, tight muscles, a nervous stomach, clenched teeth, feeling on edge, fidgety, irritable or withdrawn. Knowing how your body communicates can help you handle stressful moments. Learn to not only recognize when you are experiencing stress, but also to act to combat their effects.
- Take time for yourself. Take care of yourself every day. It's not selfish or self-indulgent — and it might require saying "no" to requests or prioritizing yourself along with your responsibilities. Start with small changes in your routine to help build resilience to stressful circumstances. Work in time to exercise, eat healthy foods, participate in relaxing activities and sleep. In fact, including a regimen of exercise, which for some may include yoga or meditation, can be very important when feeling stressed. Also, take time to notice the "good minutes" in each day and focus on the positive rather than the negative.
- Try new routines. From scheduling down time to blocking off time to plan and prioritize tasks, additional structure can provide a daily framework that allows you to attune to your body's signals. Then, you can take steps to potentially manage stress earlier.
- Stay connected and make new friends. Stay in touch with family, friends and groups in your life — technology makes this easier than ever. Having or being a person to talk with can be reassuring and calming. For some people, video features and online communications can enhance the sense of connection.
- See problems through a different lens. Experts call changing the way we think and respond to stress "reframing." View sitting in traffic or around the house as an opportunity to enjoy music, podcasts or pleasant views. Reduce anger in response to rude or aggressive behavior by imagining what might be happening in that person's life. Keeping situations in perspective is an important way to boost stress resilience.
- Seek help with problems. Many people experience the same day-to-day strains related to caregiving, relationships, health, work and money. Look to friends and family, as appropriate, or other trusted individuals or resources for tips and information.
- Talk to a health professional if stress is affecting your well-being, you feel you cannot manage the stress you're experiencing, or stress has caused you to engage in or increase substance use.
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