5 Ways to Kick Recession Stress

in Adverse Events Careers economy by marcus — March 23, 2009 at 8:36 am | 1 comment

With recessions come massive amounts of stress. Even if you’re not directly affected, you’re still thinking about it, worrying about it, losing precious sleep over it. All hours of the day, the threat of layoffs, inflation, and the loss of your hard-earned comforts dangles over your head like a well-sharpened sword.

All of this stress is self-propagating and, if not dealt with, begins to take a real toll on your mental, emotional, and physical health. Remember, everyone has stress. The difference is in how people deal with it. Do you sweep it under the rug, pretend it’s not there? Do you release it in ways that will create more stress? Do you attack the problem? Do you turn it into positive action that will eliminate future stress? These questions are crucial in controlling stress and staying happy.

Ironically, the first solutions people usually think of when encountering stress may not be the right ones. True, Caribbean vacations and trips to the spa can help. But always you will be thrust back into your stressful routine. Worthwhile, long-lasting stress management will be more about your everyday habits than a dream weekend in paradise (especially in this economy where trips to the tropics are fewer and farther between).

For budget-friendly de-stressing that will last, check out the following five tips:

1.Exercise – Studies have unanimously proven the positive effects of regular exercise on stress. Exercise increases the body’s energy output, increasing your ability to work without becoming fatigued. Vigorous exercise also floods the body with happiness-inducing endorphins and cleans out unfriendly toxins. Exercise regulates weight, cardio-vascular health, diet, and other important factors that can prevent future health problems.

2.Plan – Most of the negative effects of stress come from feeling out of control. A regular (weekly or daily) planning ritual can decrease, if not eliminate altogether, that feeling. Plan out your day. Give yourself ample time to complete your tasks. Budget time for every important part of your life. At the end of each day or week, take stock of what you’ve achieved and where you can improve. Then set new goals you can reach. Control and achievement chase away stress.

3.Organize – Long ago, the human brain developed a driving need to organize the world around it. This ability helped humans to survive and cope in a hostile world. The human brain still feels this need. When things are out of whack, the brain is flooded with anxiety and panic. When you don’t have a routine, your brain goes into survival mode (not good over the long-term). Feed your brain’s need. Organize your life, de-clutter your home, and label that toolbox. Set a comfortable routine you can stick with.  Your brain will thank you, and let you sleep at night.

4.Purge – Laughter has long been hailed as the best medicine. But how about screaming, singing, dancing, and wailing? Civilizations of old held songs, dances, and rituals to purge themselves of emotional blah. When bad things happened, they got together and weeped, wailed, beat their chests, rent their clothing, and sang to the moon. Then they went back to work. In our often emotion-challenged society, try cutting loose every now and then. Laugh and cry. Hold a dance in your backyard. Don’t let all that emotional blah just clog up your insides.

5.Get Perspective – Keeping a roof overhead and food on the table is important. Don’t get me wrong. But we often apply a disproportionate amount of importance on work and money. We are so afraid of the unknown that just the thought of losing work fills us with dread. The thought of having to eat from a garden petrifies us. Why does it scare us so? Because it’s different. It represents a drop in so-called quality of life. But what would really happen to you if you lost your lob? You would have to find another way to make money. You would find a way to survive. You might have to sell your plasma tv or work extra hours. You might lose your house and have to- gulp- rent. But you wouldn’t be struck with boils or burned at the stake. You would survive. With this in mind, remember how good your life really is and proceed accordingly.
 

Tags: economic crisis financial meltdown lifestyle recession recession worries stress tips unemployment