Every year in November, World Stress Awareness Day is celebrated worldwide. It is no coincidence that this holiday falls in autumn when energy is waning and mood is at zero. To better cope with this time, it is important to know how to behave correctly during stressful situations.
Stress is not only about mental health but also about physical health. Stress increases blood pressure and can even lead to a heart attack or stroke. Stress causes stomach ulcers, exacerbates bronchial asthma, and other diseases.
Therefore, the ability to cope with stress and quickly recover after another nerve-wracking experience is an essential self-care skill.
How to do this? Many people think that they need to pull themselves together, hold on, suppress their emotions to avoid showing weakness. As a result, internal tension only grows, and some last drop, some triviality can lead to a breakdown.
Psychologists say: when a difficult moment arises, one should not suppress feelings but gently return the body and mind to balance. To do this, it is important to master self-regulation techniques.
"There are natural and active ways. Natural ways include sleep, rest, walks, listening to favorite music, watching favorite movies, photographs, and replaying pleasant memories in your mind," says psychologist Lydia Arbuzova.
Among the active ways to cope with emotions, the expert named seven effective techniques.
Grounding Skill
Also known as the resilience skill.
"You need to ground yourself as much as possible — connect with stable surfaces. The simplest way is walking, where you press your feet against the hard surface of the floor and feel that support," explains Lydia Arbuzova.
If you are sitting, lean back in your chair or seat and feel that support.
Mindful Breathing
Take a long, deep breath; it should be twice as long as the exhale. For example, inhale for two counts and exhale for four. While breathing, observe the movement of your chest, abdominal muscles, how they expand during the inhale.
Another useful technique during stress is square breathing, where we inhale, pause, exhale, and pause again.
Awareness of Bodily Sensations
At the moment of stress, learn to notice what is happening to you right now. Perhaps there is stiffness or trembling in some part of your body. Maybe your speech tone, voice volume, posture, or body position has changed.
"Pay attention to the external manifestations of your behavior, to how we physically feel at this moment," advises the psychologist.
When a person notices such signals, the intensity of emotions decreases, helping to realize their true needs.
Self-Analysis Skill
While experiencing stress, it is important to note not only your physical state but also your mental state. What thoughts are swirling in your head right now? What emotions are you feeling?
"Understanding your feelings helps regulate your reaction. Stay in the present moment. Learn to notice what is happening here and now, to realize what needs lie behind your emotions. If you get distracted, try to gently return your attention to the present moment without falling into judgments, comparisons, and emotional reactivity," says the expert.
Self-Persuasion Skill
In the fight against stress, it is important to adapt to new situations, listen to different viewpoints, and convince yourself with arguments. Additionally, it is necessary to be more tolerant of mistakes and failures. All of this is a manifestation of cognitive flexibility, which is important for self-regulation.
Self-Discipline Skill and Managing Your Impulses
It is essential to learn to manage your impulses and urges.
"If we are constantly in a mode where we need to get pleasure here and now, it worsens our ability to adapt; we adapt worse to something new, and it becomes harder for us to achieve long-term goals," explains the psychologist.
Our behavior should be directed towards the future, focused on consequences, on the goal that our actions should lead to."
Proper Reaction
"We cannot choose our emotions. We feel what we feel. But we can choose our behavior, our reaction, how we cope with emotions," emphasizes Lydia Arbuzova.
If you feel anger and rage, and you understand that you are about to explode, the expert advises to do an energetic release.
"Curse in a gibberish language, ramble about something, punch the air with your fists, puff your cheeks, beat a rhythm with your feet. But if you express anger, do it in the form of 'I-messages': 'I am angry,' 'I am irritated because...,'" says the psychologist.
According to the expert, when we learn not to 'merge' with our emotions and express them in a safe way, a useful gap appears between them and our reaction, which helps calm down and cope with stress.
