stress awareness month

Stress Awareness Month has been held every April, since 1992.

During this annual awareness month, health care professionals and health promotion experts across the country join together in order to increase public awareness about both the causes and cures for our modern stress.

This is sponsored by The Health Resource Network, which is a non-profit health education organization. Stress Awareness Month is a national, cooperative effort in order to correctly inform people about the dangers of stress if it is not addressed or treated, successful coping strategies, and harmful misconceptions about stress.

“Even though we’ve learned a lot about stress in the past twenty years, “says Dr. Morton C. Orman, M.D., Founder and Director of HRN, “we’ve got a long way to go. New information is now available that could help millions of Americans eliminate their suffering.”

Stress is the body's natural response to a change in the environment or a change in the amount of work you are doing. Everyone gets stressed sometimes but, sometimes it can build up and cause all sorts of problems. It can cause you to procrastinate and fall behind on your work; it can cause you to put off doing certain things or going to certain places. Stress can also cause insomnia and other sleep disorders.

You can get involved in awareness month by sharing you best tips and tricks on how to reduce/cope with stress. This will others be able to identify what will help them as it will allow them to discover new things. 

I know from my own experience that stress can encourage you to procrastinate in which results in you verging on the work you need to do. That caused more stress because you being to panic over the fact you don't have certain things done one time and it just affects your mental health in all sorts of ways. Therefore, it is very important to keep your stress levels down so I am going to list my three best  pieces of advice that may help you keep your stress levels to a minimum.

1. Make sure you are getting enough sleep. 
A lack of sleep can be the cause of some of your stress as you will be tired and may find it harder to face day-to-day problems. However, stress actually causes a lot of people to loose sleep as you end up constantly thinking and you end up unable to 'shut your brain off.' I recommend that you make sure you find a way to relax before going to bed, such as taking a warm bath, as this will help you to feel more comfortable and may help you fall asleep. I also recommend trying to go to bed earlier and having a set sleeping schedule so that you ensure you are getting enough sleep.

2. Meditation.
Mediation, if done regularly, can reduce your stress levels or even help prevent your stress levels from being elevated as it helps to ground you as well as helping you relax and be able to focus more on the tasks you have to do.  You should try to meditate every morning or every other morning to help focus your mind so that you can think more realistically about the tasks you have to do .

3. Making sure you have alone time.
Sometimes constantly being in social environments, like being with friends/family, can elevate your stress levels. This is because you may feel a pressure to enjoy or talk about the things your friends like. If you struggle with social anxiety then social environments can be especially stressful. Therefore, I recommend that everyday you at least find thirty minutes in which you can be alone and just do something that you enjoy in peace. I find that taking the time to read a couple of pages of a book is extremely helpful as it lets you escape the real world for a little while.

Naomi