Stress Management Strategies

Breathing is something we rarely think about. However, focused breathing can have profound effects on a person’s ability to relax, regulate emotions, reduce anxiety, and distract one’s mind from potential negative thoughts. Some of the tips might below require a bit of practice before you get the hang of it, but stick with it.

Relaxation Breathing

You can implement this exercise while standing or sitting, before a competition, in the classroom, or at home. The great thing about relaxation breathing is that it is a tool that you can use anywhere and anytime to help manage stress.

• Be in a comfortable sitting or standing position. If seated, have your feet planted on the ground
• Put one hand on your stomach and one hand on your upper chest
• Close your eyes if you are comfortable with that, but it’s fine to have them open
• Take a slow deep breath in through your nose, send the breath down to your stomach and try to move the hand on your stomach out, while minimizing the movement in your chest
• Exhale through your mouth or nose, noticing that the hand on your stomach sinks in as you empty the air out
• Ideally, your breath is passing down through your chest to go lower into your diaphragm area
• Repeat

10-Second Breath

• Be in a comfortable sitting or standing position. If seated, have your feet planted on the ground
• Put one hand on your stomach and one hand on your upper chest
• Close your eyes
• Take a slow deep breath in through your nose, send the breath down to your stomach and try to move the hand on your stomach out while minimizing the movement in your chest
• As you inhale count to four, stretching the inhale over the full count
• Exhale through your mouth over a the full count of six
• Repeat

Stress can consume a person’s thoughts and weigh heavily on a person’s mind – even when doing the simplest tasks. There are different kinds of cognitive strategies that can be useful to help keep one’s thoughts organized and under control.

Cognitive reframing

Cognitive reframing helps a person to notice negative and intrusive thoughts, and actively work to challenge and change those thoughts. Mastering cognitive reframing does not happen overnight. The more you practice, the easier it becomes and the less time it takes to challenge the negative thoughts you may be having.

Three steps to cognitive reframing include:

1. Notice when negative thoughts typically occur. This allows you to anticipate and manage negative or untrue thoughts.
2. Challenge negative thoughts. Asking a few questions can be helpful:

What would I tell a friend in this situation?
Is there another way to look at this situation?
What is the real evidence that my thoughts are true?
What would my first step be to cope, if my worries turned out to be true?

3. Replace negative and untrue thoughts with more realistic or helpful thoughts. 

Worry time

Often when we tell ourselves not to think about negative things, we end up instead focusing on them. Here’s a way to manage the worry thoughts so they don’t manage you.

• Set aside 15 to 30 minutes for “worry time”. This can be daily or less frequently.
• Find a place with few, if any, distractions. Turn off your phone and computer.
• Let come to mind all the things that are bothering you. Give it the attention it is seeking.
• Once time is up, visualize packing the worries away in a box, bag, safe, etc., close it and remind yourself you can come back to it another time.
• Now be intentional about what you want to focus on next and do it.

Mindful self-compassion

Mindful self-compassion means accepting who you are – strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures. Mindful self-compassion involves taking a step back from a situation, understanding that nobody is perfect, and learning to love and accept ourselves for our imperfections. The first step is understanding that everyone experiences failure. For many of us, when faced with failure, we judge, criticize, and think negatively about ourselves. The goal of mindful self-compassion is to better respond to ourselves and our failings with kindness and self-understanding. To build mindful self-compassion:

• Write down a list of 10 positive affirmations about yourself that you can look at when you find yourself in a negative space.
• Set a goal of writing three positive things about yourself, or about your day, before going to bed. This can help you to get in the habit of recognizing the good within yourself.

Visualize an outcome

In athletics, visualizing an outcome you desire can be very powerful. Many individuals think visualization is a tool only used for sport. While it is beneficial for athletics, it can be utilized in many different areas of life. Visualization has the ability to activate your creative subconscious and help in working toward your goals. Visualization can be done in many environments and time frames.

• Start with a relaxation breath or two to centre yourself and focus on the moment.
• Identify the outcome you desire.
• Begin to visualize the scene, using all of your senses if possible. What do you see, hear, smell, feel, maybe even taste?
• Picture yourself taking the steps or actions toward the desired outcome and notice what that looks, sounds, smells and feels like.
• Imagine yourself achieving the desired outcome and the reactions and emotions you might experience. Notice also any physical sensations that may result.
• Seeing it, even in your mind’s eye, can result in believing it is possible.

Visualization: relaxation and stress reduction

Another way to de-stress and relax is to visualize yourself in a peaceful, comfortable, inviting place. Visualization can be done in many environments and time frames.

• Start with a relaxation breath or two to centre yourself and focus on the moment.
• Imagine yourself in the scene you have selected and slowly allow yourself to experience what you see, hear, smell, feel and possibly taste.
• Imagine the scene over time, like watching the sun go down, and how the scene changes and what your senses experience as it changes.
• Once you decide to end the visualization, bring your focus back to your breath for a moment before moving on to the next thing you need to do.

Various behavioural strategies can allow you to relax, re-energize, and refocus.

Muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) can be used when dealing with situations where tension and stress are interfering with your life. PMR is most effective when you can carve out 15 to 30 minutes of time with minimal distractions. Bedtime can be ideal, but there are other times when it can be effective and it can be done both lying down and seated.

To do PMR, you purposefully tense particular muscle groups in your body, such as your neck and shoulders. Next, you release the tension and notice how your muscles feel when you relax them. Repeat this exercise as you work from head to toe (or vice versa).

Cost-benefit analysis/pros and cons list

Stress levels can increase when there are major decisions to be made, like what major to declare or whether to continue with sport or not. Thinking things through can certainly be important, but we can also get lost in our thoughts. Doing a cost/benefit analysis, or a pros and cons list, can help clarify decision options, and avoid making decisions simply based on emotion.

• Use old-fashioned paper and pen or your laptop to do this exercise.
• Identify the options you are considering, or can consider.
• For each of the identified options, write down the potential costs of that choice. This could be monetary, but is likely to include much more than that.
• For each of the identified options, write down the potential benefits of that choice, i.e., new opportunities, more free time, new relationships.
• Re-visit the lists in a day or two and see if there is anything to add.
• Review your lists and see whether the costs or benefits outweigh one or the other. That may help point you in a direction for your decision. It may also help you to identify additional questions you have or information you want to gather to help you make the decision.
• A friend may also be able to add some things to your lists that you didn’t think of.

Meditation

Meditative practices can allow you to develop clarity in your thoughts and feelings, decrease your negative thoughts, and promote a sense of peacefulness and centeredness. Useful mediation can be done in as little as 5 to 10 minutes to start:

• Find a comfortable position.
• While focusing on your breathing, allow your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations to flow over you, entering and leaving your awareness at their own pace. Recognize each sensation, but then let it fade away, allowing the next thought or feeling to enter your mind. Continue to acknowledge each sensation, then let it go.
• You will likely find that your mind is very busy with thoughts about all kinds of things – some pleasant, some unpleasant. Each time you notice that your mind has wandered, gently and without judgment shift your awareness back to your breath.
• Remember that the goal of mindfulness meditation is not to change your thoughts in any way, but simply to notice them and then, as best you can, continuously return to your breath.
• Keep it simple. Be patient and kind with yourself. Don’t expect that you will be able to “empty” your mind of thoughts and enter a state of deep relaxation. The point of mindfulness meditation is to simply and compassionately begin to notice your thoughts, and then let them go.

There are a wide variety of digital, self-help resources that are potentially useful. Keep in mind that these are not intended to replace professional therapies, but to aid and assist in your self-help.

A helpful resource is a directory of mobile apps provided by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA).

Other sites to check out include:

• Stress Management | Help Guide [US]
• Reducing Stress | Beyond Blue [Australia]
• Stress Factsheet | Here To Help [Canada]
• Stress | Centre for Studies on Human Stress [Canada]