Everyone experiences stress from time-to-time. And it’s not always harmful—in fact, small doses of stress can actually be good for you to re-access your life situation. However, if you constantly feel stressed out, you may be hurting your mental as well as physical health. While stress management is simple, the first step towards change only comes when you acknowledge you’re dealing with a problem.
Why stress management is essential for Indians?
According to a study published by Lancet Psychiatry in December 2019, mental disorder cases in India have doubled in a matter of three decades. To put things into perspective, the study identified that 1 in every 7 Indians, was suffering one or more mental disorders. The most common of these being anxiety attacks and depression, two prominent stress symptoms.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also predicted that by the end of 2020, over 20 per cent of India will suffer from some form of mental illness. To sum up, that’s 6 per cent higher than the number in 2017. Considering most mental disorders have stress as an underlying cause, it’s important to get relief from stress and strain.
The most obvious causes of stress
Stress is often triggered through life events that cause big changes or during periods of uncertainty. If you want to know how to reduce stress or chronic strain, you first must identify the causes of stress. While each person has a different trigger, there are some common ones. These could be a prolonged illness or injury, bereavement, losing a job, becoming a new parent, exam pressure, issues at work or money troubles.
Easy to identify stress symptoms
It can be surprising to learn that stress manifests itself as much physically as it does mentally. Indeed, when you’re feeling low and irritable, you may find it difficult to concentrate, have problems sleeping, face issues with your stomach or suffer from chronic headaches. This is your body’s way of telling you it needs some stress relief, and you must listen!
Tips for stress management
While it may not be possible for you to change the circumstance that is causing you stress, you can change the way you and your body reacts to it. Here’s a video showing 5 stress busters to relieve tension, strain and stress. Learn these stress management techniques to keep calm and in control every single day!
