Managing Stress

There are a number of different strategies for coping with, and managing stress. It is important to realize that no single method suits everyone: a combination of approaches is generally most effective. Also, what works for one person does not necessarily work for someone else.

First we will re-look at the ABC Model which was previously discussed in an earlier post, this time we will apply it to stress management:
 
ABC MODEL

 A- ACTIVATING EVENT (events in people’s lives, events that might be distressing or troublesome for them).

B- BELIEF SYSTEM (person’s beliefs about the events that occur in their lives).

C- CONSEQUENCE (emotional and behavioural reactions which most of the time are dysfunctional or problematic if the event is experienced as distressing).

We have no control over A, the Activating event, it will happen anyhow, however, our beliefs about events will determine the consequences and therefore if we change our negative beliefs then we will be changing the consequences as well.

Now let's look at an EXAMPLE of how we can apply this to stress management.

The Table Below Gives a simple example of how people can easily become stressed out according to their particular belief system about an event:

From this example we can see how a different belief system can help to reduce stress. You can try to apply different examples to this model and see what you come up with. Most of the time you will find that stress can be reduced when people change their negative or demanding belief systems. 

In stress management its very important to look at peoples belief systems about things and situations. This is because often people have irrational beliefs or assumptions about the way things should be. These irrational assumptions often puts pressure on them and causes stress. Stress can be reduced and even avoided if these irrational assumptions are changed to rational assumptions.

Exercise:

-Use the stressors that you have previously identified and apply it to the ABC Model.

-Your stressor will be the activating event, focus on what belief system you have been making use of, is it rational or irrational?

- Think about the alternative? How can you change your belief system, what will happen if you change it? Think about how your stress levels will decrease.

- If you’re feeling stressed out, it is very likely that you are making use of irrational belief systems, using an alternative, more rational belief system will help to reduce and perhaps even alleviate your stress.

Below is some examples of Irrational Beliefs or Assumptions and a Rational Alternative:
  

Think about this and consider the difference it makes to a person's stress levels when their irrational assumptions are changed to rational ones. Can you see how people can easily add extra stress to their lives by holding on to irrational beliefs?

Someone recently told me that "we should strive for excellence and not perfection". No human being is perfect and trying to be perfect adds stress to our lives. We should try and do the best we can in life, but then we have to leave things in the hands of Allaah (SWT) and accept our own shortcomings. This will help us to think about things in a more rational way and Insha'Allah will thus help to lower our stress levels, making us calmer and more peaceful.

May The Almighty Allah help us all!

Effects of stress on the body

Here are some effects of stress on the body. It's important to know this in order to understand exactly how stress impacts on your life.


The central nervous system:

Anxiety, worry, insomnia and a complete nervous breakdown are all possible when prolonged or undue stress causes a reaction that can be likened to a faulty electrical system.

The skin:

Hives and certain types of eczema can occur as the skin seeks to assist the vital organs and processes of the body with an outlet for acute and chronic stress.

The digestive system:

Indigestion, cramps, irritable bowel syndrome and constipation may all be linked to undue stress, although other lifestyle and health factors may be implicated.

The respiratory system:

Breathing tends to be more superficial when stressed, resulting in poor oxygenation and faster ageing. Constricted airways are associated with conditions like asthma and croup, which are both life-threatening.

The spinal column:

Muscle tension and spasms caused by stress lead to conditions like migraines

The effects are not always the same for everyone and stress will manifest differently for different people, the above is just some common effects.

It will be helpful to monitor the way your own body reacts when you are under stress. This should give a good indication of your stress levels and what you can do to reduce it.

Insha'Allah in the next post we'll begin with some stress management techniques. Until then, May Allah (SWT) shower His Peace and Blessings on you and give you ease!

Stress Management continued... Symptoms of Stress

I hope that the last post on stress was helpful in getting people to begin to understand their own levels of stress and their reasons for stress. Insha'Allah in this post we will focus on the Symptoms of Stress.

When a person experiences too much stress over a long period of time, it starts to affect the person’s mental and physical health. It is therefore important to learn how to deal with stress before it affects your health.

Symptoms of stress- are the outcome of a person’s failure to adapt either physically or mentally to a stressor that has become too big for the human coping mechanism.

The Symptoms of Stress can be divided into three stages, going from mild to more severe:

First stage symptoms
 Constant irritability with people
 Difficulty making decisions
 Loss of sense of humour
 Difficulty concentrating
 Lack of interest in pursuing previously pleasurable activities
 Feeling tired even after an early night and finding it increasingly difficult to get up in the morning


Second stage symptoms
 Lack of appetite
 Craving food when under pressure
 Chronic insomnia or waking very early in the morning (e.g. 1:00 am) and being unable to resume sleep for several hours
 Nervous twitches, nail-biting or other repetitive, unconscious actions
 Headaches and migraines
 Eczema and asthma
 Tendency to sweat for no apparent reason


Third stage symptoms
 Change in appetite and weight
 Change in sleep patterns
 Restlessness or inactivity
 Fatigue and loss of energy
 Ongoing feeling of guilt or worthlessness
 Depressed mood or feeling down



- Which of these symptoms have you experienced in your life?



- Think of a stressful situation when you showed some of the symptoms listed above.

If you manage stress effectively then you should not even develop symptoms in stage 2 and 3.

If your stress levels have reached stage 3 then it is becoming very dangerous and you will need some sort of intervention before it becomes extremely serious.

Insha'Allah in the next post we will look at effects of stress on the body and then we will move on to management of stress.

Please feel free to leave comments and questions.

Welcome to Stress Management

Okay, so I know that my last post on this blog was really a very long time ago,  since it takes me a while to research my topics, I don't always have the time to put up posts here, but insha'Allah I will be posting regularly on here again.

I've decided to begin a series of posts on stress management, it seems that some people have found the posts on anger management to be quite useful so I hope that people find this series useful as well.

This post will just begin to introduce the topic and we will look at it in more detail in the posts that follow. As always feedback is welcomed!

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What is stress?

 Everyone experiences stressful periods in their lives.

Stress:- Stress is continual worry about something. Stress prevents you from relaxing. Stress happens when you feel you cannot cope with the demands of a situation.


Positive stress:- Initially, mild stress can increase creativity and encourage productivity. Mild stress can be good for a person.


Negative stress:- Negative stress happens when someone feels powerless to cope with a problem. If a person experiences this kind of stress for a long time, it may lead to illness.

Why is it important to manage stress?

When you are stressed your body produces too much cortisol and adrenalin. These are the two major stress hormones. Cortisol is the worry hormone produced by fear and results and results in symptoms of anxiety. Adrenalin is the fight-or-flight hormone which prepares the body to react physically to a threat. If you fail to adapt to your stresses, your body can produce too much of these hormones for too long. This results in physical symptoms and even changes that lead to stress-related illnesses. Chronic stress, has been linked, for example, to high blood pressure and heart disease. High stress levels have also been found to trigger asthma attacks. Long periods of stress can also have a negative impact on your immune system, weakening your resistance to infection as well as your ability to recover. This is why it is important to learn how to manage your stress.

Identify your stressors

The factors in your life that cause stress are called stressors.


Begin by first identifying all the sources of stress in your daily life. Look back at the questionnaire How Stressed are you? This might help you to identify your main stressors. Keep a diary or make a note of it every time an event makes you feel stressed. Once you know the things that make you feel stressed, you can start to deal with them.


- Think about your life for a couple of minutes and identify your stressors:

 - At home
- At work /School
- Elsewhere

Make a list of your stressors in the different environments, it also helps to state how these stressors make you feel and what your reaction to them are. You can draw up a table with STRESSORS, FEELINGS and REACTIONS. This might make it easier for you to begin to understand your reasons for becoming stressed out.


- Identify people who are responsible for causing the stress. What is their relationship to you?

- Are you happy with the way you react to these people?
- For each example, suggest ways in which you can avoid or reduce the frequency of such stressful situations. 

Different Types of Stressors

People experience a variety of different stressors in their lives. Examples of stressors include physical, emotional, social, environmental, personality and vocational stressors. People often also experience a crisis that causes stress. No one is ever completely free of stress, regardless of their age, occupation, status or wealth.

The table below provides an example of these different stressors.

This may help you when you are identifying your own stressors.


When stressors are caused by circumstances beyond your control, they are called external stressors. Examples of external stressors include weather that is too hot or too cold, too much responsibility, long working hours, living in difficult circumstances or being physically or mentally abused.

Internal stressors are mental and physical factors that cause stress. Mental factors include personality traits, such as when a person is over-sensitive or a perfectionist. Physical factors include having a physical disability or chronic illness, or even not feeling good about yourself on a physical level.

 Activity:
Make a list of your personality traits that make you vulnerable to stress. You can start thinking about changes you can make in yourself that will help you to deal with stress more positively.


In order to deal with stress, the root causes of the stress need to be identified and understood, once you have done this, you can move on to finding positive and constructive ways of dealing with stress. Insha'Allah in the next post we will look at symptoms of stress and then move on to the effects of stress.


For additional information on stress and To take a short quiz to help determine if you are stressed or not you can follow the links below:


http://www.lessons4living.com/stress_test.htm


http://www.stress-management-for-health.com/stress-quiz.html


Until next time, May Allah (SWT) shower His Peace and Blessings on us all, and may He help us to remain positive and content, Insha'Allah Ameen!

Further Suggestions for dealing with anger and conflict

Finally we have come to the end of anger and conflict management. I do hope that someone has found it useful. To end of here are some final tips and suggestions:
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The way you typically express anger may take some time to modify. Some extra suggestions include:



 Keep a diary of your anger outbursts, to try and understand how and why you get mad.
 Take regular exercise, go for a run or play a sport. People who are stressed are more likely to experience anger. Numerous worldwide studies have documented that regular exercise can improve mood and reduce stress levels.
 Use the "empty chair" exercise. Pretend you're sitting across from the person you are angry with and say what's on your mind. Who is this person?
 Write a letter to the person you are angry with. You could describe your anger right now, at the time of the anger event. You can destroy it/you can save it/you can mail it at a later date.
 Use positive self-talk, e.g. "I am able to choose my anger style." and "I am angry but I'm not going to let it take over me”.
 Involve an objective third party. Ask someone you trust to be a sounding board. Who might this be?
 Stop thinking about your anger and focus on something positive. The aim is to convert the anger into something more constructive. Different people have different interests or hobbies. Perhaps your feelings can be redirected into one of your hobbies - something creative such as art, music or drumming, dancing, sports, writing, etc.
 If all else fails - thump a cushion, kick a bean bag (DON'T do anything that will hurt yourself or someone else)
 Forgiveness is very important for you to deal with your own anger. Once you have forgiven, you will be free to move forward and deal with your feelings. Do not underestimate the importance of forgiveness.


(Information taken from BUPA’s Health Information Team, 2004)
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Remember the following advices:
"Indeed, anger is from the evil and, without doubt, the evil is created from the Fire. Only water can extinguish fire. Therefore, if anyone of you feels the rush of anger. Let him perform ablution”, and “When you feel angry, keep silent.” {Hadeeth of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)}

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has been reported to have said:
“For the person who restrains his anger, Allah will restrain punishment over him on the day of Resurrection”.

“Do not remember past disputes” [Luqmaan (A.S)]

“As long as possible try not to start fights and arguments.”
[Luqmaan (A.S)]

“When you feel angry, keep silent.” {Hadeeth of the Prophet (SAW)}

According to Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (RA) the messenger of Allah (SAW) said, “To restrain anger in order to please Allah is more excellent in the sight of Allah than to swallow back anything”.

“If anyone of you gets angry and he is standing then, let him sit down. If it subsides, well and good, otherwise he must lie down.” {Hadeeth of the Prophet (SAW)}

“Don’t get angry with anyone in the presence of your guests.” [Luqmaan (A.S.)]

“Speaking without thinking is like shooting without aiming.” (William Gurney Benham)

“Conflict is like fire, it can keep you warm, and can cook your food, but if it gets out of control, it can burn down your house.” (Free to Grow Lifeskills)

“Self-control is the ability to keep it cool when someone is making it hot for you.”



May Allah help us all to deal with anger and conflict in a constructive manner.