What to do if you are feeling stressed
Stress is a normal physical reaction to events that happen in day to day life. However, prolonged stress and worry can affect the quality of daily life and disturb life patterns. It can cause things like sleeping problems, loss of appetite, headaches and make it difficult to concentrate.
People have different ways of reacting to stress. Some common stress reactions are:
- anxiousness
- irritability
- low self-esteem
- over-thinking
- acting unreasonably
Stress can affect the quality of daily life, disturb life patterns and cause sleeping problems. It can cause loss of appetite, headaches and make it difficult to concentrate.
Fill in the NHS Get your Mind Plan to assess your stress levels.
Recognising stress triggers
If you aren't sure what is causing your stress, make notes which you can review to spot signs. Write down the time, date and place when you started to feel stressed as well as other factors such as who you were with, what you were doing and how you felt.
This video might help you understand what may be causing you to feel stressed:
Thought diary
You can fill in a thought diary to recognise any links between stress and other factors. Your thought diary can include:
- Date and time when the stressful event happened
- Place where it happened
- What you were doing at the time
- How it made you feel
- Who you were with
- Any other thoughts about the event
This video explains the benefits of a thought diary:
Tips for stress management
- Manage time
- Meditate
- Spend time with nature
- Listen to music
- Read a book
- Talk with friends
- Exercise
- Think positive
