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If there were one thing that is inevitable for people, that would be stress. This is because people—regardless of nationality, gender and career status—always feel stress very often in their lifetime. Studies show that lack of stress management can give a person a negative outlook in life and can even suffer from major health problems.

Stress at the work place

Studies show that working condition in the workplace is among the top reasons why many people suffer from stress. This is because people are exposed to various factors such as working with other people that have different sets of values and ethics, meeting job demands as well as meeting the expectations of the boss/es.

Being stressed in the workplace is not a new occurrence but it has evolved in years. Maybe because of the changing times, stress in the workplace has become more intense and the people within have become more competitive. In this set up, people or employees who are not used to heavy environment tend to prone to stress attacks more often.

Stress in the workplace happens when there are excessive challenges and demands of work, pressures which hinders people’s abilities in handling such circumstances, and the demands and satisfaction has become exhausting and more frustrating. When this happens, there can be physical and emotional changes that can drastically affect not just the employees but the entire nature of the businesses as well.

To avoid these effects in the workplace and in the business, it is best for employees as well as employers to familiarize themselves about the job stressors present. By knowing this, employees can recognize the source of stress and employers can make an action plan to somehow alleviate it.

The most common job stressors include specific work factors such as tedious tasks, excessive loads of work, low pay despite extended hours of work, absurd demands in performance rates, and short rest breaks.

Another would be the physical environment itself especially if the area is overcrowded and noisy, with poor ventilation, and presence of safety and health such as improper placement of equipment and toxic chemicals.

Organizational practices can also be a job stressor especially if there is vague set of expectations and responsibilities, conflict in demands in job, presence of so many bosses, poor decision-making habits, problems in communication lines, and absence of policies that can benefit the employee’s family members.

Minor job stressors would include change in workplace that leads employees to have unspoken fear in terms if job tenure, inconsistent turnover of personnel, absence of readiness when it comes to changes in technology or no room for promotion and recognition and interpersonal relationships including distant bosses, office politics, competitiveness of other employees and the like.

Dispelling stress in the workplace

To effectively manage stress in the workplace, employees must:

• Have time to getaway if stress building up;
• Take a break and do some minor activities such as walking or strolling nearby or siting on a park bench near the area and do some exercise or listen to relaxing music;
• Talk it out with a friend or a loved one to help relieve some burden of work;
• Build camaraderie at the workplace to ensure that there will be people who can back you up when the going gets tough;
• Don’t be too serious because it will only make the job stressors double in weight; and
• Change job if your stress management ways are not working.

By Zul Affandy 

Many people—especially those who have stressful jobs—use various meditation techniques as a form of stress management. This is because meditation techniques are effective in relieving stress because it targets specific body parts that are easily affected by stress attacks.

Nowadays, meditation techniques can be classified as “concentrative” that involves the means of focusing into a specific object and the other can be termed as “expansive” that involves a person’s free flowing thoughts, observation, and reflection.

Stress buster meditation techniques

Being an ancient practice, experts say that meditation techniques can vary depending on the origin of the practice and the culture in that place. The use of these in stress management also depend on the personality of the person and where he or she comfortable with.

Today, it has evolves into so many forms and types. But, most people who use meditation techniques as a form or stress management use the most popular ones including the mantra meditation, the trataka or steady gaze, and / or the chakra meditation.

The mantra meditation refers to one those meditation techniques that involve production of sound or the combination of one or more sounds that are played in a very spontaneous manner. When the sounds are spontaneously played, it can greatly affect the metal process and psychic consciousness of the person practicing it.

The Trataka or Steady Gaze, on the other hand, is one of those meditation techniques that have been commonly practiced by majority of the religious systems in the world such as Sufism and Christianity. When translated literally, “trataka” means to “gaze steadily” into a specific object. In this meditation technique, the person meditating is asked to gaze steadily in a certain an object and focus his or her attention to it. Because of its effectivity in holding a person’s concentration for a long period of time, the “trataka” is considered as one of the most effective yet simple means of meditating.

Among the benefits of this meditation technique is that it helps in the improvement of the person’s external and internal optic function, alleviates visualization disabilities as well as poor eyesight, develops deep mental concentration, enhances the person’s ability in maintaining single point sight as well as developing a person’s sense of intuition.

Another meditation technique for stress management is the chakra meditation, which greatly helps in the manifestation of energy and mind control. It is also known to be very effective in developing a person’s deeper consciousness. For beginners, there are actually seven Chakras available to be tried on but the most popular among them is the “chakra anusandhana,” which can be self-tutored. This meditation technique helps awaken the chakra of a person in a very gentle and balanced way. It is also one of those meditation techniques that are easy to do. What you can do is to sit or lie and close the eyes.

Once you have done this, you can now adjust body as well as your clothing for proper breathing control. Once you get hold of it, you can let the chakra flow into you slowly. Although this is very effective, don’t overuse it because it can lead to various side effects including exhausted mental capability.

If you decide to do this as a form of stress management, always make sure that a professional to avoid creating imbalance that can lead to various personality disorders guides you.

By Zul Affandy 

More than most people could ever imagine stress is an indispensable part of their everyday lives. No matter how hard they try, most people couldn’t combat it when it starts to strike. The least that they could do is to acknowledge it, expect the portent of the things to come and find effective means of stress management.

Finding a compatible way of stress management is very important to ensure that people who gets easily stressed to prevent possible health problems such as gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, memory loss, and decreased immune function.

Meditation as an effective way of managing stress

Apart from stress-relieving tablets and capsules advertised in the different mediums, one of the most popular stress management practiced nowadays is meditation. Described as a state wherein a person is in deep concentration on something, either awareness or some object of thought, meditation can be considered as one of the oldest means of calming the mind and the soul.

Usually involving one’s attention to be turned into a single point of reference, meditation is practiced by so many people because it can lead a person to a consciousness an inch higher than the ordinary person. Derived from the Latin word “meditatio,” equivalent to “all types mental or physical exercise,” the meaning of meditation has also evolved as times went by. Now, mediation is more popularly perceived as “contemplation” or “inward reflection.”

Meditation traces its history back some 5,000 years ago. It is said that the practice has been a very important constituent of various religions in the Eastern part of the world. Through the years, people who practice mediation were able to develop various disciplines. These disciplines were known to involve a large range of psychophysical and spiritual—or a combination of both—that leads to the enhancement of a person’s higher level of mental concentration.

Getting into meditation

Mediation can indeed be a great mental exercise for anybody. It can also serve as an effective means of managing stress because it allows the person to empty his or her mind in other things for a moment and focus the attention to only one thing. Once this is done, the person can feel relief and lighter feeling that can enable him or her to think clearly.

If you are one of those who planning to indulge in practicing meditation for stress management, then you should start by familiarizing yourself with the various forms of meditation known today. The most common forms of meditation are “Bodhidharma,” “Hinduism,” “Bahá’í Faith,” “Buddhism,” “Christian meditation,” “Islam Meditation,” “Jainism,” “Judaism,” “Sikhism,” and “Taoism.” Each and every one of these forms mentioned has their own understanding of meditation and also have different sets of practices that come with it.
 
Another important thing to take note about meditation is that it involves various physical postures to be able to perform the practice well. These postures include standing, sitting, and supine depending on the tradition of that you would want to follow.

If you are just starting to use meditation as a form of stress management, the first thing that you need to concentrate on is the elements for involved in a basic traditional meditation. Usually, there are four elements that greatly affect traditional meditation including a place that is quiet, a posture that is comfortable, an object that a person can to focus his or her attention and n attitude that is relatively passive.

By Zul Affandy 

Today, there are so many options when it comes to stress management. There are those who opt for more advanced techniques such as using medications or undergoing some medical procedures. And there are also those who opt for more natural means of managing stress such as massage therapy.

Effectiveness of massage therapy in managing stress

Massage therapy has become a significant part of general health care for many people living in today’s stressful world. Many professionals and even traditional healthcare systems—all throughout the world—recognize that traditional means of managing stress such as in massage therapy—could be effective in treating chronic ailments caused by stress and could can and contribute to a higher sense of general well-being.

To many, stress management through massage therapy is considered as the modern antidote for stress because it helps combat stress by trying to reduce the tension build up in the muscles. Aside from boosting the body’s immune system, massage therapy also prevents the decrease in circulation and nutrient delivery to tissues which many people who are stressed often are prone with.

Popular as an ultimate “stress reducers,” many healthcare professionals make recommendation to their patients— people, especially those who live by the rule of stress—to undergo massage therapy in their health care treatment plans and stress management strategies.

Benefiting from massage therapy

Statistics show that the most common cause of today’s health problems is stress. Aside from improper diet and unhealthy life style, prolonged periods of stress subconsciously affect many systems of the human body.

Aside from being an effective means of managing stress, massage therapy poses a lot of benefits to people. Primarily, it can develop, maintain, rehabilitate, or augment physical function. Among the extensive benefits of massage therapy, most people consider the therapeutic affect of the treatment on their bodies. Since massage therapy causes diverse physiological effects due to the therapist’s hands moving over the body, its therapeutic effect is proven to improve health by acting directly on the muscular, nervous, circulatory and immune systems.

It also helps relieve or prevent physical dysfunction and pain. And since it targets body parts, which are prone to stress, massage therapy also relaxes tight and tense muscles while improve circulation, recovery time, and immune system function, which reduce overall stress.

Concentrating in creating different movements that can physically stretch muscles, ligaments, tendons, and fascia, massage therapy also encourages the circulation through the tissue, inhibit muscular spasms, and be either sedating or stimulating to the nervous system. And with the continuing research on the beneficial effects of massage therapy, its effectiveness was also discovered in controlling chronic or acute pain.

With the array benefits massage therapy offers to people specially in stress reduction and in creating a sense of relaxation and well-being, it is no wonder that a wide patronage of it will increase energy and will improve people’s outlook on life.

When using massage therapy as a stress management option, it is very important to understand that elementary knowledge of it is not enough for ordinary individuals to practice it and benefit from it.

Being a regulated health profession, massage therapy requires professionals who have completed hours of education at accredited schools and have extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology, assessment, bodywork techniques, and pathology to know when massage therapy is or is not suitable. 

By Zul Affandy 

 Stress management is very important especially to those people who get stressed easily. Today, there are so many techniques of managing stress. Some of which include cognitive therapy, meditation, autogenic training, exercise, deep breathing, conflict resolution, and relaxation such as fractional and progressive, effective time management, listening to certain relaxing types of music, and using natural medication.

People who are into natural means choose alternative treatments that are validated by the clinic such as aromatherapy because they believe that this will not only relieve stress but can also bring potential health benefits. Nowadays, one of the most common services in various health centers and spas today is aromatherapy. This is because people believe that the process can help heal not only physical pains but also other conditions that are bought by too much stress and tension.

People who would want to use aromatherapy as stress management technique should have an overall understanding about the practice including its history, its types, the supplies being used, means of application, current trends as well as the future market for it.

Aromatherapy as a stress buster

Aromatherapy has a long and rich tradition when it comes to alternative healing and relieving tension. It dates back to the early civilizations and spread out across the globe.

In fact, through the years it has undergone drastic changes in terms of application and the practice itself. Today, aromatherapy is used not only as a means of healing but a stress buster as well.

When it comes to aromatherapy, it involves the procedure that uses essential oils and aims to bring notable changes in a person’s mood or body. With the use of essential oils—which are derived from various plants and their part that are believed to have therapeutic properties—aromatherapy continues to be adapted by more and more people across the globe because of its numerous benefits.

Essential oils are the primary medium that is used in aromatherapy. To be able to gain success in the procedure, it is a must that the person conducting it has a wide knowledge about aromatherapy to avoid further complications and accidents. For those that are new to aromatherapy, it is better to educate yourselves to various plant derivations of essential oils and the benefits they could bring.

Many people believe that an alternative option such as aromatherapy can be an effective means of stress management because it targets muscle aches and pains, extreme menstruation, lung problems, urinary complaints, and stomach difficulties as well as in treating skin problems and conditions such as acne, boils, and even scars.

Aromatherapy is best in relieving conditions that are stress-related such as nervous tensions because the essential oils that are used usually have high balancing properties that are ideal for relaxation and intoxication.

When you buy aromatherapy products

There are so many products that are available in the market today. So, buying tips when it comes to aromatherapy products are very important for people to ensure that there will be lesser room for mistakes.

If you would be choosing aromatherapy as a stress management technique, always remember not to buy anything that you see in sight, make sure that you are particular about the packaging especially for essential oils, and don’t buy products that have the word “scented,” “perfume” or “fragrance” on the label because chances are, these wont be effective as you expect them to be.

By Zul Affandy 

Studies show that women get easily stressed due to so many factors in their everyday living. This is why—compared to men—they need effective stress management for them to stay vibrant, youthful, and positive towards life. 

Ever since, women and beauty has always been intertwined. In fact, maintaining beauty—in all its aspects—has even become one of the most effective stress management means of most women. This is because most women in the society believe that their physical beauty can inspire despite all the stress that they experience.

Stress management for women nowadays includes beauty because they believe that despite all the stress that they go through, they can withstand all these if they look good physically.

What women need

The modern times have been offering women a lot of options to look beautiful. In fact, there are so many companies now that come out with various beauty products, services, and treatments in order to help women achieve the physical beauty they desire. Stress management for women involves skin care, hair maintenance, the use of proper cosmetics, and nail care.

No matter what other people say, beauty is skin deep. Many beauty experts believe that the condition and overall appearance of the skin is the major indicator not only of beauty but of the woman’s health as well. When the skin is healthy, it means that women were able to manage stress well.

Luckily, there are many ways women can do to improve the health and appearance of their skin.  The best skin care tip is to make it a routine to take in lots of fluids especially water—at least 8 glasses of water daily—is ideal for to help aid skin hydration and healthy cell formation as well as removing the waste products in the body. Also, applying sunscreen to protect the skin from the sun’s harmful rays and wearing clothes that are appropriate to weather conditions.

Hair is another major aspect that women who gets easily stressed should pay attention to. This is because this will be their crowning glory despite their negative environment. If women who are targeted by stress want to look beautiful, they should always choose a hairstyle that would complement the shape of their faces. Having the best style of mane can be easily achieved by going to a salon and by asking for a stylist’s advice. Straight, curly, long, or short hair cut with different styles would definitely bring out the best in you. You can also be experimental and daring by asking the stylist to do hairstyle variations such as putting color or highlights on your hair that would complement your complexion.

Maintaining a beautiful set of nails is also a part of women’s stress management strategies. This is because manicured and nest nails are always a part of women’s beauty. To care for the nails, make sure that you trim and file the edges of the nails regularly to ensure they will look neat and clean all the time, push back the cuticles to help healthy nails grow out. Women should also know how to choose the right colors of nail polish to complement their skin tone.

Lastly, the use of proper cosmetics should always be a part of a great stress management approach. Since not all women are born with perfect features, cosmetics are a must to conceal imperfections and enhance natural features of the face. Knowledge in the proper use and application of eyeliner, eye shadows, lipsticks, blush ons and foundations can help you flatter your features and enhance your overall aura if done properly.

By Zul Affandy 

Stress management can be hard to do. This is especially true if you do not really bother to lessen your stress levels. As much as you can, try to de-stress every week so that stressors will not pile up over each other. That way, you will be able to manage them better and avoid having a nervous breakdown in the long run.

Some people however de-stress in the most expensive of ways. Some go to the spas and the salon to de-stress over some beauty regimen. Others do their relaxing while spending their money over the casino table or maxing out their credit limits buying clothes and other accessories. If you don’t take heart and not manage your de-stressing activities well, your de-stressing regiment might give you some stress in the long run.

If you really think about it, there are de-stressing activities that do not have to hurt your bank account. In fact, some will not even necessitate you to spend a cent as most of what you use for de-stressing can largely be found inside your home or are otherwise free of charge. Below are some of the things that you can do to minimize your stress without spending so much. Some activities are for free; others, you only have to pay a minimal fee.

1. Read a book or a magazine or a newspaper
For the bookworms out there, reading can be extremely relaxing. It provides an escape that you can use to temporarily forget about your worries. This is the reason why fantasy novels and those that deal with happily-ever-after stories are very popular. These novels entertain their readers to no end, allowing them to relax.

2. Listen to music
Soothing music can help you in your relaxation woes. Music, like books, provides an escape that allows you to relax and forget about your troubles. Don’t listen to people though when they say that to relax, you should listen to classical, instrumental and soothing music. To relax, you should listen to music that you like to listen to never mind if they are the kind that rocks the house or have dance beats. Besides, if you listen to music that you absolutely hate listening to, wouldn’t that be stressful?

3. Laugh
Joking around with your friends is the ultimate stress buster. Do you know that laughing can relax the muscles a hundred times? In fact, it uses smaller number of muscles as compared to frowning. And the best thing about this is, laughing is for free. You don’t have to pay for it except maybe some food and drinks if you invite your friends to come over. You can do this over a simple game of Pictionary or maybe a beer session. Even something as simple as a sleepover can definitely bring a laugh into your life.

4. Do art
Art is a wonderful way to express yourself and this surprisingly allows your brain and your emotions to relax. This is because suddenly, you are provided with an avenue where you can express what you feel without censure or fear of being ostracized. There are many art forms that you can do for stress management— sketches, watercolor, pastel, papercrafts, clothing design.

All these are pretty easy to do. You just have to learn how to do it.

By Zul Affandy 

A company or business undergoing workplace change is going through a stressful event. Good stress management practice should be in place in order to help affected employees go though a less stressful and agonizing transition. Sad and unfortunate it may be, people still would need to be prepared to face such stressful events with their wits still intact.

For managers, going through an organizational change can be quite a stressful task in itself. But it is up to those high up in the department to bring the bad news of change to the front lines. This requires effective communication. And it pays to let the employees know and be kept updated. Although sometimes management thinks that news of an impending organizational change that would affect the whole company would remain  only within their earshot, news of such usually ends up going down the line and reach employees.

When news of such changes in the organization are received by employees of the company through informal channels, the response to them is usually negative. By the time the management decides to break the news, the stress and unanswered concerns may have already spread. The problem with getting news of an organizational change through informal sources is that employees may not have the means to have all their concerns answered and are therefore left to make up their own conclusions.

In order to avoid spreading such unwanted stress to the whole organization about to undergo organizational change, it is up to the management to provide the news themselves before the employees themselves get hold of it through other sources. This will help avoid building up stress and conflicts among the organization already about to undergo a stressful experience. Communicating such news takes prompt action.

One way to spread the news of an organizational change is to try and involve the employees. Management alone may not be able to do the job effectively. It may require the help of some people from the front lines. Managers should try to involve supervisors and team leaders in order to help spread the news of the change and to provide the reasons why the change may be the best for the company. Doing so would help the organization as a whole get the whole picture and avoid employees from making up their own conclusions over the matter, creating a confused and agitated situation.

But good stress management does not stop at just spreading the news of organizational change about to happen. It is also important to know how the employees may react to this. There might be a need to interview the employees in order for management to know what the employees truly feel about the situation.

Effective change can only be achieved if the organization goes through a smooth transition. And a smooth change involves ensuring that the affected employees go through a less stressful experience by addressing issues that include their fears, needs and concerns. True, there might be quite a number who might oppose the idea.

And that is where management may have the challenge of convincing affected employees and trying to address their concerns sincerely to avoid the buildup of a stressful situation that can easily get out of hand.

By Zul Affandy

Dealing with a crisis can be a very stressful experience. It can either lead one to suffer from some personal trauma or have the means to go over the whole experience and come out a better person. Stress management during a crisis requires knowing how to take hold of the situation before it takes its hold on you.

One of the important ways to effectively deal with a crisis is to try and keep hope alive even though things are showing that there seems nothing left. Stress and anguish usually follow a person through a crisis especially after he or she gives up hope. And when a person gives up any hope, it can become pretty difficult to handle the stress and assume any control to the ensuing problems that a crisis may bring. Although most people may think that finding any hope in a hopeless situation such as a crisis is a gift that not all may be blessed of having, it can otherwise be learned and practiced. All it takes is having the ability to look upon a situation in a more objective manner.

One of the first thing to do in a crisis situation is to try and assess its degree of magnitude. By looking at the problem from the point of how it will affect you, you try to assess the situation and try to look upon things that you have no control over and separate them from the things that you still can assume control. Doing so will help you look upon a crisis as a situation where you may still be able to do something. Looking at a crisis that way can help provide some encouragement that you may not be as helpless as you first thought.

Not that you have looked over and assessed a certain crisis that you are in, you then try to take note of the things that you still have control over. The next thing to do when in a crisis is to make use of situations that you still may have control over and work on those instead of trying to wrestle with circumstances that you cannot control. In order to deal with a crisis situation, it is important that you try to accept the fact that there are just some things that you cannot change. What you can do is to focus on those things that you still have a chance of respond to positively and still have control over. This will help you rebuild some confidence by building up some sense of control even in a crisis situation.

In trying to handle a difficult crisis, one way to avoid creating further stress and anxiety is to try and separate things in your life that are affected by the crisis from those that are not. There might be some areas of your life that a current crisis would not affect in any way. Having the ability to avoid letting these areas be affected by a crisis not only helps keep the crisis isolated, it also helps make the crisis situation looked smaller than you may think it is.

By making a crisis affect the whole of your life, you run the risk of letting it try to engulf you, creating a massive problem out of something that may not really look that overwhelming in the first place. It can be quite a big stress management problem.

And what’s more, having a certain area of your life that remains unaffected by the crisis can still provide you a dose of sanity to a life already troubled.

By Zul Affandy

There is an accepted association between nutrition and stress. Stress can lead people to make poor nutritional choices which can affect overall health. Poor nutrition also can greatly affect a person’s capability of reacting and coping with stress. And because of this, good nutrition is always part of effective stress management. Here are just some simple tips that would help people use good nutrition as a means to manage the stresses in life.

Eat Breakfast Regularly
A well nourished body always has a bigger capability of coping with stress. The earlier the body is prepared, the better. When a day is about to be filled with stress at work or anywhere else, it pays to keep the body well prepared to handle it as it comes. Bear in mind that stress can easily deplete the body of essential resources that keeps it functioning well. Too much stress can also induce the body to use up more of a variety of nutrients which can easily lead to serious deficiencies. If the body is not prepared to cope up with the changes that stress can bring, it would likely react negatively in some way or the other.

To prepare the body for the stress ahead, people should need to keep their body well-stocked with nutrients. If done early in the day, the better the chances that the nutrients are well stocked up to handle the body’s needs. This can be assured by eating breakfast regularly.

But the ability to cope with stress can be worsened by skipping breakfast which is the most important meal of the day. The result would be a body that would react very poorly to stress as it comes. But by eating a well-balanced breakfast regularly, the body is ensured of a build up of much needed resources and nutrients, making it more capable of coping with stress for the day.

A Well-Balanced Meal
Apart from eating breakfast regularly, eating a well-balanced meal should also be considered. What will a breakfast be of use if it doesn’t provide the body with its much needed nutrients? There are certain nutrients that the body needs in order to fight off the effects of stress more effectively. Also remember that stress can speed up the use of some of these nutrients.

When the body is under stress, it starts to produce stress hormones. The stress hormones then trigger the body to excrete a number of essential minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium from the body. These minerals, when present in the body, actually help it cope with the symptoms and physical signs associated with stress.

The essential minerals that are excreted by the body as it produces stress hormones actually help to avoid mood swings and help the muscles to relax. Without them, the body won’t be capable of handling or coping very well with stress and would even make it worse. Along with essential minerals, more antioxidants such as vitamin A, B, C and E may be needed by the body since it tries to increase the use of such nutrients while it is under stress.

The antioxidants help the body fight the free radicals which are released by the body’s adrenal glands when it reacts to stress. By eating an well-balanced diet, you are helping your body build up on the essential nutrients that it needs to fight off stress. There are also several nutritional supplements available that would help make up for essential nutrients that may not be provided fully by your diet.

Using good nutrition to fight stress is sensible stress management.

By Zul Affandy