What are the stress management methods

Some positive psychology researchers believe that there is no need to deliberately "manage" stress. Fighting stress as a negative emotion will increase anxiety. Moderate stress itself is a normal warning mechanism of the body and can also improve concentration and mobility. Whether intervention is needed depends on whether the stress affects your normal diet, sleep and work efficiency.

I have been working as a workplace psychological companion for three years, and I have seen too many people equate stress management with ritualistic things such as "deep breathing" and "soaking in hot springs". In fact, the most useful thing is the most easily ignored - "limiting the flow" of stressors in advance. Ms. Zhang, an Internet operator I had come across before, used to have to deal with the needs of five departments every Monday, and she didn't even have time to drink water. She often suffered from migraines in the afternoon. Later, she applied to the leader to lock all Monday morning calendars as "not accepting temporary docking", and only dealt with the fixed items left over from the previous week. This was equivalent to staggering the stressors that originally collided. In less than a month, she did not suffer from migraines again. Of course, this method is not suitable for everyone. Many people think that actively rejecting requests and locking up time in the workplace is too "maverick". I have also seen fresh graduates who have just joined the job apply this method mechanically, and are criticized by their leaders for not knowing how to collaborate. How to make adjustments depends on the environment you are in. Don't be too rigid.

But not all pressures can be avoided in advance, such as sudden project failures and temporarily arranged emergency reports. When the pressure surges up in an instant, there are ways to quickly get back to the state. Last year, I was working on a project during Double 11. I only slept 3 hours a day for 3 consecutive days. When I was staring at the screen to correct bugs that day, my hands couldn't stop shaking and my heart rate soared to 110. I didn't hold on. I ran to the fire stairway and stayed there for 2 minutes. Then I clutched the cold metal handrail of the stairwell. I felt the coldness slowly spread from my fingertips to my arms, and my mind suddenly became clear. This method is actually the "grounding technique" in psychology. You don't need to remember complicated concepts. The core is to draw your attention away from the things that make you anxious and focus on the real senses of the moment. Touching something cold, smelling the essential oil, or even biting a very sour lemon will all work. However, we should also be reminded that people with traumatic experiences may trigger negative memories when using this strong stimulating grounding method. If you feel uncomfortable after trying it, just stop immediately. There is no need to force it.

If you have been feeling unmotivated recently, feel tired even after getting enough sleep, and get easily upset over the smallest things, it means that stress has been accumulating on you for a while, and temporary adjustment techniques are not that effective. I have a friend who works in ToB sales. He walks around the community for 10 minutes after get off work every day. When he sees plastic bottles on the road, he picks them up and throws them into the trash can. He says that for these 10 minutes, he doesn’t have to think about customer needs or performance, and he feels relaxed. There is also a back-end programmer who plays Lego for 15 minutes before going to bed every day. Essentially, this method is to find a small thing that has nothing to do with your daily core tasks, does not require using your brain, and it doesn't matter even if you fail. Just spend 10 to 15 minutes every day and immerse yourself in it. You don't have to force yourself to exercise or meditate. There are friends around me who are full of to-do lists as soon as they sit down to meditate, but the more they sit, the more anxious they become. Of course, some people think that this "useless time" is a waste and should be used to catch up on progress. However, I have checked the research data of the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences before. People who take 10 minutes a day to do this kind of purposeless relaxation have long-term stress hormone levels that are 42% lower than those who work continuously, and their overall work efficiency is about 17% higher.

In fact, pressure is like a wet umbrella you carry on a rainy day. If you keep holding it, even if it is not heavy, your arms will get sore over time. If you occasionally put the umbrella aside for two minutes, the sky will not collapse. After all, there is never a must-do list for stress management, and no one's method is a panacea. It is a good method that is comfortable for you and can relieve you. Don't add new pressure to yourself just to learn how to relieve stress. That is not worth it.