Stress Management: Stress Overload and What to Do About It

Signs of stress overload

• Hurrying everywhere, walking, talking, driving faster, trying to get it all done.
• Feeling depressed, bored or apathetic the majority of the time.
• Feeling chronically dissatisfied with life, no matter what you do or try.
• Different eating and/or sleeping habits.
• Becoming a slave to time saving devices such as cell phones and email.
• Valuing how much you get done rather than how well you do it

The good news is there are may ways to manage and master the stress in your life. When you catch yourself on stress overload, here are some coping strategies you can use.

Strategies for mastering stress

• Say no when you mean no when if your dance card is already full. Keep a 3x5 card in your desk drawer with the work NO printed on it in large black letters. This will help you say no when you are struggling with that powerful two letter word.
• Give up the victim role. Take responsibility for your part in the stress.
• As Clint Eastwood said: "A man's got to know his limitations." Remember that you are human and have limits on your time and energy.
• Take good care of your machine. Eat, exercise, sleep.
• Organize your time.
• Take mini-vacations. Whether it's a 10 minute break or a three day get away, taking a break can be incredibly refreshing.

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What is stress?

Stress (roughly the opposite of relaxation) is a medical term for a wide range of strong external stimuli, both physiological and psychological, which can cause a physiological response called the general adaptation syndrome, first described in 1936 by Hans Selye in the journal Nature.
An emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health which can be characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability and depression. Stress does not cause migraine but can be a migraine "trigger".
A condition in which the organism is subjected to unfavourable or unfamiliar environmental conditions, resulting in some alteration in normal physical functioning. Short-term stress can often be overcome. Long-term stress can reduce resistance to disease and parasites, inhibit self-healing processes, and reduce life-span.