Stress Management
What causes stress?
As individuals we have differing levels of stress tolerance. What one person might perceive as a stressful situation might be a walk in the park for another. For most of us living in today's society, stress plays a larger than necessary part in our lives. Life is just so fast paced. However, in general, some careers and some life experiences are considered more stress making than others. Many of these life situations can lead and contribute to the development of symptoms of excessive stress. The causes can range from bereavement, divorce, fear, overwork, responsibilities, unemployment, relationship problems, lack of confidence, money concerns, low self-esteem, lack of fulfilment in life, illness, uncertainty and change, conflict, family issues and unresolved emotional issues from the past. What exactly is stress? The word "stress" peppers our language frequently these days. “Stress” originates from the Latin word “stringere” which means to compress or to draw tight. This would be a good description of how some people experience stress – tight and compressed or pressured. |
When we perceive ourselves to be threatened in any way, the brain triggers the release of hormones such as adrenaline into the body. The body is then put on full alert, which, in turn, triggers our “fight or flight” response which is necessary in a primal sense for your physical survival. However, in today’s busy world with pressures, the fast pace of life and our lifestyle itself, when we perceive ourselves to be threatened by, say, a Boss or the loss of a relationship, these hormones are released into the body causing the same “fight or flight” reaction. This can be beneficial sometimes but, over a prolonged period or with frequency, this is an undesirable state for the mind and body. Over time the body, being on full alert with all the accompanying symptoms of stress, is drained of its energy and is overworking.
Symptoms of stress and how to recognise it: Stress can be defined as the way a person feels when the pressure they are under exceeds their ability to cope. Everyone reacts to stress differently depending on their personality. Stress can be caused by many things, such as work, money worries or relationships. It can cause psychological issues, such as anxiety and irritability, and physical symptoms and health issues, such as sleep interruptions and headaches. Our body's involuntary stress response to unexpected events is the "fight or flight" response. Some stress is normal and considered good for the mind and body – for example, it might be useful to feel slight stress if participating in sports, as this might heighten your responses and make you more alert for the task at hand. However, continued and unproductive stress is now widely recognised as one of the major causes of many physiological and emotional conditions such as:
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How Angela can help you
Stress management is one of the key issues facing us in the UK today. However overwhelmed you may feel right now, you can learn to perceive stress making situations in a very different light as well as lower your stress levels to bring relaxation and health back into your life. Sometimes it is our perception of life situations that causes us stress when they needn’t do and sometimes stressful life situations cannot be avoided, such as the loss of a loved one. In either case it is possible to lower our stress levels and in some cases eradicate stress altogether. The one common theme Angela hears with stressed clients is that they don’t know how to relax or they’ve forgotten how. Relaxation is the key to diffusing stress. Hypnosis is the polarity of the fight or flight state. It is a state of relaxation and calm. Using hypnotherapy, NLP and cognitive therapy, Angela will help you address the causes of stress in your life, teach you self-hypnosis in order that you can master your own relaxation, lower and manage any stress effectively and use therapeutic techniques to change the way in which you perceive stressful situations. By creating different thinking styles and approaches to stressful situations, you can change your emotional state around the stressful situations. Hypnotherapeutic and cognitive techniques are very effective in reducing the effects of chronic stress, such as anxiety, panic, loss of confidence etc. Sometimes stress can be a build up of many factors with no single cause and it can build up suddenly or over a period of time. Angela will take a look at your lifestyle in general, including sleep, nutrition, relaxation, work and play, Angela’s stress management techniques, which may include EMDR, CBT, Mindfulness and Hypnotherapy, can help you:
For further information and to book an appointment, you can call Angela on 07736 480 376 or email her. A hypnosis download for stress reduction and inducing relaxation is available for purchase. |