Are You Stressed All The Time?

Are you …?

• Feeling overwhelmed
• Unable to stop thinking about something
• Feeling numb and detached
• Having trouble sleeping
• Always feeling anxious, moody or frustrated
• Over eating, over use of alcohol, drugs or other addictions

If you can relate to any of the above, it may be time to stop and think about how you can help manage your stress levels and moods.

What does it mean if you are stressed all the time?

Stress is our body’s way of rising to a challenge, and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, stamina, and heightened alertness.

But if you are always feeling stressed out, it could be a sign that your body isn’t dealing with the day-to-day stuff anymore. Perhaps you are overloading yourself with too many things to do? If that’s the case, it may be worth sitting down and writing a list of everything you have got on at the moment and then start prioritising.

To help manage stress, it may be good to get the problem out in the air. After all, you can’t fix a problem if you don’t face it.

Don’t accept that you are stressed all the time… this isn’t normal.  There is another way.  There is a way to reclaim a sense of balance and control.

Our Top 7 Stress Busters

1. Be active

Exercise will not make your stress go away, but it will reduce some of the emotional intensity that you are feeling, clearing your thoughts and enabling you to deal with your problems more calmly. However, you need to be careful about high intensity exercise, as working out for 45 minutes or more at a high intensity raises cortisol levels and is counter productive for stress reduction.

2. Take control

There is a solution to any problem. That feeling of loss of control is one of the main causes of stress and lack of wellbeing. The act of taking control is in itself empowering, and it’s a crucial part of finding a solution to any issues you are trying to overcome.  You may not like the possible outcomes but you will feel better for having made a decision.

3. Connect with people

A good support network of colleagues, friends and family can ease your work troubles and help you see things in a different way. Having a good laugh with your friends and family can help us relax, which is an excellent stress reliever.

4. Have some ‘me’ time

Here in the UK, we work the longest hours in Europe, meaning we often don’t spend enough time doing things that we enjoy. Set aside at least one night a week for ‘me time’, by earmarking this time it means you will not be tempted to work overtimeall the time and you will begin to feel a sense of regaining balance.

5. Avoid unhealthy habits

Don’t rely on alcohol, smoking and caffeine or sugar as your ways of coping. Over the long term, these habits will not solve your problems. They’ll just create new ones.

6. Work smarter, not harder

Working smarter means prioritising your work, concentrating on the tasks that will make a real difference. Accept that your in-tray will always be full, but that you can achieve a sense of satisfaction and control from setting your own boundaries and priorities.  Work in a way that works for you, for some that is getting the hardest and most important tasks out of the way early in the day, while others find that getting a few smaller more routine tasks checked off gives a sense of achievement that motivates them to tackle the bigger tasks.

7. Tune into your body

Mentally scan your body to get a sense of how stress affects it each day. Lie on your back, or sit with your feet on the floor. Start on your toes and work your way up to your scalp, notice how your body feels. Notice how your breathing begins to slow and steady.  Notice how just spending this simple exercise can really help reduce the intense feelings of overwhelm.
No one needs to feel stressed all the time.  Chronic stress is not a natural or healthy state for our bodies or mind and over time stress is a major factor in disease and ill health.  So don’t accept feeling stressed all the time.

If you feel that you need additional support to help you to manage your stress levels then so seek professional help, speak to your GP or therapist or contact us to discover how our Stress Reset Retreat has helped hundred of women reclaim control and stop feeling stressed all the time.