Some stress is normal, but excessive stress is not. It can lead to a variety of medical problems, both physical and mental. These can include high blood pressure, impaired immunity from disease, and depression. Here are a few ways to help handle stress.
Eat right. Stress can cause you to eat too much or too little, both of which are unhealthy and can lead to enhanced stress. Make a point of watching your diet carefully when under high stress. Personally I’m always tempted to eat more, but try to watch it.
Learn to say no and to confront potential problems early. For me this is often a problem with taking on too many responsibilities.
Exercise helps enormously. Try to exercise 30 minutes day or at least several times a week. It does make an enormous difference for me, although I’ll admit that when particularly stressed I’m usually short on time and this is tough to do sometimes.
Limit alcohol and drugs unless prescribed. I tend to have a drink or two a few nights a week. When stressed it’s easy to let that one or two become more, and the short term effects may be positive but the longer term effects tend to be more stress.
Learn what particularly stresses you out, and if possible avoid those situations. Being late stresses me for example so I try to be early. Certainly people sometimes stress me out so I limit my contact with them.
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