{"id":205064,"date":"2018-05-05T02:26:18","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T02:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/5f17670acf5743285.temporary.link\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064"},"modified":"2018-05-05T02:32:11","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T02:32:11","slug":"205064-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064","title":{"rendered":"10 STRESS BUSTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

10 STRESS BUSTERS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If you’re stressed, whether by your job or by something more personal, the first step to feeling better is to identify the cause.<\/p>\n

The most unhelpful thing you can do is turn to something unhealthy to help you cope, such as smoking or\u00a0drinking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“In life, there’s always a solution to a problem,” says Professor Cary Cooper, an occupational health expert at the University of Lancaster. “Not taking control of the situation and doing nothing will only make your problems worse.”<\/p>\n

He says the keys to good stress management are building emotional strength, being in\u00a0control of your situation, having a good social network and adopting a\u00a0positive outlook.<\/p>\n

What you can\u00a0do to address stress<\/p>\n

These are Professor\u00a0Cooper’s\u00a0top\u00a010 stress-busting suggestions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be active<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exercise won’t make your stress disappear, but it will reduce some of the emotional intensity that you’re feeling, clearing your thoughts and letting you to deal with your problems more calmly.<\/p>\n

For more advice, read\u00a0how being active helps mental wellbeing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get started with exercise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Take control<\/strong><\/p>\n

There’s a solution to any problem. “If you remain passive, thinking, ‘I can’t do anything about my problem’, your stress will get worse,” says Professor Cooper. “That feeling of loss of control is one of the main causes of stress and lack of wellbeing.”<\/p>\n

The act of taking control is in itself empowering, and it’s a crucial part of finding a solution that satisfies you and not someone else.<\/p>\n

Read tips on\u00a0how to manage your time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Connect with people<\/strong><\/p>\n

A good support network of colleagues, friends and family can\u00a0ease your work troubles and help you see things in a different way.<\/p>\n

“If you don’t connect with people,\u00a0you won’t have support to turn to when you need help,” says Professor Cooper.<\/p>\n

The activities we do with friends help us relax. We often have a good laugh with them, which is an excellent stress reliever.<\/p>\n

“Talking things through with a friend will also help you find solutions to your problems,” says Professor Cooper.<\/p>\n

Read about some\u00a0other ways relationships help our wellbeing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Have some ‘me time’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here in the UK, we work the longest hours in Europe, meaning we often don’t spend enough time doing things we really enjoy.<\/p>\n

“We all need to take some time for socialising, relaxation or exercise,” says Professor Cooper.<\/p>\n

He recommends setting aside a couple of nights a week for some quality “me time” away from work. “By earmarking those two days, it means you won’t be tempted to work overtime,” he says.<\/p>\n

Challenge yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n

Setting yourself goals and challenges, whether at work or outside, such as learning a new language or a new sport, helps to build confidence. This will help you deal with stress.<\/p>\n

“By continuing to learn, you become more emotionally resilient as a person,” says Professor Cooper. “It arms you with knowledge and makes you want to do things rather than be passive, such as watching TV all the time.”<\/p>\n

Avoid unhealthy habits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t rely on alcohol, smoking, and caffeine as your ways of coping. “Men more than women are likely to do this. We call this avoidance behaviour,” says Professor Cooper. “Women are better at seeking support from their social circle.”<\/p>\n

Over the long term, these crutches won’t solve your problems. They’ll just create new ones. “It’s like putting your head in the sand,” says Professor Cooper. “It might provide temporary relief, but it won’t make the problems disappear. You need to tackle the cause of your stress.”<\/p>\n

Help other people<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Cooper says evidence shows that people who help others, through activities such as\u00a0volunteering<\/a>\u00a0or community work, become more resilient.<\/p>\n

“Helping people who are often in situations worse than yours will help you put your problems into perspective,” says Professor Cooper. “The more you give, the more resilient and happy you feel.”<\/p>\n

If you don’t have time to volunteer, try to do someone a favour every day. It can be something as\u00a0small as helping someone to cross the road or going on a coffee run for colleagues.<\/p>\n

See more on\u00a0giving for mental wellbeing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Work smarter, not harder<\/strong><\/p>\n

Working smarter means prioritising your work, concentrating on the tasks that will make a real difference.<\/p>\n

“Leave the least important tasks to last,” says Cooper. “Accept that your in-tray will always be full. Don’t expect it to be empty at the end of the day.”<\/p>\n

Read some tips on\u00a0how to manage your time better<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Try to be positive<\/strong><\/p>\n

Look for the positives in life, and things for which you’re grateful. “People don’t always appreciate what they have,” says Professor Cooper. “Try to be glass half full instead of glass half empty,” he says.<\/p>\n

Try writing\u00a0down three things that went well, or for which you’re grateful, at the end of every day.<\/p>\n

Listen to an audio guide on beating unhelpful thinking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Accept the things you can’t change<\/strong><\/p>\n

Changing a difficult situation isn’t always possible. Try to concentrate on the things you do have control over.<\/p>\n

“If your company is going under and is making redundancies, for example, there’s nothing you can do about it,” says Professor Cooper.<\/p>\n

“In a situation like that, you need to focus on the things that you can control, such as looking for a new job.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 STRESS BUSTERS If you’re stressed, whether by your job or by something more personal, the first step to feeling better is to identify the cause. The most unhelpful thing you can do is turn to something unhealthy to help you cope, such as smoking or\u00a0drinking. “In life, there’s always a solution to a problem,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-healthy-tips"],"yoast_head":"\n10 STRESS BUSTERS - Rays of Hope Support Initiative<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 STRESS BUSTERS - Rays of Hope Support Initiative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"10 STRESS BUSTERS If you’re stressed, whether by your job or by something more personal, the first step to feeling better is to identify the cause. The most unhelpful thing you can do is turn to something unhealthy to help you cope, such as smoking or\u00a0drinking. “In life, there’s always a solution to a problem,” […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rays of Hope Support Initiative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-05T02:26:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-05T02:32:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ROHSI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ROHSI\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?p=205064#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?p=205064\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ROHSI\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/659bd25ce63983eeef99b0f5b39d2764\"},\"headline\":\"10 STRESS BUSTERS\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-05T02:26:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-05T02:32:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?p=205064\"},\"wordCount\":905,\"articleSection\":[\"Healthy Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?p=205064\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?p=205064\",\"name\":\"10 STRESS BUSTERS - Rays of Hope Support Initiative\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-05T02:26:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-05T02:32:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/659bd25ce63983eeef99b0f5b39d2764\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?p=205064#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?p=205064\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?p=205064#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 STRESS BUSTERS\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rays of Hope Support Initiative\",\"description\":\"Resources for a healthy lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/659bd25ce63983eeef99b0f5b39d2764\",\"name\":\"ROHSI\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7d8bd0fd5230d8c4f421baab16078f465db9d8330d80ca8259ddd25e5ecdd781?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7d8bd0fd5230d8c4f421baab16078f465db9d8330d80ca8259ddd25e5ecdd781?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7d8bd0fd5230d8c4f421baab16078f465db9d8330d80ca8259ddd25e5ecdd781?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ROHSI\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rohsi.org\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 STRESS BUSTERS - Rays of Hope Support Initiative","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 STRESS BUSTERS - Rays of Hope Support Initiative","og_description":"10 STRESS BUSTERS If you’re stressed, whether by your job or by something more personal, the first step to feeling better is to identify the cause. The most unhelpful thing you can do is turn to something unhealthy to help you cope, such as smoking or\u00a0drinking. “In life, there’s always a solution to a problem,” […]","og_url":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064","og_site_name":"Rays of Hope Support Initiative","article_published_time":"2018-05-05T02:26:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-05-05T02:32:11+00:00","author":"ROHSI","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ROHSI","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064"},"author":{"name":"ROHSI","@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/#\/schema\/person\/659bd25ce63983eeef99b0f5b39d2764"},"headline":"10 STRESS BUSTERS","datePublished":"2018-05-05T02:26:18+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-05T02:32:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064"},"wordCount":905,"articleSection":["Healthy Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064","url":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064","name":"10 STRESS BUSTERS - Rays of Hope Support Initiative","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-05-05T02:26:18+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-05T02:32:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/#\/schema\/person\/659bd25ce63983eeef99b0f5b39d2764"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?p=205064#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 STRESS BUSTERS"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/","name":"Rays of Hope Support Initiative","description":"Resources for a healthy lifestyle","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/#\/schema\/person\/659bd25ce63983eeef99b0f5b39d2764","name":"ROHSI","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d8bd0fd5230d8c4f421baab16078f465db9d8330d80ca8259ddd25e5ecdd781?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d8bd0fd5230d8c4f421baab16078f465db9d8330d80ca8259ddd25e5ecdd781?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7d8bd0fd5230d8c4f421baab16078f465db9d8330d80ca8259ddd25e5ecdd781?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"ROHSI"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/rohsi.org"],"url":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=205064"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205069,"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205064\/revisions\/205069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=205064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=205064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohsi.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=205064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}