The events, experiences and changes that we encounter every day are the causes of stress that wear us out. In our world today, stress comes easily when a person is facing problems concerning family, relationships, money, and everyday work. Stress can also be emotional and psychological when the event that a person undergoes is so traumatic and painful that it often drives them to do unpredictable things. Emotional stress is often the result of a fatal accident or death of a loved one.
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Different Types of Stress
Stress has different effects on human beings. It can affect an individual physically or emotionally.
- Physical stress can trigger fatigue, heart failure or high blood pressure, especially when the problems that they’re going through are very serious.
- Emotional stress can bring out a person’s heightened emotions such as severe depression and anxiety attacks.
Emotional Stress – The Most Common Type Of Stress That People Experience
When a person encounters problems with his or her personal relationship, it’s natural for that person to create a strong emotional response as a way of dealing with the stress. It’s painful for anyone to harbour a grudge from a failing relationship because human beings often plan their future based on the relationship that they currently have with their loved ones. Other negative emotions related to emotional stress are rejection, fear, jealousy, and hate.
Emotional stress often occurs when a person is going through a difficult situation alone. Thinking about a solution to a problem on your own can give you so much emotional baggage that often leads to depression, unhappiness, and even thoughts of suicide. Emotional stress can also result to chronic health challenges because the frustrations and anger that we feel sometimes take a toll on our physical appearance and well-being.
Emotional stress also triggers a set of reactions in the body that includes the sympathetic nervous system. When you’re creating a strong emotional response to a situation, the sympathetic nervous system often speeds up and increases your heart rate. Having a healthy sympathetic nervous system is good because it means your body will still normally operate during unexpected, physical emergencies.
Emotional stress will prompt your sympathetic nervous system to react the same way it does when there’s a physical emergency. However, recurring emotional stress will enable your sympathetic nervous system to accelerate your ageing and the breakdown of your tissues.
How To Deal With Emotional Stress
Emotional stress can’t be dealt with overnight because it has a long-term effect on a person. While the effects of stress are lasting, there are still ways on how you can properly deal with your frustrations, anger, anxiety, and depression. Here are some of the tips that you can try in order to help yourself deal with emotional stress easily.
1. Just breathe
Breathing helps people calm their nerves because when you normalize your breathing, you regulate the part of your nervous system that works on relaxation called the parasympathetic nervous system.
2. Do exercises
An exercise doesn’t always require a trip to the gym. Sometimes, strolling around your block or walking your dog are considered forms of exercise. Regular exercise is one of the most effective activities that you can do to lessen depression and anxiety and keep yourself mentally balanced. An exercise doesn’t have to be rigorous and expensive, you just have to move your body and stretch your muscles.
3. Prayers and meditation
Even if your faith isn’t intact and you’re not particularly religious, it doesn’t hurt to take a moment of silence and just mouth a simple prayer. Prayers can do wonders and they help you release your darkest thoughts and feelings.
Meditation and relaxation have been scientifically proven to enable a relaxation response in the body that can normalize pulse rate, improve blood circulation, and reduce blood pressure. Meditations come in the form of yoga or simply by listening to music and audiobooks.
4. Don’t be afraid of your feelings
You can easily be overcome by your feelings if you allow them to take over your mental and emotional state. It’s important to know yourself and identify what you really feel without thinking that the whole world is conspiring against you. Know yourself and learn to use your negative emotions to improve your personal growth.
One of the best ways that you can use to know your feelings is through drawing or journal-writing.
A journal or a blank scrapbook is a good avenue for your thoughts so you’ll be able to freely jot down every anger or frustration that you’re feeling inside.
5. Find a distraction
This doesn’t mean that you have to mute all your feelings in order to enjoy your distractions. Sometimes, you just have to find an emotionally healthy alternative where you can channel your negative emotions thoroughly. A good distraction can be:
- a movie,
- a stroll in the park,
- shopping,
- reconnecting with friends,
- finding a new hobby,
- or even cleaning your room.
These activities will help you lessen the emotional baggage that you feel and clear your mind of some negative thoughts.
6. Take vitamin supplements and eat healthily
It’s almost imperative for human beings to binge-eating every time they go through a problem because they believe that sweets and junk food can help ease the stress. While it’s true that chocolates and French fries are glorious, it’s still important to eat a balanced meal that will sustain your body, especially your nervous system. Eat lots of greens and take vitamin supplements.
7. Visit a therapist
When your emotional issues are too much to handle and you feel like there’s no way out even if you tried reaching out to your friends, you can try getting professional help from a therapist. It’s their job to help you with your issues and to help you get yourself back to your normal well-being. There are different types of therapies these days that you can choose from, which will help you resolve your emotional concerns.
Conclusion
There are so many methods that you can try in order to keep yourself from having episodes of depression, traumas, anxiety attacks, and crying jags. The first thing to do should always be to acknowledge these negative feelings and seek help when you feel like it’s getting out of hand. Talk to your friends and loved ones, and let them know what you’re going through. If you know a loved one or a colleague who’s often experiencing emotional stress, reach out and assure them that they have a friend in you.
