Stress is not a new phenomenon; all of us are very familiar with it. We simply call it by a different name – Life!

Just think about this for a moment; is it really possible to separate life and stress fully? Isn’t the very process of living in some ways a stressful experience? Stress is a natural part of our life. What we need to take care of however, is excess build-up of stress over time that can affect our normal daily functioning.

Stress is not altogether bad. A little bit of stress helps us to stay alert, plan and be prepared for situations. The main problem with stress is that it has no upper limit; we can be as stressed as we want to be. Stress can reach unbearable crippling levels when we don’t observe its daily build-up.

Stress always starts at perfectly manageable levels. When we don’t pay attention to it, or take care of it, it can turn into a serious problem. Hidden stress is more dangerous than the stress that you can readily identify. So, what is the root cause of excess stress and how can we manage it?

The single biggest cause of excessive stress is a lifestyle that is devoid of adequate physical and mental rest. The root cause of stress is our fast paced and hyper stimulative lifestyle that does not allow us to rest and relax easily. In today’s day and age, unless we make a conscious effort to relax, we can very easily get stressed. 

Luckily, we can manage stress easily by making some simple lifestyle changes. It does not take the same amount of time to get rid of stress as it took to accumulate it.

You could be suffering from regular stress over long periods of time, but there are simple, effective and realistic solutions that can reduce your stress levels drastically. Read on further to know what they are.

Now, let’s look at 10 effective ways of dealing with stress:

1) If you’re getting into a stressful situation, back out of it if you can. It’s better to wait until later or just avoid it all together unless it’s something you have to deal with. If that’s the case, keep on reading…..

2) Stop and take 10 slow and deep breaths by keeping your entire focus on the breath. There’s also a great relaxation technique you can do anywhere, anytime: Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Curl your toes up as tight as you can and hold them for a few seconds. Move up to your feet, tighten those muscles, and then relax. Keep moving up your body to your calves, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, back, all the way to your scalp–scrunch your scalp–it feels amazing. This should definitely make you feel much better.

3) Pay close attention to the language of the conversation in your mind during a stressful situation. Most of the time your mind isn’t on your side. Make a conscious effort to slow down your rate of speech and think about each word. Regretful things are often spoken during stressful moments.

4) Identify persistent and recurring problems (and people) that are inducing stress, and try to solve or avoid them as appropriate. If there’s something that bugs you every single day, let’s say, an annoying squeaky door, oil the darn thing! You don’t need such trivial things adding to your stress. If you don’t like country music, then change the station! You get the drift?

5) Take regular breaks during work and for goodness sakes, don’t discuss work problems with colleagues during a break! Take a walk, sit outside, listen to a favorite song–do something different; that’s why it’s called a “break”.

6) Don’t give more than necessary importance to your financial position. Live within your means and do the best you can with what you’ve got. A lot of stress might be due to “keeping up with the neighbors”. It’s important to know that it is possible to be perfectly happy without being super wealthy.

7) Learn to let go of things that are beyond your control. Watching the news report of an incident over and over isn’t going to make it go away or change anything that has already happened. All it will do is mess with your mind and cause stress. Don’t feel guilty about not watching the news if it’s causing you stress.

8) Practice love, compassion and forgiveness. Don’t harbor feelings of anger, resentment or jealousy. Always try to look at situations from the other person’s point of view. A really good rule that has been swept under the carpet in the modern age is “don’t let the sun set on your anger”. Getting up in the morning and picking up the same crap you went to bed with isn’t going to help you de-stress at all.

9) Your mood affects your stress levels significantly. If your house is a mess, it is much easier to fly off the handle at a situation than if everything is orderly and clean. Seriously! Keep your environment tidy and clean. It will do wonders for your mood.

10) Learn to be mindful of your actions throughout the day. Be aware of changing situations, emotions and thought processes. This will help you to identify stressful situations as they arise. When in a stressful situation, either vacate the premises immediately or practice one of the above quick and effective methods.