Just a month back a friend of mine complained of very severe cramps in her stomach. Since the pain did not subside even after she was prescribed every medicine possible for stomach cramps, a thorough diagnosis was performed. Surprisingly, all the reports came clean till she decided to pay a visit to a specialist who diagnosed it as stress. She was taken off all other medications and was put on anti-anxiety medicine. In about a day, she became fit and fine.

Does the above story sound similar to something you have already heard, seen or been through?

How do you define stress? Is it physical or psychological? Which type of stress is a bigger evil? Is all stress bad? Is stress only related to work or are there other reasons for stress? How can we manage stress? The answers to these questions has been given in the article below.

Stress can be physical and it can also be psychological. If you are physically stressed for a long time, you will get psychologically stressed too and vice versa. Psychological stress often leads to lack of sleep which in turn brings in fatigue. The after effects of stress have surpassed every assumption. It is now known to be one of the biggest reasons for a host of lifestyle diseases and behavioural issues. Goes without saying that this monster needs to be restrained.

Since stress is now omnipresent and is not dependent upon age, race, culture or any other factor, it becomes essential to understand what causes stress and how to undermine or stop it completely. The best way to handle stress is through AAA Strategy where the first ‘A’ stands for acknowledge, second ‘A’ stands for analyse and third ‘A’ stands for augur. Acknowledging the reason for your stress is the most important factor. Once you are there, you can move to the next step of analysis.

The first step of acknowledgement would come from identifying what type of stress you have. Is it work related or a life stress or just a nagging worry which has become persistent in your life? Work related stress might range from adjustment problems with a new boss, a new assignment, business pressure, long working hours, working in shifts, transfer, new job, new role, no growth opportunity or something as mundane as mails not working. Life stresses include breakup, divorce, death of a loved one, illness, marriage, financial commitments or any big change in your life. Nagging worries are usually related to insecurity, anxiety, negative attitude and perceptions. Stress reasons might be internal – something that comes from within or external – something that comes from people or environment around you. You need to sit down and pin point of what is ‘your’ stress reason. Acknowledgement of the stress factor creates an understanding of ‘what-to-do-next’.

By the time you are in analysis phase, you have overcome almost 50% of your stress. Understanding the right reason might give you a clue to handle it. Some factors might be in your control and some might not be. The ones which are in your control need to be handled properly. You also need to accept the fact that all stress triggers might not be in your control. Respond to such situations and don’t react. Once in a while, you might come across stressors that can be avoided. And finally there might be situations where adaptations are required from your end. Analyse the best way to handle and work on it.

If you are fairly good at understanding and analysing stress situations, have devised a way to work on them, next would be to augur such situations. If you can foresee a stress situation brewing up, you will be in a much better position to completely control the situation before it becomes a big issue for you.

Finally, accept that all stress is not bad. ‘Stressed’ spelled backwards is ‘Desserts’, which is an essential part of our life. It may push you from ‘I-can’t-do-it’ to ‘I-didn’t-know-I-could-do-it-too’. The choice is all yours.