How Stressed Are You?

Admitting that you are stressed is not admitting weakness or failure… in fact it shows mental and emotional strength that you can be honest with yourself and if you need it,. seek help.

Stress develops when you have more pressure on you than feel you are able to handle. Stress is part of everyday life. By itself, stress is not necessarily bad or harmful. In fact, some stress may be necessary to help get you motivated and mobilized. High levels of stress over a long period can be seriously bad for our health. It’s when stress turns into distress that you can begin to really suffer.

So, how stressed are you?  Test Your Stress Levels with our quick quiz.

Take a few minutes to really consider the following questions and answer truthfully.

1. Is your energy level lower than usual?
2. Do you feel guilty when relaxing?
3. Do you have a persistent need to achieve?
4. Are you unclear about your goals or purpose in life?
5. Are you very competitive?
6. Do you feel you work harder than most people?
7. Do you anger easily?
8. Do you often try to do 2/3 tasks at the same time?
9. Do you get impatient if people or things hold you up?
10. Do you have difficulty sleeping?
11. Do you find it difficult to switch off?
12. Do you rely on coffee, sugar or other stimulants to keep going through the day?
13. Do you eat on the run as you don’t have time to stop and eat?
14. Have you lost interest in many aspects of life?
15. Do you feel anxious and nervous a lot?

If you answer yes to more than 5 of the questions above then it may be that you are experiencing a period of high stress.

You can’t completely eliminate stress from your life, but you can control how much it affects you.

Improving your ability to handle stress

The food you eat can improve or worsen your ability to cope with life’s stressors. Eating a diet full of processed and convenience food, refined carbohydrates, and sugary snacks can worsen symptoms of stress while eating a diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables, high-quality protein, and omega-3 fatty acids, can help you better cope with life’s ups and downs.

Upping your activity level is something you can do right now to help relieve stress and start to feel better. Regular exercise can lift your mood and allow you to break out of the cycle of negative thoughts that can feed negative stress.

Relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and even simply deep breathing activate the body’s relaxation response, a state of restfulness that is the polar opposite of the stress response.

Sometimes you find yourself so deeply in the vicious cycle of stress that it seems hard to help yourself.  When you feel that you cant move forward.  If this is you and you ready to break free of the negative impact of stress, to regain a sense of control,  reclaim a good night’s sleep and feel a sense of balance and calm then do get in touch.  Our Stress Reset Retreat has been supporting busy professional women just like you for 5 years now and we are confident that we can help you to overcome stress.