Stress Triggers and Stress Relief

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Stress Triggers and Stress Relief

Monday, November 17th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

by Dr Jeff Bailey

For some people, acrophobia or fear of heights is a significant stress trigger. While my wife is blissfully relaxed in cable cars and driving on high mountains, I become a quivering mess. My first awareness of this was driving up to a British hill station in north-eastern India. The 6000 feet climb caused me huge stress and I had to figure how high and I could relieve the stress

Everyone has a different Stress trigger. Some people test their physical and psychological limits through bungee jumping, rock climbing and so on. For me heights are a problem so I have to think of ways of relieving the stress. In the most extreme cases, my stress relief strategy is avoidance.

What makes you stressed and worried? Spiders, snakes, people, tests, and public speaking are very common stressors. Look at what I’m going to say and work out which ones are problems for you.

In the workplace we have these triggers: organizational changes, unfair or excessive workloads, too much unpaid overtime, stressful demands and expectations, duties that do not match individual’s job specification, work that is boring and is not motivating, no (or limited) autonomy over the work situation, job insecurity and threatened redundancy, inadequate training for the demands of the position, inadequate, inappropriate or excessive supervision, a work environment that does not meet occupational health and safety standards, inadequate resources to do the job. Others include inappropriate social culture in the workplace, for example, racist, harassing, discriminatory, poor relationships with colleagues or bosses, and dramatic events in the workplace, for example, death, severe injury, hold-ups. What a list. It is a wonder that so many of us enjoy our workplaces a well as we do.

We can also have emotional or internal stressors such as fear of animals, insects, people or places. Other internal triggers are being in social settings and not knowing what to say. Worries about appearing dumb or stupid. Fears that you are not dressed appropriately for the occasion. Concerns about what other people think of you. Preoccupation with your body shape, size, weight - butt too big, stomach sticks out - you know.

As most of us have an extended family, and we assume responsibility for our family, we can worry about things like education, unwanted pregnancies, and financial difficulties. Worse, parents worry about their children becoming drug dependent. Relationship problems one of the major causes of people seek therapy. There are plenty of family triggers for stress.

Our job is to work out what causes stress for each of us. In therapy, I propose a model called BE CALM. I use this model to help people develop a stress relief and stress management strategy. B is for build, E for examine, C for confront, A for accept, L for let go (forgive, forget), and M for Move on with your life. We can’t let stress manager our lives; we need to learn good stress relief tips and strategies.

About the Author:

Dr Jeff, psychologist, provides stress relief. Why put up with stress? Learn stress triggers and stress relief now. Click here for the free What is Stress by Dr Jeff. Don’t waste another minute stressed and burnt out. Get moving - learn how to relieve stress. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.

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