Mental Health Practices

The Stress Cycle

The definition of stress as per the World Health Organization is as follows: "Stress is the reaction people may have when presented with demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope."

Stress normally works in a cycle. The cycle works as follows:

·      We may get stressed because of a variety of factors

·      Because of stress, we can manifest different kinds of reactions. We may turn to overeating or alcohol to deal with the stress. Stress may lead to bodily symptoms such as increased heart rate, short breaths, high blood pressure, diabetes, indigestion and so on. We can become more prone to negative emotions such as anger. Our behavior may become moody and unpredictable and fluctuating. Our ability to function socially might become worse and we may become withdrawn from our friends and relatives. We may indulge in negative self-talk such as thinking that we are worthless or failures. We may become less able to concentrate and more prone to get distracted.

·      All these could lead to worse effects such as heart diseases, mental illnesses, affect our memory and sleep, cause premature aging and so on.

·      This could lead to lesser enjoyment and productivity in life, leading to even greater stress.

This stress cycle goes on and on, increasing our stress and further decreasing our ability to deal with our everyday tasks.  

Systematic ways to tackle stress

In order to tackle stress and break the stress cycle, we can follow a few simple steps, which are as follows:

·      We should aim to have regular meals and good sleep.

·      We should aim to keep active including a regular exercise schedule. For example, we can do a few simple yoga exercises, such as a few cycles of “surya namaskara” yoga exercise.

·      We should cultivate some hobbies to keep our brain active.

·      We should make it a point to keep meeting our close friends and well-wishers.

·      We should try not to indulge in negative thoughts such as obsessing about the case and hypothetical situations or blaming others for our problems. We should also not try to control everything.

·      We should try and balance our time, keeping adequate me-time for ourselves as well as allocate enough time for our family.

By following all the above steps, we would be able to improve our mental health and be stronger and better able to deal with stressful situations.

Simple techniques to combat stress

We can check ourselves from time to time if we are having the symptoms of stress such as short breaths, shallow breaths, slumped posture and so on.

If we detect that our breath and posture are showing signs of stress, we can follow a few simple techniques to come out of stress in the short term, which are discussed in the following subsections.

Longer and slower breaths

When we are stressed, our breathing becomes very shallow and short and fast. Therefore, one technique to control stress can be to consciously make our breath longer and deeper, make sure our breath is slower and reaches all the way till the stomach. This technique has the immediate effect of lowering our stress level. Same goes for the posture and body language: having an upright posture and a positive body language can also play a role in lowering our stress levels.

Mindfulness meditation

Another technique for lowering stress can be to follow mindfulness meditation for a few minutes daily. This involves sitting with our back straight, closing our eyes, mindfully observing the various sensations of our body slowly from head to toe, and counting each breath.

We can count the breaths by silently counting from 1 to 10 with each inbreath, and again restarting at 1 after the cycle of 10 breaths is completed.

Smiling more

One way to beat stress can be simply to smile more. The act of smiling tricks our brain into believing we are happy and relaxed, and the body also exhibits the symptoms of relaxation rather than stress.

Reframing and keeping a positive attitude

Another way to combat stress is to keep a positive attitude. This can be done in the following ways:

·      Every morning we can bring to mind all the things we are grateful for, all the people who have helped us and are helping us in our life.

·      We can make positive affirmations such as “may myself and others be happy and well”, and “may all the people around us also be happy and well”.

·      We can try to mentally forgive people we perceive have harmed us, as well as any others we may be having grudges against.

·      We can encourage ourselves with positive self-talk encouraging ourselves, as opposed to negative self-talk.

·      We can think of the adversity almost as a test of our patience and a training for us to become mentally stronger.

·      We can use this opportunity to think of other people who are caught in similar adverse situations as us, empathize with them and wish them well.

·      We can take the opportunity to help people around us in ways big and small, which has the side effect of improving our own mental health and relieving our own stress.

By following the above steps regularly and sustained over a period of time, we might be able to combat stress effectively and start a “wellness cycle” that can fight the stress cycle.

Cultivating a carefree attitude in life

One way to reduce our stress and more generally is to cultivate a carefree attitude to whatever happens in our life. We should not always try to control everything or expect things to go well. The whole of our life is a learning process, and we should be aware of this.

In order to cultivate this attitude, we should not be unduly concerned with what is happening or what others may be thinking of us. We should make it a habit to take some time off for ourselves, take regular breaks from work and commitments, and take regular walks and retreats in the midst of nature.

We should also endeavor to cultivate a child-like inquisitive mind no matter what our age, since it helps our brain to continue making new connections, become more efficient and think of different out of the box and creative ways to deal with our problems.