When confronting a tiger, a surge of adrenalin, cortisone and other stress hormones set us up to get away and survive. But when confronting a traffic jam, an angry customer or an overdue bill, the same inherent stress response becomes counterproductive, even damaging.
We are in need of effective stress management approaches to handle our anxiety which reduces those automatic responses and let us think calmly and certainly about the best method to solve the issue.
A Simple Technique for Managing Your Physical Stress Reaction
Often at the lowest level of our awareness is our physical reaction to stress. Our heartbeat speeds up, our breathing becomes fast and shallow, our blood pressure rises and our muscles tense.
Our bloodstream is flooded with a mixture of chemicals to help us survive a physically dangerous encounter intact. None of which helps with that dreaded phone call or late essay.
To calm yourself physically and move back into a state of calm readiness, simply become conscious of your breathing, take control of it, deepen it and slow it down.
An Easy Way for Handling Your Mental Stress Reaction
Emotional reactions to anxiety may be the most debilitating. Many times, also, our anxiety is social (to perform with different people), and getting emotionally angry can make the situation worse.
Emotional anxiety reactions include irritability or anger, anxiety, and melancholy or depression. Building on the simple stress management technique for the physical reaction, slow and deepen your breathing as you become aware of how your emotion feels in your body.
