Stress is an adaptive reaction, not necessarily a negative one, to changes in the environment. When there is an inability of our organism to respond to the requirements and demands and it is sustained over time and/or intensity, it can affect people’s state of health.
It is a process of response to external events and situations that are perceived as threats, dangers and generators of conflict. And its consequences are wear and tear, and physical and psychological exhaustion.
It manifests itself as a set of emotional, cognitive, physiological and behavioural reactions.
A certain state can be reached that is characterised by high levels of excitement and anxiety, with the frequent feeling of not being able to cope with the situation.
Intervention strategies
From an individual perspective:
Improve coping strategies and social and emotional support: Training in problem solving, assertiveness and time management.
Training in control techniques
- Identify anxiety as just another emotion and learn to manage it.
- Carry out workshops on relaxation, yoga, meditation.
- Learn to say “no”. If you reason it out, if you are convinced, others will accept it.
- Appreciate the effort you have put in, and if you see that you cannot achieve it, simply learn to postpone.
- Carry out time management programmes: proper planning avoids emergencies and overcrowding.
- Ask for personalised assistance: in cases of personal crisis, family problems, addictions, etc.
- Use mental training programmes, using the interactivity of new technologies.
How to release the symptoms of stress?
- Stop and take a few deep breaths.
- Admit that you are overwhelmed. Acknowledging our feelings is an important step towards facing them.
- Maintain a sense of perspective. If we have lived through previous situations and overcome them, we can do so now.
- Make a mental list of tasks to carry out and put them in order of priority.
- Complete only one task at a time, thinking only of what we are doing, as if nothing else existed at this present moment.
- Plan ahead to save time.
Other preventive habits
- Practice good eating habits: frequency, times and types of food.
- Assess your energy intake, so that there is no imbalance: energy intake/loss.
- Sleep as many hours as you need.
- Enjoy the holidays and weekends as a time for leisure and rest.
- Do sport or physical exercise: walking 10,000 steps a day is a healthy exercise.