Stress Management

Stress management encompasses techniques intended to equip a person with effective coping mechanisms for dealing with psychological stress.

Definition of stress: Stress management defines stress precisely as a person's physiological response to an external stimulus that triggers the "fight-or-flight" reaction.

Causes of stress: Many things can trigger the stress reaction, including danger, threat, news, illness, as well as significant changes in one's life such as the death of a loved one.

Techniques of stress management include:

• self-understanding (e.g. self-identification as a Type A or as a Type B personality)
  
• self-management (e.g. becoming better-organized)
  
• conflict resolution
  
• positive attitude
  
• self-talk
  
• breathing
  
• meditation
  
• exercise
  
• diet
  
• rest

Some techniques of time management may help a person to control stress. For example:

• becoming more organized and reducing the generation of clutter
  
• setting priorities can help reduce anxiety
  
• using a "to do" list of tasks that a person needs to complete can give a person a sense of control and accomplishment

Effective stress management involves learning to set limits and to say "No" to some demands that others make.

Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_management

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