Stress - if you feel it regularly, you are not alone. According to the American Psychological Association, as many as one-third of Americans experience extreme stress more often than not... and almost half of Americans have felt an increase in their stress levels since 2005. Work and money tend to be the primary cause for most, and current economical crisis is simply not helping. If you are among those of us wrestling with such stresses, may I suggest that developing a few good stress management techniques may be well worth your time!

Stress often contributes to a variety of problems in our lives from marital and family, to a host of health issues... whether we realize it or not. Hence stress management couldn't be more important... for us, and those we love. Good stress management begins with identifying the sources of our stress, and understanding how it is we experience it. Everyone is different; what might stress one person may not be the same cause of stress for another.

There are some stress management techniques however, that are not so good. Many of these unhealthy coping tools often carry side effects and rarely give more than an allusion of real stress relief. So if, for example, we tend to eat when stressed, we should consider opting for healthier meals followed by a relaxing walk. If we tend to bottle up our feelings, it would be in our best interest to be communicating and interacting with family and friends regularly. Meditation is another effective stress management tool that has been proven to genuinely help reduce stress as well.

Most Americans simply work too hard and too much. While we cannot control everything about our work schedule however, it may be time to make any changes we can. Do we take all the vacation time we are allotted? If not, it is time to do so. Does our company offer any kind of stress management programs? We should use them! Are we given any personal days? We should take them! Additionally, we should look for ways to use our time better, so that we can manage our stress more effectively. We will be of no help to anyone if we become sick or overly irritable. But think how much more of life we would enjoy, and how much more of life would enjoy us, if we were not so stressed out all the time.

So much of stress management is about becoming resilient: being able to handle anything that comes our way, physically and mentally. With that, stress will always be knocking at our door... and simply will not go away on its own. We can do nothing! But is that what we really want? I dare say that an ounce of good stress management will be worth its wait in gold... and the time we give to such practices will not be regretted!

Tags : Health, mental health, healthy living, stress, anxiety