Stress – how can we manage it?
Stress – it’s impossible to avoid and affects millions of people daily. In fact, a survey conducted in 2021 reported that 53% of Americans report experiencing a large amount of stress. We asked Jeremy Lewis, M.S.ED., LMFT, Clinical Services Director for Northeastern Center, to give us some more information about different types of stress and different ways we can help manage it.
What is stress?
While there are many types of stress, the two primary types are:
- Acute Stress: A normal response to a perceived threat, whether real or imagined.
- Chronic Stress: A prolonged and constant feeling of stress that can negatively impact your health.
Acute stress is the occasional stress we experience and overcome. It’s running late to a morning meeting at work and being stopped by a train. You may begin to worry about the repercussions of being late to that meeting and how it will impact your day.
Chronic stress is the constant, compounding stress we experience. It could look like marital conflict, or financial hardships. It is compounding stress that builds and impacts you daily, to the point that it begins to negatively impact your health.
What is emotional regulation?
Emotional regulation is quite simply explained as finding your calm in the storm, being able to center and ground yourself when you are experiencing extreme emotions, including those related to stress. It is the coping mechanisms we use to regulate and calm ourselves down.
Emotional regulation will look different for everyone – what may work for one person as a way to cope may not work for another. There are also healthy and unhealthy ways to regulate emotions. Healthy emotional regulation is built on three key factors:
- Being able to disengage from the intensity of the emotion
- Being able to interrupt the cycle of rumination
- Being able to reengage with the situation adaptively
Some examples of healthy types of emotional regulation are:
- Reframing negative thoughts
- Accepting and practicing mindfulness
- Taking a break
- Expressing emotions constructively
- Solving the problem
Mindfulness for stress management and emotional regulation
Mindfulness is a common practice to help combat emotional dysregulation and stress. It is about being present and not allowing your thoughts to distract you. When you are being mindful, you are aware of your senses and what is happening at that exact moment, not what has happened or could happen. Mindfulness:
- Is about observing and accepting your thoughts without judgement.
- Can be used anytime, anywhere.
- Can help with anxiety and depression.
How can you practice mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be done whenever you feel like you need to reset your mind. For some people, it may look like meditation. For others, it may look like taking a walk at lunch during a particularly stressful day. As you walk, you may notice your mind start to clear of your worries as you focus on the path under your feet, the birds singing, the breeze blowing against your face. Focusing on these things can help to clear your mind, regulate your emotions, and bring your thoughts to the present.
Mindfulness is a simple practice that you can easily integrate into your day-to-day life by incorporating it into smaller moments throughout the day. When you notice your emotions becoming overwhelming or you need to manage stress, consider simple mindfulness techniques like:
- Focusing on your breathing.
- Noticing your immediate surroundings.
- Bringing your thoughts and emotions to the present and what is happening around you.
Here to help
If you need more guidance on stress management, emotional regulation or mindfulness, Northeastern Center is here for you. Learn how you can become a new client, or call the outpatient office closest to you for more information about our services.
