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Tips for Relieving Stress
by Eisla Sebastian


Stress symptoms can manifest in many ways. It can appear as a migraine headache, as muscle pain, as anxiety or as depression. If you have a disability then you have more stress in your life than the average person simply because you have more obstacles and challenges to deal with in your life. Because of this, it is very important that you learn how to relieve stress through the REACH process: Relax, Exercise, Alter your environment, Create a support system and ask for Help when you need it.

Stress Management Tip No. 1: Relax
Relaxation techniques can be very helpful for relieving stress. Stretching is a great way to release the tension in your muscles and help your body and mind to relax. Deep breathing exercises are also very effective for helping you to relax. Aromatherapy, reflexology and massage therapy treatments are other options that you have for helping you to relax.

Stress Management Tip No. 2: Exercise
Exercise is a very important part of a stress management program. Even if you have limited mobility, you can still find exercises that will release the energy stored up in your muscles and in turn help your body to relax. Exercise also helps your brain to produce happy chemicals like adrenaline and epinephrine which will reduce negative emotions associated with stress like anxiety and depression.

Stress Management Tip No. 3: Alter Your Environment
Stress can be caused by many external factors like traffic and even clutter. An easy way to reduce the amount of stress in your life is to alter your environment so that you have limited exposure to external stressors. For example, if your living room is cluttered with papers, furniture, knick-knacks and other items, then get rid of the things you don't need or want and reorganize the things you want to keep so that the living area is less cluttered and so that it has more open space.

Stress Management Tip No. 4: Create a Support System
Creating a support system is another important element of a stress management program, especially when you have a disability. Your support system can be made up of friends, family members, your case worker (if you have one) and the medical professionals that you work with. This support system will help you to deal more effectively with stressors in your life.

Stress Management Tip No. 5: Ask for Help When You Need It
Stress is difficult to deal with alone and the symptoms of stress can be compounded when you feel overwhelmed. To reduce the amount of stress you experience you need to learn to ask for help when you need it. Help can take the form of asking a friend to take you to the grocery store, hiring a care aid to help you with housework or working with a counselor to help you deal with issues and stress that are impacting your life. Once adopted, this technique can be very effective at relieving stress.

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