Emotional Wellbeing and Stress Cath Parfitt – School Counsellor

Emotional Wellbeing and Stress “Emotional wellbeing is not the absence of emotions, but it is your ability to understand the value of your emotions and use them to move your life forward in positive directions.”

Stress Stress is like a ‘worry alarm’. When you feel stress, your body releases chemicals (adrenalin and cortisol) to create a response – which to your primitive brain is either ‘fight’, ‘flight’ or ‘freeze’. If stress repeats itself over too long a time we can struggle to get rid of these chemicals and this can cause negative health issues. Some stress symptoms : Feeling nervous and panicky, Constant worry, Can’t concentrate, Headaches, Tummy aches, Dizzy spells, Tightness in chest, Negative thoughts, Self-harm, Self-destructive behaviour, Low body image Low motivation Hard to sleep/relax, Loss of appetite, Biting fingernails, Mood swings.

How to manage stress! The best way to manage stress is to: be aware of it, consider how it affects you and put things in place to keep it under control. … And don’t be scared of it!

1. Change the way you think about yourself Manage the negative messages in your head… Swipe and delete negative thoughts as they come in, turn up the volume on positive messages! Make a list of positives things in your life. Laugh and have fun, banish worries. Do a good deed for someone or yourself!

2. Identify Your Support Network Write down who you can go to for support Home Friends School Other Don’t forget helplines like the Samaritans or Childline Think who the people you trust are and who you will go to for different problems you experience. Think about which people you will go to for support with specific problems

3. Always ask for help! If you avoid talking about issues and problems as they arise, the feelings don’t go away. Get into the habit of talking about what is bothering you everyday to the people in your support network. If you don’t feel like talking, why not keep a journal or a diary, or you could express your feelings in a drawing.

4. Take care of yourself Write down the things that you need to do to feel good and to keep you relaxed e.g. dancing, football, watching Netflix. Build some time into every day for these things. Focus on your exercise and diet and take care of your yourself. Get outside if you can. Express yourself creatively (art, music or writing). Laugh!

5. Get organised Stress is often made worse by the feeling of not being in control, so try and put some structure into your day. Put together a revision plan for exams, including relaxation time. Try to work smarter, not harder. Write a ‘to-do’ list. Ticking things off your list is satisfying!

6. Make stress your friend Rethink how you see stress. Stress prepares our bodies to meet challenges and rise to the occasion. The heart pumps, you are filled with adrenaline. Learn not to be scared of this feeling. The stress response is a way to tell you to seek out support and human connection. Talk to people and don’t face things alone. When you are stressed your brain releases chemicals which means you are not thinking clearly, so plan for this. Knowing this, when you know you are going to be stressed, do some preparation or a ‘pre-mortum.’

Pre-mortum example – preparing for an exam Prepare everything you need the night before. Work out different scenarios in your head, think through what could go wrong and plan for this. Try visualisation exercises. Before the test, imagine yourself in a happy place then switch to imagining being in an exam answering a question that you know. Repeat this a few times. If you can, familiarise yourself with the exam room before the day, and know how long you the exam is and what you need. Write down your feelings about the exam then screw it up and throw it away. Allow only motivational and positive thoughts and swipe and delete any negative thoughts. Plan your meals and snacks. Have at least 6 hours sleep before an exam. Research shows pulling all-nighters is not effective, and your brain will perform better if rested.

7. Other tips to beat exam stress Accept that you will be stressed. Do your pre-mortum in advance and follow it. Have a good balanced diet in the weeks leading up to exams. Set realistic expectations. Manage your breathing. When you are stressed you will take short breaths. Practice breathing in for 5, then out for 5 to help you feel calmer. In the exam always read the question 2 or 3 times before starting and underline key words. Plan to do something to look forward to after a time of stress and keep visualising yourself getting to that point. Remember that if you fail it is not the end of the world! There are many things you can do if you don’t get the grades you want, the important thing is to do your best.

Support Please seek me out if you need anymore support or someone to chat to. I’m in my room most break/lunchtimes Wednesday’s, Thursday’s and Friday’s. We are arranging some Year 11 Friday sessions to help talk about this area. If you want to come to these please speak to Mr Baxter.