Stress is endemic and never completely avoidable but there are strategies to improve your coping mechanisms and reduce stress. Even if our external environment cannot be changed to enable us to better cope with stress, we can change the way we think and how we act. Think of it as maintaining internal equilibrium as the storm rages outside. Managing stress is most effectively achieved using a holistic approach that incorporates exercise, good nutrition, sleep, a positive attitude and perhaps even nutritional supplementation where necessary. Here are some suggestions for stress management to get you started.

Keep a stress journal

This can help you identify stress triggers in your life and they way you handle them. Write down what caused the stressful situation, how it made you feel, how you responded and what eased the situation. If you can identify the stressors in your life, it will be easier to develop a stress management plan. 

Ditch unhealthy stress ‘coping’ mechanisms

It might seem easy to drink ten cups of coffee or reach for the biscuit tin, but these habits cause more harm than good. Try to avoid the following as temporary stress relievers and look for longer term, healthier solutions:

• Smoking.
• Drinking too much caffeine (which can actually increase the production of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline).
• Drinking too much alcohol (which causes dehydration, a stressor which leads cortisol levels to rise).
• Eating packaged and processed foods or overeating.
• Spending hours in front of the television.
• Isolating yourself from friends and family.
• Using recreational or pharmaceutical drugs to relax.
• Sleeping excessively.
• Taking your stress out on others.

Learn to say no

Don’t take on more than you can handle, either in the workplace or at home. There is nothing wrong with saying ‘no.’

Pace yourself

Don’t rush to get everything done. Your concentration and focus will be better if you devote all your attention to one task at a time. Rushing will likely cause panic and anxiety, which will in turn lead to further stress and poor concentration. None of us are superhuman, our bodies require homeostasis, a state of balance, and demanding too much of ourselves can push our bodies over the edge. Take a step back and slow down.

Breathe deeply

In modern society it is very common for people to have very poor breathing patterns. Breathing really is the very essence of life and breathing in a shallow erratic manner can cause an array of harmful physiological reactions, such as the accumulation of carbon dioxide or lactic acid in the body. Take the time to think about your breathing patterns. Take a long, slow deep breath. If, when breathing in you find your shoulders lifting upwards then you are not breathing correctly.

Avoid people who make you stressed

Think about the relationships you have in your personal life with friends and acquaintances. If anyone is making your life difficult and consistently causing you stress perhaps it’s time to spend less time around that individual, or end the relationship.

Be prepared to make changes

Some stressors are easy to take control of. If drinking caffeine at night keeps you awake, thereby causing stress, don’t drink caffeine at night. If going to bed late causes you stress because of lack of sleep, go to bed earlier. If shopping makes you anxious, shop online instead. There are some things you can change quite easily. Make a note of these things and what you can do to make your life easier and reduce stress.

Make a list and cut it down

Assess your schedule and responsibilities and pare it down to the absolutely essential tasks. Eliminate anything that isn’t really important.

Express yourself

Find a way to diplomatically communicate your feelings to others in a respectful manner. Keeping your emotions bottled up will increase resentment and the situation will not be resolved.

See the positive

Try to look at situations with a positive slant. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned, or perhaps you are actually being given an opportunity. If your train is an hour late, stressing about it won’t make it come any quicker. Take the time to relax and reflect. It may give you the time to make that to-do list!

See the bigger picture

Sometimes we get so caught up in our daily struggles that we forget to look at the bigger scheme of things. Ask yourself if all of your niggling worries are really important. If some of them don’t really matter, then focus your attention elsewhere.

Be kind to yourself

Don’t be hard on yourself. No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. No one is immune to stress. If you demand perfection from yourself you will set yourself up for failure, because no human being is perfect, nor ever will be. Be accepting of yourself.

Relinquish control

We love to rigidly control our lives but fail so miserably at it. This is because we don’t have as much control as we’d like to think. The behaviour of others is beyond our control and our direction and path is often beyond our control. Learn to become more intuitive and let go. This will enable you to develop greater clarity. Accept life’s twists and turns and change the things you can change, without worrying about what you can’t.

Have some 'me’ time

Everybody needs to have quiet time by themselves to relax, contemplate and just to be. This can be a time where you do some gentle yoga, tai chi, meditate, have a relaxing bath, create your own home spa or simply sit down quietly and listen to some soothing music. This will enable you to develop greater clarity in your life and foster self-esteem, as you are giving yourself the respect and time you deserve. Additionally taking time out demonstrates a willingness to take responsibility for your own health and well-being, something we all need to do.

Eat healthily

Eating a healthy, balanced diet is so important. Processed, packaged and convenience foods are full of additives, preservatives, trans-fatty acids, artificial sweeteners, sugars, and other nasties that could leave you with a headache and a ton of stress. They are also low in nutritional value and fibre. Monosodium Glutonate (MSG) is a flavour enhancer added to many foods. A Harvard Medical School Researcher discovered in one study that nearly 30% of 1, 529 people reacted to MSG. Some of the study participants had emotional reactions such as depression and insomnia.

The important thing to remember is not to spend your life leaping from one diet craze to another but to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Make sure you get plenty of fruit and vegetables (organic if possible as these are richer in nutrients and are not grown in nutrient deficient artificial fertilizers then sprayed with pesticides).

Essential fatty acids cannot be produced by the body so need to be obtained from dietary sources. These include Omega 3 and Omega 6 EFAs. The EFAs perform important functions such as: maintaining cell membranes and regulating cholesterol levels. Foods such as fish oil, flaxseed oil, rapeseed oil and walnut oil along with green leafy vegetables are good sources of Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 6 fatty acids can be found in foods such as: sunflower , safflower, wheatgerm, sesame and corn oil. Also be sure to get plenty of fibre in your diet from fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts, seeds and other healthy sources.

Some other key tips for tackling stress with nutrition include:

• Eat a healthy breakfast to set the tone for the rest of your day. Poached eggs, natural probiotic yoghurt, oatmeal, a green veggie juice with protein powder and sprouted rye bread are all good examples of a healthy, nourishing breakfast.
• Eat until your 80% full, rather than gorging on large meals, which will leave you feeling bloated and adversely impact on your digestion. 
• Make sure you are getting enough protein in your diet. Protein is needed by the body for our muscles, skin, hair and for our internal organs to function smoothly. If you eat meat and fish, opt for organic where possible. If you are vegetarian, goats milk and cheese and eggs are good sources of protein, as are legumes, nuts and seeds. 
• Drink lots of filtered or distilled water. Water makes up around three quarters of the human mass and is a major component in every cell. Water is absolutely vital to human health for numerous reasons. 

Make sure you do your research before embarking on any new dietary regime and consult a qualified health practitioner.

Get to a therapist

There are many complementary therapies out there that can soothe your stress away: acupuncture, aromatherapy, homeopathy, reflexology. Why not treat yourself to a few sessions with a professional complementary health therapist who can get to the route causes of your stress and help to empower you to make positive changes in your life. An American trial in 1993 demonstrated that reflexology reduced the participants PMS symptoms by 41% and a Danish study of migraine and tension headache sufferers found that reflexology helped 81% of the participants. Aromatherapy massage has been used on hospital patients to provide relaxation and relieve tension and stress.

Many people in modern society realise the benefits of complementary therapies and if they can squash your stress, you’ll be all the better off for it. 

Get regular exercise

Frequent exercise is one of the best methods of reducing stress, improving blood flow to the brain, helping eliminate toxins and releasing mood boosting endorphins that give you a greater sense of happiness and well-being. Exercise can also decrease stress hormones such as cortisol, divert your attention away from your problems to another activity, improve your appearance and skin tone, boost self-esteem, increase your health and improve your resilience to stress.

Get adequate sleep

Adequate sleep is crucial to proper brain function. Sleep deprivation has a negative impact on mental and physical performance. It has been reported that people who regularly get poor sleep can become less sensitive to insulin, increasing their risk for diabetes and high blood pressure. It is also suspected that inadequate sleep hastens the onset of aging, as well as diseases such as hypertension, obesity and memory loss. The hormone melatonin, which is a powerful antioxidant released by the pineal gland in the brain, gets to work during sleep, clearing out free radicals and other harmful toxins. Growth hormone, which is involved in tissue growth and repair is also secreted during sleep.