12 Quick Coping Mechanisms for Stress

Have you noticed your response when you get a shock, like your car not starting? Or the slowly mounting worries as a deadline approaches? Almost all of us cope with the negative effects of stress every day. Whether we endure long-term, low-grade stress or periods of acute stress, both have significant effects on our bodies and minds.

Consistent feelings of tension should not be ignored. Fortunately, we can understand what happens inside our bodies and adopt simple coping mechanisms for stress to help neutralize the harmful effects of daily stress.

Your body’s reaction to stress, whether sudden or ongoing, is to engage your nervous system and open the adrenaline and cortisol taps into your bloodstream. These hormones increase our pulse, cause our blood sugar to climb, and push up our blood pressure. When you get a fright, this physiological reaction helps you deal with it better than you would have otherwise. But most of the stress you experience is chronic in the form of financial insecurity and challenging relationships. This stress prevents our bodies from calming down properly, and this damages our health.

Do you recognize any of these symptoms of chronic stress? Anxiety and depression, weight gain, memory loss, stroke, and heart disease. Being able to recognize your body’s warning signs will help you take consistent and increased action to mitigate the effects of stress.

It would do you the world of good to speak with a healthcare professional with the appropriate skills and experience if you are dealing with any of these symptoms:

• Inability to focus
• Frequent, terrible headaches
• Being bored by activities that used to interest you
• Inexplicable weight loss or increase
• Feelings of loneliness, alienation, or insignificance
• Always feeling angry and irritable
• Protracted periods of inadequate sleep
• Persistent worrying or compulsive thinking
• Too much alcohol or drug use

Here are some simple coping mechanisms for stress that will give you healthy methods to deal with the stress that is often unavoidable and pervasive in your community.

1. Move Vigorously More Regularly
   Get more exercise regularly during the day. By consistently elevating your heart rate for 20–30 minutes each day your brain and body metabolize the stress-caused adrenaline buildup in the brain. This buildup often results in the tense and nervous feeling that you are hyper-aware, or up, and can’t seem to relax or get down. Just remember not to do strenuous exercise just before going to sleep, as it will get your heart racing which stimulates your body too much for you to feel drowsy and fall asleep.
2. Do Not Try to Fall Asleep If You Feel Awake
   Do not go to bed when you are not sleepy. If you are lying down trying to get to sleep but feel wide awake, you know you should get up. If you routinely stay in bed for more than a couple of minutes when feeling alert, this pattern can reinforce sleeplessness in your mind and body. Instead, start a calm, passive activity that you enjoy like reading or praying. Watching television is not a good choice as instead of relaxing you, it stimulates your nervous system just when you are trying to relax.
3. Hold the Coffee After Lunch
   A good cup of coffee is delicious, especially as a pep-up during the late afternoon. But did you know that coffee takes about eight hours to wear off? Consider making a coffee at lunchtime your final cup for the day as it affects the quality and quantity of your sleep. Additionally, while you may feel drowsy after drinking alcohol, and it may assist you to relax and fall asleep – it does not keep you asleep and often causes your body to wake up in the early hours of the morning.
4. Use Natural Tranquilizers
   Natural tranquilizers, like passion flower or Passiflora incarnata, are often readily available from the drug store or pharmacy. These can be taken as tablets before bed, or when you feel like you need help to calm down. These natural remedies are not habit-forming like regular tranquilizers.
5. Use an Ionizer
   An ionizer is a little contraption that is very effective in removing particle matter from the air, like tobacco smoke and other toxins. Ionizers can be placed in the room where you sleep or work to release negative ions into the air. These negative ions attach to tiny particles, causing them to clump together and settle on surfaces, making them easier to wipe up when cleaning.Studies show that ionizers inhibit the growth of mold, bacteria, and viruses; decrease stress; help regulate sleeping patterns; increase immune function; and support your mood.
6. Establish A Bedtime Routine
   Going to bed and waking up at the same time, during the week, the weekend, or even on holidays is a simple but dramatically effective routine that helps you to sleep well every night, and so gives your body and mind the super-charged benefit of having full batteries at the start of every day.A routine to keep you on track is a simple way to do this. The benefit of routines is that when they become habits it is something you do as second nature and it does not take a conscious effort to maintain. Doing the same thing each night before going to bed quickly acclimatizes the mind and body to accept sleep.
7. Put Your Thoughts in Black and White
   If your mind races through what-if scenarios and thinks obsessively about concerns and worries, then a simple way to help it calm down is to write down its thoughts. Yes, every one of them. Do not try to block off your thoughts and distract yourself from thinking them, instead get a pen and paper and write down each of the things that come into your mind that are preventing you from dealing effectively with your task at hand or falling asleep at night.When you cannot think of another thing to write down, remind yourself that you can stop When you run out of things to write, promise yourself that you can let each of these factors go for several hours or the night, as when you have the headspace to focus on them, or when you wake up, they will be right there – on the piece of paper for ease of reference.
8. Listen to Mellow Music
   Relaxing music can smooth out your brainwaves and help you be in a state where you can put your mind to the task at hand. From a deadline-driven environment to falling asleep in the evening, calm music has been found to help.
9. Use Essential Plant Oils
   Many of the essential plant oils have an incredibly calming effect on our minds and bodies. Several drops of them can be added to a warm bath or one or two placed on your pillow at night. You will find that your air passages open, breathing is easier and calmer and you can relax.
10. Enjoy Energy from The Sun
    Sunlight is a natural energizer. Our body clock is linked to the movement of the sun. So, a great way to start each day is to spend 20 minutes in the sun or bright light so that we can benefit from becoming energized by it.
11. Harness the Power of Breathing
    A typical stress response is to begin breathing in a shallow way using your upper chest. This response can be reduced and mitigated by breathing deeply into your tummy using your diaphragm. Abdominal breathing will assist you as you control your nervous system and tell your body to relax. By learning to breathe in a way that channels and dissipates stress you can receive the exceptional benefits of dealing with anxiety and stress.
12. Practice Daily Times of Prayer
    Get a time when you can be quiet and relax twice a day. Studies show that prayer lowers heightened blood pressure and will help you to cope better with stress by calming you down, making you less nervous and less angry.Research findings from a 2005 study in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine encouraged scientists to conclude that those of us who pray benefit from a feeling of emotional support. A helpful analogy is to consider carrying a backpack during a long journey. The pack often feels heavier and heavier. Now prayer has the effect of handing the burden to someone else to carry, and when you pick it up again it is far lighter.

Christian Counseling for Stress Management

If you’re looking for additional help with coping mechanisms for stress beyond this article then please browse our online counselor directory or contact our office to schedule an appointment. We would be honored to walk with you on this journey and help you find practical and biblical solutions for your problems.