Stress

What is stress?

Stress is a normal reaction to certain tasks or events in our lives, which happens automatically in our bodies. However, when stress gets too much and goes on for too long it stops being helpful to us and eventually can become a risk to our mental health.

You may have heard of the ‘fight or flight response’. This is when your body gets a surge of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol which make you more alert and ready to react. It is very useful when we are threatened or in danger and need to run away or protect ourselves. However, when this reaction occurs regularly in situations where there is no real physical threat it can start to have a negative impact on both our mental and physical health.

What causes stress?

There are many reasons why you might feel over-stressed, different things causes stress in different people and often stress is the build-up of lots of things rather than a single event.

These are some of things that can cause stress:

• Pressure from school/college work and exams
• Lots of change – starting a new school or college or moving to a new area for example
• Problems with friendships or relationships
• Arguing with your parents/ lots of conflict at home
• Being bullied
• Your parents/carers splitting up
• Financial problems in your family
• Having lots of responsibilities – for example having to care for a parent or sibling, on top of school work
• Being homeless
• Being a young parent
• Someone close to you all being ill or dying

See Epic Friends or The Mix for more information about stress and tips on how to manage it.

How do I know if I’m stressed?

Stress can build up without us really noticing, so it’s important to look out for early signs that things are getting too much or starting to feel out of control, then we can take steps to reduce it and find some healthy ways to cope.

Signs of too much stress can include:

• Feeling under pressure or overwhelmed all the time
• Feeling you can’t cope
• Feeling tense, anxious or panicky all the time
• Feeling low, irritable, moody or burned out
• Losing your temper, a lot
• Finding it hard to concentrate or make decisions
• Blocking out difficult feelings by using drugs or alcohol

Stress can also give you physical symptoms, you might:

• Have lots of headaches, stomach aches or muscle pains
• Feel sick, dizzy or light headed
• Have a racing heart or shaky hands
• Feel exhausted and run down
• Lose your appetite, or only feel like eating sugary, fatty foods
• Find it hard to sleep
• Get lots of colds, coughs, cold sores, mouth ulcers or infections

What helps?

Talking about why you are stressed will allow you to identify solutions to help reduce your stress levels. For example, if you’re overwhelmed at school then you should talk to your teachers. Together you can come up with a plan to make your work more manageable. This could involve reducing your work load, having a deadline extension or getting some extra support with certain tasks.

How can I help myself?

There are lots of things that you can do to reduce stress. It’s important to find some time and make changes.

1. Take time out – take some time to unwind, relax and do something you enjoy. This could include reading a book, watching a film, playing computer games or listening to music.
2. Look after your body – stress can be draining, being kind to our bodies will help us cope better. This includes eating healthily and regularly exercising. Although you might crave fatty, sugary foods or turn to energy drinks and caffeine these will only increase stress and tiredness. Try to eat a healthy diet including lots of fruit and vegetables, drink plenty of water and don’t skip meals! Regular exercise helps to get rid of negative energy and releases ‘feel good’ chemicals in our brains that helps to boost mood. Try going for a run, cycle, swim or surf, or join a dance or boxing class. Playing Wii Fit, doing or punching a punch bag in your bedroom also count as exercise!
3. Get plenty of sleep – get some early nights and try to wind down before you go to bed. Turn off the technology, stop working or studying, maybe take a bath or have a hot drink. Listen to music or watch TV if you are finding it hard to switch off.
4. Avoid using drugs, alcohol or smoking to cope with stress these will only provide temporary relief and can make things worse in the long run
5. Talk – Talking to people you trust can help to put problems in to perspective and help create a solution
6. Get creative – express difficult feelings creatively, they are better out than in! Creative activities can also be relaxing. You could try drawing, colouring, painting, writing poetry, lyrics or short stories, making music, dancing, doing crafts or baking.
7. Connect with nature – spending some time outdoors each week has been proven to reduce stress and improve wellbeing. Getting some fresh air, looking around us and noticing the landscape and wildlife can ‘blow away the cobwebs’ and boost our mood.
8. Make time for fun and laughter – do something you enjoy each day, take up a new hobby, play a computer game or socialise with friends or family. Humour and laughter are great ways to relieve stress, so find things to laugh at every day.
9. Switch off from technology – while social media is a great way to keep in touch it can also add to our stresses and anxieties. If you are feeling stressed by social media try taking a few days off and see how you feel.
10. Take control – feeling in control of a situation helps you to cope with it better. Try breaking down tasks or problems which feel huge in to smaller chunks that you can tackle one at a time. You can also prioritise things, just think about what is most important right now and what can wait. If you are feeling stressed about exams, then you might want to try writing a revision timetable with small tasks to achieve each day. Problems are easier to deal with one at a time, and writing things down can make them seem less scary. But pick your battles, there are lots of things in life we cannot change or control. Sometimes it is just best to accept that these things (or people!) are as they are, and focus on what we can control or change instead.
11. Practise positive thinking – this doesn’t mean ignoring difficult situations, it means trying to approach these with a more positive and productive attitude. Changing the way you think about stressful things can help you to cope with them better. Try replacing negative and unhelpful thoughts such as ‘I can’t cope’ or ‘I’m going to fail’ with more positive and realistic ones like ‘I can do this, I’ve done it before’, ‘I’ve done the work and will do my best on the day’.And don’t beat yourself up – we tend to be much harder on ourselves than we are on others. Try following this simple rule – ‘don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to a friend’.
12. Ask for help – you don’t have to cope alone, if things feel really overwhelming then it is important to ask for help from a parent/carer, trusted adult or professional.

https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH3Ujy0muP4&index=6&list=UU_l7KgbwZi5XU-Vk_0F1gcg