Stress

Stress is how the body reacts when we are feeling threatened or under pressure. Everyone can feel stressed from time to time.

Stress can be helpful in daily life. It can motivate you to achieve things like preparing for an exam or interview, or keeping up with your home life.

Experiencing too much stress can become overwhelming and make us feel out of control. This may affect your relationships or how you feel and behave.

What stress feels like

When we feel under pressure or encounter something that we find physically or mentally scary, it triggers a response called the ‘Fight or Flight.’ It causes Adrenaline release in the body, which gives us the energy to fight or run away from the situation that is causing us stress.

When this happens, you may notice some of these signs:

  • Racing thoughts

  • Dry mouth

  • Fast heartbeat

  • Nausea

  • Feeling dizzy or lightheaded

  • Fast breathing

  • Sweaty palms

  • Tense muscles

Self-help tips for dealing with stress

Recognise your stress signs

Everyone experiences stress differently. It’s helpful for you to recognise early signs that you’re getting stressed. This will make it easier for you to manage how you are feeling. What are your Fight or Flight signs? When you have felt stressed before, what did you think and feel? How did you behave?

Take small steps towards your goals

Putting yourself under a lot of pressure to get things done can make you feel overwhelmed. Instead of trying to do everything at the same time, set yourself achievable goals. Take small steps towards accomplishing them. This will make you feel more in control.

To set achievable goals, you may find it helpful to set SMART goals:

Specific – Setting a specific and clear goal

Measurable – Making sure the goal is measurable e.g. if your goal is to revise for your Maths exam, revising alone is not a measurable goal. So we can make this measurable by thinking the amount of time you want to revise for per day for example.

Achievable – Ensuring the goal can be achieved. E.g. If your goal is to revise all of the content for your exam in 1 hour, this is something you won’t be able to achieve. When we set goals that aren’t achievable this can often leave us feeling self-critical and more stressed because we are unable meet our goals.

Relevant – Setting goals that are relevant for you, this might include thinking about things that you find helpful e.g. you might find that you like to revise after dinner or you like study groups so you might change things according to what works for you

Timely – Setting a goal that has a deadline can be helpful to keep you motivated to work towards it. You may find it helpful to use a timetable to support with this.

 

Practise self-care

When you’re feeling stressed, it is easy to forget to look after yourself. Practise self-care by eating and sleeping well, and exercising. Make time to do the things you enjoy, such as something creative, reading a book or talking to friends, as this can help manage your feelings.

Use breathing techniques

Practise breathing techniques to help you feel calm and regulate your emotions. Breathing techniques can help to make your emotions feel manageable and free your energy to focus on problem-solving.

Breathing techniques work better the more we practice them. So you may want to spend some time each day practicing to use a breathing technique, so it works better when you are feeling stressed.

Talk to somebody

It can feel isolating when you’re experiencing stress. Talking about your worries can make you feel better. It may give you ideas on how to deal with the situation that is causing you stress.

Sometimes it can feel difficult to talk about how you feel. You may find it helpful to start off using something like a worry box to share how you are feeling with a parent/carer.

Apps

Here are some Apps you may find helpful:

●      Stress & Anxiety Companion - Free app that helps you cope with stress and anxiety with simple exercises to help you manage your thinking. Get it from your app store.

●      My Possible self: The mental health app - Free app for help with managing anxiety, tackling depression, easing stress and improving sleep. The app uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help you enjoy doing more of the things you love. Get it from your app store.

●      Thrive - This app can help you manage stress, anxiety and related conditions. Free to use with a code. Fill in in a short NHS form to get access after downloading it from your app store.

●      Worry Tree - For help dealing with worry and anxiety. Subscriptions options are monthly or yearly.

●      Calm - Free app that features anxiety relief, relaxation, meditation, mindfulness, sleep stories and music.

●      Cove - Free app for iPad and iPhone to help you make music for mental health.

●      Catch it - The app will help you better understand your moods through use of an ongoing diary. It can teach you how to look at problems in a different way, turn negative thoughts into positive ones and improve your mental wellbeing. Get it from your app store.

●      Headspace - Subscription app that offers techniques to reduce anxiety, and to relax, guided meditation, helps you sleep better and be mindful in everyday life.