The Effects of Stress on Your Health – Minimize them with these 3 Extra Steps

May 13, 2009 in Effects of Stress on Your Health, Stress | Tags: Effects of Stress on Your Health, Stress

Okay, we’ve talked about stress in our External and Internal Environments and we know that the effects of stress on your health can be life altering. Today we’ll move to Emotional and Psychological stresses that we face and how you can handle those NOW!

What do I mean by Emotional and Psychological stress?

Now we get into some gray areas and I’ll tell you why…

When we talk about the quality of the air you breathe or what foods you put into your body, we are talking about completely definable elements of stress.

When we talk about emotional and psychological stress we get into personal interpretation, fear, self-judgment, lack of objectivity etc.

Everyone experiences emotional and psychological stress…

There are many ways emotional and psychological stress can find us:

Pressures at work
Pressures at home
Negative News Stories
Negative People
Complicated personal relationships

Etc. etc. etc.

It is almost impossible to define, but we need some way to know when we are under emotional and psychological stress or we won’t have any tools to handle this stress and its effects on our health.

So let’s put it this way…

Any experience or interaction you have that leaves you feeling badly has put you under emotional and psychological stress.

The hardest thing about minimizing this type of stress in our lives is to identify when and why it happens. And the hard thing about that is that most people are so used to this type of stress that they accept the residual effects of it as normal and so they don’t notice it.

There are 3 steps you can take right now to handle emotional and psychological stress and the effects it has on your health:

PAY ATTENTION TO HOW YOU ARE FEELING!

Maximize the time you spend doing things that leave you feeling good

When possible minimize the time you spend doing things that don’t leave you feeling good.

When you are doing something that doesn’t typically leave you feeling good, actively look for a something you can focus on during that time that DOES make you feel good.

Let me help you with some optimum times to really pay attention to how you are feeling since that is the most essential part of this equation.

Pay attention to how you feel…

When you wake up in the morning: What’s your first thought or feeling?
Right before you go to bed.
When you get to work.
Any time you are out with friends, family or colleagues.
After you watch the news.
When you get home from work before another day of work.
When you get home from work before a day off.
The evening before you go back to work after a day or week off.
After you exercise.
After you partake in a hobby or something you are passionate about.
After you spend time alone.

The list goes on and on, but you get the idea.

I’m not telling you to quite your job and avoid everything that makes you feel terrible. I am telling you to maximize the time you spend on things that make you feel good, stop doing unnecessary things that make you feel depleted, stressed and bad AND find something to feel good about in the areas that you can’t get rid of that typically make you feel negative.

I know this may seem like a lot, but if you start to really focus on how you feel in certain situations, exchanges and times of day, you will be able to make some strong, informed choices to actively reduce emotional and psychological stress and the effects it has on your health.

Next time we’ll talk about habits and how we can use our habits to minimize stress and the negative effects it has on your health.

This kind of stress is a hot topic and I would love to hear your thoughts on it…leave a comment to let me know your ideas and together we’ll continue to reduce the effects of stress on your health.

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