The “stress” is the response, evolutionically determined, to internal or external factors that require immediate intervention by the body (Sapolsky, 2004).
The stress state mobilizes a large amount of energy such as to improve the performance for a short period of time (Selye, 1930). Usually this activation is reduced when the causes are removed and the body can quickly fall into a state of normal.
In contemporary societies, however, it often happens that the requests of the environment remain for a long time. This well beyond the ability of our body to support one stressful situation. For example, a condition of economic indigence, too long working hours, working days dotted with requests, family problems or chronic diseases.
In these and many other cases, the stress response It is not deactivated leading to a resources exhaustion and side effects called “metabolic syndrome” (Sapolsky, 2004).
In addition, it was demonstrated how the chronic stress condition It brings addiction that the person begins to get used to and lose awareness of the physical and social symptoms that characterize it.
The most common signals of the stress response I’m (apa, 2008):
- Presence of emotions such as anger, irritability, anxiety and depression
- Muscle-tensive pains such as migraine, back pain, jaw, neck.
- Digestive problems such as stomach acidity, gastro-esophageal reflux, diarrhea, constipation and irritable colon syndrome.
- Increase in blood pressure, acceleration of the heartbeat, sweating, tremors, short breath or sense of oppression to the chest.
Here, therefore, that it becomes necessary to find some strategies useful for reducing physiological activation e fight stress.
Awareness
The first step is to monitor the signals that the mind and body show when you are under stress. Each person lives this state in a different way and, therefore, it is necessary to ask yourself: “What do I think? What do I feel and what sensations do I have when I am under stress?”. For example, some people have difficulty concentrating, others feel irritable and furious, others still feel tiredness and poor appetite.
Stress is a non -specific response (Selye, 1930), activated by any situation perceived as superior to one’s own strength it is therefore important to identify the daily events that lead to Activate the stress response. Do they have to do with the family? The work? The care of the house?
Defining and taking note of these situations is very useful to combat stress and prevent and manage their side effects.
Once capable of Recognize stress signals And the situations that activate them must be managed the physiological activation inherent in the stress response.
Face stress
A second strategy is to take a step back from these situations and give yourself permission to take a break. Dedicating to something that reduces the state of stress can only improve the way of dealing with it.
Some of these activities are presented below.
Exercise
Much searches have now shown how exercise has a powerful anti-stress effect (Jackson, 2013). If addressed regularly, the exercise produces substances called endorphins. These contrast the unpleasant sensations of stress and produce feeling of energy and vitality. The literature (Hamer et al., 2008) shows how even 20 minutes of walking a day can be of benefit for many hours.
Diaphragmatic breathing
The rhythm and type of breathing can have a great impact on the physiological aspects of the state of stress. In general, two types of breathing can be distinguished. The upper or clavicular one involving the chest and low or diaphragmatic muscles that uses the diaphragm (the dome muscle used for breathing) to greater extent).
Usually in periods of strong stress Due to muscle tension, people mainly use the first type of breathing. In this way, however, they fill the lungs less and increase the respiratory rhythm. On the contrary, diaphragmatic breathing has a slower and more constant rhythm. The physiological activation of the body can be significantly reduced by this type of breathing (but et al., 2017).
To learn this breathing it can be useful to lie on a bed and place your hands on the belly, if during inspiration this swells then breathing is diaphragmatic. Otherwise, you will have to try, very kindly, to inflate it to any inspiration. It is useful to underline how you should not strive to “throw out” the belly. Enough relax the abdominal muscles to make room for the contraction of the diaphragm.
Once you learn this type of breathing, valid for fight stressyou can make short sessions of ten minutes a day. The inspiration must last for about three seconds, while exhalation for five seconds. Remove the time to escape the air from the lungs naturally stimulates our relaxation response through the vagus nerve (Russo et al., 2017).
Meditation
Literature indicates that practicing a form of meditation daily allows to reduce psychological and physical tension (De vine et al., 2012). It is therefore not surprising that one of the most effective protocols for the management of stress is the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn, 2014; Khoury et al., 2015). It starts from Mindfulness meditation that aims to develop a new way of relating to one’s thoughts and emotions.
Relaxation techniques
Relaxation is that psychophysiological state in which body activity stabilizes on normal levels. When you are in this state, the body is not solicited to respond to environmental requests and therefore is perceived as a state of well -being and serenity.
In order to Reduce stressespecially if chronic, it may be useful to learn relaxation techniques. The most common and historically effective procedure is the progressive muscle relaxation of Jacobson (1929). It provides for the alternation of moments in which some muscles and moments in which these muscles are released are voluntarily contracts.
For example, you can start shaking your hands for five seconds and then suddenly release them for the next fifteen. We will then move on to the arms, behind, to the thighs, to the feet and the face, and then start the cycle again and complete it three times. If the exercise is done daily, in a few weeks it will become easier and easier to recall the state of relaxation allowing you to enter even simply thinking about relaxing.
Sleep hygiene
An aspect often underestimated in strategies for fight the symptoms of stress It is respect for the quantity and quality of sleep that the human being needs. When we are under stress, the hormones responsible for physiological activation (glycocorticoids) stimulate the brain making the falling asleep difficult or disturbing the deep phases of sleep. At the same time, as sleep is the moment when the brain recharges energy, the deprivation of hours of rest leads to memory difficulties and concentration during the vigil. These are in fact a reason for stress.
That’s why treat sleep hygiene is essential to reduce stress. The main precautions are:
- Guarantee at least seven hours of sleep per night.
- Build a sleep routine before bedtime, for example by always doing the same things in the ten minutes preceding to go to bed.
- Eat lightly in the evening so you are not yet in the digestive phase when you go to bed.
- Dedicate yourself to relaxing activities in the ninety minutes preceding to go to bed.
- Confect the intake of stimulating substances such as coffee, tea, chocolate or nicotine in the morning and never before going to bed.
- Guarantee an adequate environment for rest, therefore a good air quality and a temperature around eighteen degrees.
Maintain social relationships
Frequently what happens when requests, especially working, increase is the reduction of social activities and leisure. This, if apparently it is understandable, has deleterious effects on psychological and physical well -being. Having moments of sharing with loved ones has a powerful anti-stress effect on the human body. The connection with the others regulates the emotional state and allows the body to rebalance itself.
Therefore it is important to allocate time during the week for these moments. Otherwise it is very likely that “work expands to occupy all the time available” (Parkinson’s, 2002). To this end, it is essential to change the perspective you have of these hours, starting to consider them useful to one’s professional and personal life. They are a functional time to recharge the energies (Choen, 2004; Bowen et al., 2014).
In conclusion, the stress response is a formidable ability of our body. It developed thousands of years ago, to face challenges (hunting/defending) that today in our culture we encounter very hardly. It is calibrated for momentary efforts and defined over time, certainly not to be the usual state of activation. It is therefore necessary to learn to manage stress And above all, deactivate the reactions when useless.
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