Managing Your Stress Lesson 4

Identify physical, mental, and emotional signs of stress. Managing stress is part of mental and physical health. Stress management is the ability to handle stress in healthy ways. The first step to managing stress is recognizing that you are stressed. Stress—even positive stress—produces warning signs. Warning signs can be physical, mental, or emotional.

Physical signs of stress include headaches, indigestion, and muscle aches. Mental and emotional signs of distress include nightmares, depression, anxiety, and mood swings. Of course, not every headache or nightmare is caused by distress. But if you have signs of distress, or if one sign lasts a long time, you probably have a stressor affecting your life.

By recognizing when you are distressed and knowing ways to reduce distress, you can protect your health. Distress that builds up may produce a variety of harmful effects. If you are distressed, find ways to get rid of the stressor. Reduce your distress to keep its effects from hurting you.

Discuss three tools for managing stress. One way to manage distress is by reframing the stressor. Reframing is changing the way you think about a stressor, and changing your emotional response to the stressor. When you think about a problem from another point of view, you are reframing. But reframing is not the only way to manage distress.

Other ways to manage distress are the following: Asserting Yourself Tell other people how you feel. Speak up for yourself without hurting others. Planning Ahead Make time to do things you must do even if you don’t like to do them, such as your homework. Laughing Laughter is important. Make it a habit to find something to laugh about every day.

Discuss why sharing emotions can help relieve stress. Sharing your emotions is a way to help manage your stress. Everybody has emotions. Emotions are the feelings produced as you respond to something in your life. Emotions are perfectly natural. They may be part of your response to a stressor, and they may be very powerful.

Wanting to share your emotions with other people is natural. Often, just talking about your problem will help you solve it. Talk to a grownup you can trust—a parent, relative, teacher, religious leader, or guidance counselor. Choose someone who cares about you and who will take the time to listen to you. Keeping your feelings locked up inside may make your distress worse. Finding appropriate ways to share or express your feelings can make a big difference in the way you feel.

Preventing Distress Lesson 5

Explain why preventing distress is important. A plan is any detailed program, created ahead of time, for doing something. You may be able to stop much of your distress before it starts. And you will be prepared for much of the distress that you cannot stop. If you plan for stressors that are coming, you will be ready for them. With a plan, you will feel like you have control over your life. A good plan can prevent a lot of distress and will help keep you healthy.

List other ways of preventing distress. Other ways to take care of yourself include: getting plenty of sleep (at least 8 hours) every night eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables setting realistic long-term and short-term goals and making plans to achieve them having fun and playing outside

believing that every problem has a solution finding something to laugh about every day setting a goal to learn something new every day treating other people with respect, the way you want to be treated You cannot control everything. But you can think ahead— and plan ahead—to deal with many stressors. If you have a plan and follow it, you are taking control of your life. And by taking control of your life, you can prevent distress.

Describe how making a plan can prevent distress. For most teens, school and schoolwork are major sources of distress. One way to relieve some of that distress is to use time management. Time management is making appropriate choices about how to use your time. Start using time management by making a schedule. Use a calendar, planner, or notebook. Write down the dates when all your assignments are due. Then, write down what you need to do—and what you want to do— each day. Include time for yourself.

Look at your schedule to see if you have time for everything. Then, prioritize your tasks. To prioritize is to arrange items in the order of their importance. Decide how important a task is by imagining what will happen if you don’t do it. You may have to cut the least important items from your list.

Always be sure you understand what your teacher wants you to do. If you are not sure, ask until you do understand. Arrange your assignments by due dates. Do the most urgent tasks first. Then, do the most difficult of the remaining assignments. Easier tasks are your reward for finishing harder ones. Learn to say no to things that take you away from your priorities. Time management is not always easy. But if you make—and follow—a plan for school, you’ll keep a major source of distress under control.

Of course, time management is just one type of plan. You can plan for any activity. And when you make a plan, it should include all the information and list all the supplies you need for a task. Planning is a way of looking ahead. When you plan, you can practice, study, or prepare for the task that faces you. Having a plan lets you control events. You probably can’t plan for everything, but a good plan will cover most problems. A plan doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to give you some control of the stressor. And by taking control, you can prevent a lot of distress.

Finally, if your plan doesn’t seem to be working, ask someone for help. Find a person you trust. Ask that person to review your plan. Discuss ways to get your plan back on track. Then, follow your plan, and keep your distress under control.