Stress has a purpose. It is designed to shift our body into survival mode in time of threats to help us stay alive. Stress becomes an issue when our body doesn’t know how to turn off the system or when non-threatening things become perceived threats (Salleh, 2008). Chronic stress is one of the biggest contributors to physical and emotion health issues today (Salleh, 2008).
Stress impacts the body in a number of different ways (Marks, 2021):
- Emotionally and cognitively – you might find yourself more irritable and overwhelmed, feeling more negatively towards yourself, socially isolating, a decreased ability to concentrate, forgetting things, making poor judgements or having a more negative attitude.
- Physically – you might find you have low energy, experience headaches, digestive upsets, heart issues, trouble sleeping, tensing of the body and more frequent illness, such as infections.
- Behaviourally – you might notice changes to your eating, finding ways to procrastinate or distract yourself from other symptoms and/or life responsibilities.
Coping with stress using avoidance-focused methods such as distraction, disengagement or denial has been shown to increase negative emotions (Gillett & Crisp, 2017). Using strategies like positive reframing, venting and humour, which are emotion-focused methods, have been shown to be more helpful in regulating emotions (Gillett & Crisp, 2017). Mindfulness-based interventions are also getting a lot of support for their stress reduction methodologies that work to improve self-awareness and acceptance in participants (Burzler, Voracek, Hos, & Tran, 2019)(Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004).
Both formal programs such as the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program and informal mindfulness practices have home have been shown to be beneficial in reducing stress across a wide range of conditions (Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004). If you can’t access a formal program, no worries, there is supporting evidence for the use of mindfulness-based apps in stress reduction and increased in mental well-being (Wasil, Palermo, Lorenzo-Luaces, & DeRubeis, 2022).
3 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Strategies to try at home
- Drop into your body with a MBSR Body Scan
- Ride the wave of uncomfortable emotions and resist the urges to use maladaptive behaviours to distract or deny the emotions that you feel. You can use a guided meditation to help you or practice this exercise
- Notice the uncomfortable emotion in your body
- Feel the emotion rise and the urge to suppress it
- Notice when the wave crashes and the emotion begin to settle
- Celebrate this win and acknowledge that emotions will continue to come and go
- Practice some Belly Breathing
If you want to dive a little deeper into MBSR I recommend purchasing A Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Workbook. You could also watch The Mindfulness Experiment on Catalyst.
References
Burzler, M. A., Voracek, M., Hos, M., & Tran, U. S. (2019). Mechanisms of Mindfulness in the General Population. Mindfulness, 10(3), 469-480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-0988-y
Gillett, J. E., & Crisp, D. A. (2017). Examining coping style and the relationship between stress and subjective well-being in Australia’s ‘sandwich generation’. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 36(6), 222-227. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajag.12439
Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57(1), 35-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3999(03)00573-7
Marks, H. (2021). Stress Symptoms. Retrieved from WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-symptoms-effects_of-stress-on-the-body
Salleh, M. R. (2008). Life event, stress and illness. The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 15(4), 9-18.
Wasil, A. R., Palermo, E. H., Lorenzo-Luaces, L., & DeRubeis, R. J. (2022). Is There and App for That? A Review of Popular Apps for Depression, Anxiety, and Well-Being. Cognitive and behvioural practice, 29(4), 883-901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2021.07.001
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