i looked up how to get rid of stress...
Productivity and activity will help reduce stress, as long as it's for yourself. I'm not much of an exercise buff, but I know it helps to just get up and do something in the morning, to workout the stress you've built up over the last day. Some people go for a bike ride. Some people go for a run. I prefer lifting weights or doing a little writing. Do something for yourself in the morning that is either mentally or physically beneficial to you. Maybe Yoga?
Writing a to-do list will help reduce stress. A lack of concentration can be caused by stress, and a lack of concentration will inevitably cause you to forget even the most basic things. One of the most effective stress management activities you can do is sit down and try to think about the most important things that need to be accomplished that day--and then do them. Also, throw an item on your list that involves doing something nice for someone special. Doing something nice for someone everyday is guaranteed to relieve some social stresses.
Learning to communicate with others effectively will reduce stress. When ideas or emotions are left unsaid, they tend to stew in our minds, causing us to say stupid or thoughtless things in order to avoid what's really on our minds. If you're sincere and honest (and friendly) with the people around you, either at work or at home, people will learn to respect you feelings and opinions. No more drama caused by misunderstandings.
Relieving yourself of bad habits like smoking and drinking will reduce your stress dramatically. Bad habits cause more stress than anything else. Once you stop abusing your body there will be no more worrying about lung cancer, emphysema, liver disease, stomach cancer, sclerosis of the liver, and pancreatitis. Don't forget that a poor diet is as much a bad habit as smoking or drinking, so balance those meals and eat more produce.
Say no and mean it. Set boundaries and don't let people move them, especially those people who continually push to see how much they can get from you. If you don't set boundaries, your energy and vitality will be drained by things you don't even want to do, by people who always take but never give back and you'll never learn to get rid of stress.
Engage in activities you love. Drawing, dancing, singing, gardening, cooking, even cleaning (if you enjoy it) can be used as self-therapy and will help chase away tension.
Drink more water and green tea and less colas and fruit juices. Eat small low calorie meals and snacks throughout the day to keep anxiety at bay. Vitamin B helps smooth out your mood and you can incorporate it into your diet with foods like low fat beef, low fat milk, cottage cheese, fruit, almonds, blueberries, tuna and cornflakes.
Banish those self-inflicted, inner "rules" that demand you be the perfect husband, the best mother, the most productive employee or the first in your class to ace a test. The best girlfriend or boyfriend. Life alone brings enough stress to your doorstep. Why create more?
Stop putting things off and get rid of the clutter in your house and in your office. These things alone will help you feel more in control of your life and when you feel you're in the driver's seat, you're less likely to get tripped up by stress.
Write it down This is particularly useful when you’re really angry or upset with someone, but aren’t in a position to tell them exactly what you think or feel. For example: your boss sucks, but you can’t just storm his office and count the ways. No problem! Writing him a letter (that he'll never see, of course) is an excellent alternative. And believe me, it’s just as powerful as telling him what he can do with your job. Try it. You’ll see.
Also, if you’re just stressed in general (not due to a specific person) try writing down everything that’s gone wrong in the last 24, 48 or 72 hours. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can fill a notebook up! It’s really a form of purging your system of all the crap you’re storing. You don’t even have to believe it’ll work – it just will.
Treat yourself to a massage at least twice a month. Massage is more than just being pampered. It decreases the level of cortical which creates the "fight or flight" response in the body. It increases serotonin, the chemical that helps with sleep, anxiety and depression and increases dopamine, which provides the body with pleasurable sensations, smoothing stress away before it can build up.
Take a bath Not a shower! Showers are not relaxing. You only need to take one meaningful bath to realize that. You don’t need candles or pretty smelling soaps, you just need clean, hot water and lots of bubbles. No matter how you’re feeling when you get in, you’ll be light years better by the time you get out.
Curl up with a pet There is something very relaxing about petting a dog or cat as they lay beside you on the sofa. Relax with one of your favorite DVDs and scratch Fido’s ears for a while. You’ll both be de-stressed by the time the film is over.
Laugh! pretty obvious there.
How men and woman deal with stress!
It really is different.
There are a number of factors that play into this. Traditionally, women, more than men, take on the role of primary family care giver. This means that all of a family’s health concerns fall on the shoulders of the women, along with the stress that brings. A woman will tend to put everyone else before herself and ultimately sacrifice her own health and well-being. We’ll suffer through a cold at work, but if our child is sick we will drop everything to take care of him. If you ask men and women to describe their reactions to stress their answers will run the spectrum. Men usually characterize their stress reactions as feelings of rage or sleeplessness. Women usually say that their first reaction to stress is wanting to cry. A majority of women also say that they are prone to overeating when stressed. The overeating then leads to lower energy, fatigue, and eventually more stress.
Most studies on stress have only been on men and how men respond. These studies are where we get the familiar “fight or flight” notions. For decades this was how scientists assumed all humans behaved. Only recently have scientists begun performing stress tests on groups of women and the results are not at all what our male counterparts would have indicated. In most cases, women did not react to stress by wanting to “fight or flight.” Instead, their instincts were to nurture.
A woman’s instincts are naturally to protect or tend to themselves and their children. Then women seek out other women that could help them through. Pursuing comfort through a connection is the befriend aspect.
Women are thought to have the same rush of hormones as men when under stress, but the types of hormones differ. Men tend to have an increase of testosterone, which is connected to hostile and aggressive behavior. Women’s increase in hormones is via oxytocin, a hormone that can disperse feelings of fear and can increase the instinct of care giving.
Women’s Issues & Stress:
One of the most complex women’s health issues is between stress and infertility. For years doctors have told patients that if they would just relax their infertility would cease to be a problem. A ten-year old study showed that the stress levels among women suffering from infertility were equal to or higher than women afflicted with cancer and HIV, but no one could determine if the stress or the infertility appeared first.
Women suffering from too much stress are also at greater risk for sore muscles, back pain, higher blood pressure, and heart palpitations. All of those, if the underlying stress is not treated, can lead to much more serious problems down the line such as heart disease. The physical toll caused by premenstrual syndrome or menopause can also heighten a woman’s reaction to stress. Women that indicated that they suffered from stress also complained more about PMS pain.
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