Stress Management Techniques And Tips

Everyone in life, have to experience some kinds of stressors, which may affect the lifestyle and living standard of people. Prior discussion about major stressors affecting our daily lives, we must gain significant understanding about what stressor is. According to Butzer et al. stressor is an external stimulus or event, environmental condition or biological or chemical agent, which raises stress to a living being. There are several types of stressors, which can be the key cause of stress development, including environmental stressor, daily life events, life changes, workplace stressors, chemical stressors or social stressors. Stressors may have physical, chemical or psychological responses. One stressor that I am experiencing in my life is related to my work schedule. Thus, my stressor is categorized under occupational stressor. While working as a nurse, I have the responsibility to serve humanity; and while working in this condition, I have to work more my scheduled time, which sometimes becomes highly stressful for me.

In order to manage the stressor, I have investigated the existing evidence related to the best stress management tools, aligning with the conditions or stimuli I am dealing with. Researchers have revealed that managing stress is important as the high level of stress put the entire wellbeing of a person at risk. Stress wrecks the emotional equilibrium as well as affects the physical health of a person. It also reduces the thinking ability, effective focusing, and functioning (Njoroge). All these issues have been identified in my life. In contrast, it has been revealed that effective stress management helps a person to be “happier, healthier and more productive”. Furthermore, for a healthcare worker, it is highly important, as she has the responsibility to promote others’ health and wellbeing. In regards to the management of stress, one key intervention that I have found is regular meditation and Yoga, which helps people significantly to manage stress through relaxation and enhanced physical activity. Researchers are also indicating that stress management in the healthcare context can be done through cognitive behavioral intervention. It would be suitable for me as I am having behavioral issues like mood swing, anxiety, issues with problem solving and issues with socialization. Besides these two interventions, it has been revealed that there are other remedies for stress management also, including self-management tools as well as other interventions including "Psycho-educational, holistic wellness program, organized conditions and job characteristics, specific management behaviors, use of job demand scale and competency approach”.

Log summary of Cognitive behavioral intervention

Initially, I have visited the counselor and addressed my issue, i.e. nursing burnout due to the long working hour and unbalanced personal life. After gaining thorough information and identifying my issue, the counselor gave me a schedule for a 3-month behavioral intervention. The key approach that has been followed in my session is the "successive approximation". This exercise helps people to achieve overwhelming goals. My schedules for the entire CBI therapy were for 3 months, each session with 15 days interval.

Log summary for Yoga and meditation

Upon consulting with a yoga trainer, I was scheduled for a 30 minutes yoga session daily for 10 weeks. I participated in the activities in a group; the schedule for the group included “a 2-minute centering, 5-minute themed discussion, 3-minute breathing exercise, 15 minutes of yoga postures/exercises and a 5-minute relaxation (meditation) and closing”. The "centering" session included a brief community-building chant to focus upon activities, the length of which increased in successive sessions. The "themed discussion" emphasized on yoga-related awareness distribution in or to improve self-awareness; these included "introduction to yoga and mindfulness, breathing for self-regulation, peace/non-violence, and self-care" (Butzer et al.).