It is usually possible to recognize when levels of stress become unmanageably. high. Stress tends to manifest itself in either psychological or physical symptoms, but sometimes as both.

HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS
As soon as you begin to feel that things are getting on top of you and your health is starting to suffer, try any or all of these approaches, first to identify, and then to deal with, stress in your everyday life.

• Work at identifying sources of stress in your life and consider whether or not you can make an’ changes that will leave you in greater overall control.
• Learn to manage your time better. Many, people’s stress is due to an overwhelming workload. To make work more manageable, write it list of goals for the day and list them in order of priority-. Ticking off tasks as you complete them gives you -it sense of achievement.
• Breathe deeply a very, effective and easy, way, to relieve stress is to focus oil breathing and make your breaths progressively deeper.
• A number of illicit drugs worsen feelings of stress and anxiety, including crack, cocaine and ecstasy.
• Look after your health. Eat healthily and drink alcohol and caffeine in moderation. By maintaining good overall health you reduce your tendency to illness and increase your ability to COC with whatever life throws at you.
• Try to avoid substances that might increase anxiety. A few cups of strong black coffee may wake you up in the morning but caffeine can increase levels of anxiety especially in people already suffering from the effects of stress.
• Get into the exercise habit. Regular exercise helps to mobilize and utilize excessive amounts of adrenaline (caused by stress) and so helps to calm you down.
• Try, to include some positive relaxation techniques oil daily basis. There is a range of alternative therapies that are all effective methods of relaxing and so reducing anxiety levels. These include yoga, massage, shiatsu, aromatherapy, reflexology and acupuncture.

WHAT IS YOUR STRESS SCORE?
Many life events can be a major source of stress; even when an event is a wholly desirable one, such as a wedding or house move. Read through the following stress “ratings” to see how they are linked to various major and minor life events. This will help you to focus on the factors that may be causing stress in your life and to establish if you can make any changes to alleviate the problem.

• Very, high stress – Death of a spouse; divorce or marital separation; loss of job; house move; personal injury or illness.
• High stress – Retirement; pregnancy; change of job; death of close friend; serious family illness.
• Moderate stress – Large debts such as mortgage; trouble with parents-in-law spouse starting or stopping work; trouble with boss; legal proceedings over debt
• Low stress – Change in work conditions; change in schools; change in eating habits; small mortgage or debts; Christmas or other family holidays.

GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

We spend approximately one-third of our lives asleep but many of the elements of this fundamental biological process – exactly why we sleep and how our bodies know when to sleep – still elude sleep science researchers.

An adequate period of sleep is necessary to allow the body and mind to rest properly and what is adequate will vary from person to person. Making sure that you have enough sleep is vital in terms of stress management so it is perhaps surprising then that many people do not allow themselves adequate periods of sleep.

An increasingly complex lifestyle that means you are continually struggling to deal with competing demands may lead you to feel that you cannot allow time for the luxury of a good night’s sleep. But studies have shown that long-term sleep deprivation will eventually predispose a person to a range of physical and psychological problems.

PROBLEMS SLEEPING

If you are having difficulty sleeping or feel that you have poor-quality sleep, it may well be helpful to discuss the situation with your doctor. If you have already tried some of the self-help suggestions then it may be that you need a mild hypnotic drug to help you to re-establish a sleep pattern.

Over tiredness is a leading cause of reduced productivity at work as well as being a major cause of road accidents. Insomnia may also be a manifestation of anxiety and/or depression, both of which require specific treatment.