Manage stress by changing perceptions
Learning how to de-stress is important to your health.
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
- Abraham Lincoln
According to the 16th president of the United States, happiness is an emotion we can choose to experience above and beyond any external factors.
Along those same lines, says internationally renowned speaker Dr. Ken Nedd, much of the stress we feel in our busy lives today is also volitional.
"Stress is the response you make when you perceive that the circumstances of your life, the difficulties around you, are beyond your ability to cope," says Nedd, a Vancouver doctor who specializes in stress management.
According to Nedd, commuting through traffic, paying bills, confronting a boss, and managing your time might represent practical challenges. It is the perception of those challenges that makes them stressful.
Nedd offers three simple ways to avoid feeling stressed.
1 . BACK AWAY FROM CONFLICTS
"Even if you're feeling strong and you see a conflict coming, don't feel that you need to problem or stressor, it's important to keep everything in perspective, Nedd notes. "It's not the big stressors that cause the most disease, it's the tiny irritations, the mundane things of life that will often cause stress." fight," Nedd says. Making the conscious decision to not confront each and every problem will allow you to remain calmer and less combative.
2. OVERLOOK SOME MISTAKES
Worrying about every detail
When considering a particular will make you less prepared to deal with the situations that will make a difference in the long run.
3. AVOID ANTICIPATORY STRESS
A major element of feeling stressed is expecting to feel stressed, says Nedd.
"One thing I found with my patients is they come to see me [already] stressed out about something that's going to happen."
In this case, Nedd suggests Stress Inoculation Therapy (SIT), a psychotherapeutic treatment that falls within the realm of cognitive behavioural therapy.
SIT has patients work with their therapist to anticipate a stressful moment, situation, or day and then pre-emptively address them.
"Just imagine yourself actually there," Nedd suggests. "See [the stressful situation] happening, but see yourself handling it well without stress. That way your brain will learn how to deal with those types of difficulties."
Because stress is perceived, he says, it is a matter of simply correcting the response to a challenging situation and retraining the instinct that perceives it as stressful.
- Abraham Lincoln
According to the 16th president of the United States, happiness is an emotion we can choose to experience above and beyond any external factors.
Along those same lines, says internationally renowned speaker Dr. Ken Nedd, much of the stress we feel in our busy lives today is also volitional.
"Stress is the response you make when you perceive that the circumstances of your life, the difficulties around you, are beyond your ability to cope," says Nedd, a Vancouver doctor who specializes in stress management.
According to Nedd, commuting through traffic, paying bills, confronting a boss, and managing your time might represent practical challenges. It is the perception of those challenges that makes them stressful.
Nedd offers three simple ways to avoid feeling stressed.
1 . BACK AWAY FROM CONFLICTS
"Even if you're feeling strong and you see a conflict coming, don't feel that you need to problem or stressor, it's important to keep everything in perspective, Nedd notes. "It's not the big stressors that cause the most disease, it's the tiny irritations, the mundane things of life that will often cause stress." fight," Nedd says. Making the conscious decision to not confront each and every problem will allow you to remain calmer and less combative.
2. OVERLOOK SOME MISTAKES
Worrying about every detail
When considering a particular will make you less prepared to deal with the situations that will make a difference in the long run.
3. AVOID ANTICIPATORY STRESS
A major element of feeling stressed is expecting to feel stressed, says Nedd.
"One thing I found with my patients is they come to see me [already] stressed out about something that's going to happen."
In this case, Nedd suggests Stress Inoculation Therapy (SIT), a psychotherapeutic treatment that falls within the realm of cognitive behavioural therapy.
SIT has patients work with their therapist to anticipate a stressful moment, situation, or day and then pre-emptively address them.
"Just imagine yourself actually there," Nedd suggests. "See [the stressful situation] happening, but see yourself handling it well without stress. That way your brain will learn how to deal with those types of difficulties."
Because stress is perceived, he says, it is a matter of simply correcting the response to a challenging situation and retraining the instinct that perceives it as stressful.
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