
Yesterday we defined stress and explored the impact it can have on our mental wellbeing. Today we are looking into the effect of stress on our emotions and techniques for improving emotional wellbeing.
Emotional and behavioural side effects of stress:
- Feelings of anger and hostility
- Eating too much or too little
- Smoking or drinking more
- Turning to drugs
- Avoiding certain people or places
The Stress Test
The first step of improving mental health is reviewing your current state accurately and effectively. To aid you in this, we have an individual stress test which is designed to help identify the pressure points in your life. Follow the link below for our stress test.
How did you do on your stress test? Do you feel that your score accurately reflects how you’re feeling?
There are a few simple ways to avoid emotional stress and improve your mental wellbeing.
Practice deep breathing
Breathing is one of the easiest, quickest and most convenient ways to quickly improve your emotional wellbeing. Oxygen is the most important nutrient of the body – every cell needs it to function efficiently, however, the brain is the largest user of oxygen. Although this is a short term solution, consistently practising mindful breathing can offer long term benefits.
Test your breathing
Check to see if your breaths are slow of fast. Count the number of inhalations you take over a minute; this will give us your respiration rate. Are you taking more than 30 breaths per minute? If so, your breathing is shallow and fast, which suggests that you are stressed.
Now take a few slow deep breaths. Be aware of what parts of your body are moving, is the breath being driven from the chest or the belly? Are your shoulders moving? What else are you aware of? Do you have difficulty breathing? Short, shallow breaths leave you panicked, anxious, confused and lacking focus. Practice slow, deep breaths to maintain a relaxed state.
Adopting a positive mindset
Daily thought is easier and far more pleasurable than you can imagine. Experience it for only a couple of days and you’ll understand first hand that the power you have over your thoughts is incredibly beneficial.
There are a few simple ways to support a positive mindset:
- Eliminate stress with a smile – Physiology has a direct impact on your psychology. Smiling is a simple way of improving your mood.
- Stand up straight – Bad posture can have a negative impact on your emotional state. By standing upright or sitting straight with your spine erect your body is communicating to your mind to your mind that it needs to align its state. This is the magic of ‘matter of mind’
- Get moving – Exercise and yoga, both of which help your breathing, are great ways of supporting a calm mind.
- Think positive – Altering your thoughts and changing your mindset can be challenging but there is such a thing as ‘choosing to be happy’. Practice finding the good in challenging situations and soon it will become easier to recognise.
- Harness the power of the mind – Everyone has a little voice that verbalises their thoughts. Acknowledge your little voice and what it has to say, then ask yourself:
- Is this thought useful and/or helpful?
- What would be a thought that would serve you better?
- Is my little voice providing me with a warning message that I need to pay attention to?
- Is there a positive intention or purpose behind the message from my little voice?
- Erase negative thoughts – Identify the negative thoughts that come to mind and focus on turning them into a positive.
- Take heed of your emotions – Emotions can cloud your sense of judgement and in order to focus your mind correctly, you need to control them. Controlling your emotions is similar to controlling negative thoughts. You need to know what the emotion is, identify the cause and take action to diminish its impact.
Eat for wellbeing NOT for stress
There has always been a link between stress and nutrition. When your stress is at a high level, your body can be depleted of vital nutrients leaving you vulnerable to the negative effects of stress which include a weakened immune response, heart disease and high blood pressure. A balanced diet will boost resistance against the effects that stress brings upon the body.
If you would like to attend our ‘Adapting to Thrive in an Abnormal World‘ session that’s taking place at 2:30pm on 3rd of November then please follow the link below.
If you missed our previous article about Mental Wellbeing, follow the link below.
