Stress is a serious risk factor for the onset and progression of many physical and mental diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, anxiety disorders, depression, and burnout.

We need to stay as far away from stress as possible for our physical and mental health. How to accomplish that? Yeditepe University Hospitals Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serhat Tunç: “We must develop the skills to manage stress, not to absorb it like a sponge, but to prevent it from sticking to us like a Teflon pan.”

Managing Stress

Stress is a part of life. Although it is perceived as negative at first, it actually creates an opportunity to develop and grow us. It can motivate us to run our business. It allows us to live our own potential. If we live through the challenges appropriately, we can grow through the challenges, and we can improve ourselves.

How we respond to stress can be explained with the analogy of a sponge and a Teflon pan. We should not absorb stress like a sponge, we should ensure that stress does not stick to us like a Teflon pan, and we should develop skills to manage stress. People with sponge structures absorb stress and inhale it. People with Teflon structures manage stress and do not allow stress to cling to them. This structure is evaluated according to how the person responds to stress. Just as a person has responded to their difficulties in past life events, so will they respond to current stress events. For this reason, I recommend that those who have difficulties in managing stress should talk to a psychiatrist.

To do this, we need to improve our STRESS MANAGEMENT skills, not avoiding stress.

• Accept it as the natural course of life.
• We can see stress as a companion on the way to the goal. 
• Do not personalize the challenges. For instance, passing or not passing any exam does not make you a good or bad person. Just think of it as a test that you have to pass like a task, and do your best, work hard, and make an effort. 
• Accept that there are events that we cannot control. For example, we cannot control whether the weather is rainy or snowy.
• Instead of being angry, it is important to be ’assertive‘ and say ‘I do this, I try to do that’.
• Develop habits of using your time efficiently.
• Schedule the tasks you need to do in order of importance and order of completion. 
• Spend time on your hobbies and interests that you enjoy doing.
• Do not engage in behaviors such as smoking, alcohol, or drug use to reduce stress. Drugs and alcohol increase stress. For example, alcohol taken during stressful times will cause you to wake up tired in the morning because it will disrupt the sleep stages. This will deprive you of the quality sleep that is most necessary for stress management.
• Take a walk-in nature or outdoors to increase your stress tolerance and manage it healthily.
• Have social relationships with your loved ones.

Exercise

First, physical activity can help improve your sleep. And better sleep means better stress management. People who exercise tend to get better deep “slow-wave” sleep, which helps regenerate the brain and body. Just be careful not to exercise too close to bedtime, as this can ruin your sleep.

Exercise stimulates your body to secrete several hormones that help prevent pain, improve sleep, and calm you down, such as endorphins and endocannabinoids. And that makes us feel better. Substances such as endocannabinoids secreted in the brain can provide the "euphoric feeling" that people report after long runs.

Exercise makes us feel less anxious and more positive about ourselves. When your body feels good, your mind usually follows. Exercises such as walking, running, swimming, dancing, and cycling, which your doctor deems appropriate for the person, can be done.

If you do not have time to exercise, you can spread the movements such as going shopping on foot, using the stairs instead of the elevator, parking the car a little far from where we will arrive, and walking during lunch break.

Nutrition

Eating healthy foods makes us feel good, reduces the effects of stress, strengthens our immune system, and balances our blood pressure. A lot of added sugar and fat can have the opposite effect. The desire to eat junk food may increase when under stress.

Prefer complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and fatty acids found in fish, meat, eggs, and raw nuts to stay healthy and balanced.

It also protects your cells from damage caused by chronic stress by antioxidants found in a variety of foods, such as spices such as beans, fruits, strawberries, vegetables, and ginger.

Stay away from processed foods. Carry healthy snacks with you when you leave the house.

Vitamin C, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids have been reported to reduce the effects of stress on the body and mind.

Sleep

A common side effect of stress is that you have trouble falling asleep. Insomnia can also increase your stress levels and cause a cycle of stress and insomnia.

For healthy sleeping habits:

• Exercise regularly.
• Get out in the sunlight.
• Drink less alcohol and caffeine close to bedtime.
• Establish a sleep schedule where you sleep regularly.
• Wear blue light-protected glasses when looking at electronic devices in the evening.
• Do not look at your electronic devices 30-60 minutes before going to bed.
• Your bedroom must be dark, quiet, and cool.

Social Relationship

Spending time with people you love calms you down and reduces your stress. Communicating with people face-to-face releases a hormone that stops the fight-or-flight response. This will relax you.

Press Coverage: sozcu