7 Successful Stress Management Techniques

Everyone needs successful stress management techniques. Easy to learn and easy to implement, you can use them for your own stress management or teach them to help others manage theirs.

Manage your stress and be a healthier, happier and more pleasant person to be around. Let's cut to the chase?

1. Make stress your friend

Acknowledge that stress is good and make stress your friend! Based on the body's natural "fight or flight" response, that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right moment. I've yet to see a top sportsman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most.

2. Stress is contagious

Stressed people sneeze stress germs indiscriminately and before you know it, you are infected with stress germs too!

Protect yourself from stress germs by recognising stress in others and limiting your contact with them. Or if you've got the inclination, play stress doctor and teach them how to better manage their stress.

3. Copy good stress managers

When people around are losing their head, which keeps calm? What are they doing differently? What is their attitude? What language do they use? Are they trained and experienced?

Figure it out from afar or sit them down for a chat. Learn from the best stress managers and copy what they do.

4. Use heavy breathing.

You can trick your body into relaxing by using heavy breathing. Breathe in slowly for a count of 7 then breathe out for a count of 11. Repeat the 7-11 breathing until your heart rate slows down, your sweaty palms dry off and things start to feel more normal.

5. Stop stress thought trains

It is possible to tangle yourself up in a stress knot all by yourself. "If this happens, then that might happen and then we're all up the creek!" Most of these things never happen, so why waste all that energy worrying needlessly?

Give stress thought-trains the red light and stop them in their tracks. Okay so it might go wrong ? how likely is that, and what can you do to prevent it?

6. Know your stress hot spots and trigger points

Presentations, interviews, meetings, giving difficult feedback, tight deadlines??. My heart rate is cranking up just writing these down!

Make your own list of stress trigger points or hot spots. Be specific. Is it only presentations to a certain audience that get you worked up? Does one project cause more stress than another? Did you drink too much coffee?

Knowing what causes you stress is powerful information, as you can take action to make it less stressful. Do you need to learn some new skills? Do you need extra resources? Do you need to switch to de-caffeinated coffee?

7. Eat, drink, sleep and be merry!

Lack of sleep, poor diet and no exercise wreaks havoc on our body and mind. Kind of obvious, but worth mentioning as it's often ignored as a stress management technique. Listen to your mother and don't burn the candle at both ends!

And those are the 7 successful stress management techniques! Take time to learn them, use them and teach them, and be a great stress manager.

Lyndsay Swinton is an experienced team leader, people manager and business coach. Her website is www.mftrou.com - 'Management for the rest of us'. Subscribe to her free no-nonsense Management Tips newsletter at mftrou.com today.

---

Haris Stress Inventory

Conceptualizing stress: Stress often has a negative connotation. Failure, illnesses,... Read More

Stress Management: Have To Vs. Get To

File this one under the category of "watch your language."The... Read More

A 2-Minute Stress Buster

Meditation seems to have arrived in the mainstream of late,... Read More

Stress Management: Medical Risks of Stress

What is Stress?Stress may be defined as the three-way relationship... Read More

Coping with Change: Develop Your Personal Strategy

Why do we resist change? As the saying goes, the... Read More

Coping as a Tool of Enchantment

Many of my readers write to me about the tensions... Read More

Simple Tips to Help Simplify Your Life! - Make it Great!

Quote of the week"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo da... Read More

Myth Busting: What Causes Mental Breakdown?

I came out of a nightmare 5-year period of anxiety... Read More

Can You Say Yes To Less Stress

A little stress is good for us until it becomes... Read More

Hypnosis CDs - Relief from Stress

The number one most popular issue that users of a... Read More

The Best Stress Relief and Its Free!

"Let your mind be quiet, realizing the beauty of the... Read More

10 Tips To Reduce Stress

1. Determine your "unique ability" and capitalize on itDelegate the... Read More

Rested? The Three Keys to Finding True Rest, Just in Case

What do you think of when you see that word?... Read More

Alleviate Stress Without Pills!

We all have it; we live with it daily: stress.... Read More

Stress Managment and Mastery: How to Beat Too Many Hats Syndrome

"One day I'm a mother, One day I'm a lover,... Read More

Through Stress Comes Kindness

In these times when companies are constantly down-sizing and right-sizing... Read More

Stress Relief Tips

With how busy we keep ourselves on a day to... Read More

Stress Management - Overcoming Adversity

Adversity is an unavoidable part of life. Death of a... Read More

Destressing Your Life!

Do you have stress in your life?......I know you answered... Read More

Stress & Performance: How Much is Just Right?

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYSExperts in the stress management field have... Read More

Deep Breathing ? How It Can Simultaneously Improve Health And Bring You Closer To Your Goals

I hope by reading this article you will see the... Read More

Self-Healing Basics

* The material presented in this article is provided for... Read More

Stress Managment and Mastery: 7 Ways to Take Yourself Off Restriction

Q. So many times in my life, I seem to... Read More

Keeping You Stress Free!

We function at our best when we are free from... Read More

Stress in the Workplace

Why are you so busy? Do you really have too... Read More

Reduce Your Stress

If you live in the early part of the twenty-first... Read More

3 Kinds of Workplace Stress

Workers across America will tell you that stresslevels are increasing.... Read More

Manage Stress By Focusing On Solutions And By Having A Laugh

Marshal John Kruger acted by Arnold Schwarzenegger (who else) in... Read More

Stress Management: Are You a Worrier or a Warrior?

Do you attack problems and solve them or do you... Read More

Job Stress Management Tips

Today's workplace produces plenty of stress. Life's little hassles mount... Read More

Waking Up Well - The Essentials

Preparing for sleep the night before is the place to... Read More

How To Cut Down On College Stress

Probably the least appreciated form of stress is college stress.... Read More

Managing Stress

Do you ever feel stressed? Is stress a regular component... Read More