Fuss, conflicts, trouble at work, unforeseen situations, and even gloomy weather make you feel stressed. Nervousness has a bad effect on a person’s health and psyche. This also affects the relationship with loved ones. So, you should learn to stay calm.
Why Are We Nervous?
The nervous system helps a person to interact adequately with the world around him. In response to what happens, we react with different emotions. Thanks to the nervous system, everyone knows that touching a hot iron will cause pain, and a relaxing massage will cause a pleasant sensation.
However, the reaction is not only to the physical impact. For the emotional state of a person, the psychological environment is important. In unpleasant and unexpected situations, the body reacts with tension, like an animal trying to hide from a predator.
The human psyche is designed so that a negative experience is remembered brighter than a positive one. Children and adolescents do not have such a rich experience yet. Besides, the frequent change of events helps to experience stress at a young age brightly, but quickly forget about it.
In adults, negative experiences cause feelings of anxiety even where there is no reason for it. Because of uncertainty, mistakes and lack of support, a person is seized by the fear of “what if…”. People are often nervous because of contrived circumstances, not what happened. This prevents one from relaxing and being in the here and now.
Sources of nervous tension are external factors:
- A saturated information environment. A person receives a lot of information from different sources. Not all of it will be important and useful. Excessive saturation with information, especially negative, causes stress. An excessive load connected to simultaneous performance of several tasks also has an adverse effect.
- Reduced levels of physical activity. With each decade, living conditions are improving, thanks to scientific and technological advances. People no longer need to put in the effort to survive as they did in ancient times. Changing living conditions have not reduced stress factors. While previously the level of physical activity and the nervous tension necessary for survival were in equal proportion, now, due to the lack of the need to fight for life, the emotional experience has become more acute.
- Overcrowding in cities. Constant contact with people is not always pleasant. Hardly anyone likes standing in lines, traffic jams, riding in overcrowded transport – and this is part of life in big cities.
- The fast pace of life, the hustle and bustle and the noise. The hectic environment becomes a source of tension. Everyone needs to rest in silence.
- Bad ecology. Contaminated air slows down gas exchange processes and reduces brain function.
How to Stay Calm
It’s impossible to avoid stressful situations. However, there are a few effective ways that will help you learn to stay calm.
The Relaxation List
Think about what helps you to relax and enjoy yourself. Make a list. It can be a walk, a meeting with friends, betting at 20Bet, a swim or a cake – everyone has their own ways of relaxing. Refer to the list whenever you feel stressed. Exercise, yoga, and painting can help with stress.
Make Life Easier
If stress has become your constant companion, the first thing to do is to reconsider your attitude towards life.
Get rid of unnecessary stuff:
- Throw unnecessary things out of the house.
- Get a diary.
- Stop talking to toxic people.
- Stop doing anything that is not useful and enjoyable.
Think about whether you have unfinished business and plans, such as learning a foreign language or enrolling in courses. If you have, and you are not planning to do them in the near future, give them up for a while, until you again have the desire to do them. And do not take up new things without completing the current ones. Such unloading of “junk” will streamline your life and relieve unnecessary stress, and become the first step towards stress tolerance.
Face Stress
To deal with stress, understand the situations in your life that create stress. In a calm environment, sit down and write down anything that causes you discomfort, such as unfinished business, difficult relationships or work. Analyze the situation. Get rid of what is possible. Find the advantages in the rest – it will be a new point of growth in your personality.
Sleep Better in the Morning
Sleep is an essential factor in the fight against stress. Situations that seemed insoluble in the evening, in the morning it will seem like a trifle. Sleep should be of high quality. Prepare for sleep in advance: do not use electronic devices for half an hour, take a hot shower or bath. Relaxing massage, meditation, and light stretching won’t hurt.
Be sure to get enough sleep. Chronic lack of sleep is detrimental not only to the appearance, but also to the psychological state. If possible, take a short nap during the day, it will restore your strength.
Good Feelings
Irritation and anger are things that a person unleashes on others when he or she is under stress. With the mood, attitude towards the situation and thoughts. Learn to find positive moments even in the most unpleasant situations. Think about who and how you could help. Perhaps someone close to you needs your support. Giving someone positive and love, we feel needed. It helps to be more confident.
What to Do if the Situation Gets out of Control
The ways described above are tips on how to get rid of unnecessary stress in life. Few people know what to do when stress catches them off guard. There are several ways to help you stay calm in any situation:
- Don’t be dramatic. We tend to make things up and imagine things worse than they are – this comes from excitement or fear of something unexpected. Soberly assess what is happening and act within the situation. Don’t make up things that aren’t really there.
- Imagine that the problem is a tangled knot. The greater the tension, the tighter the knot becomes. The association will help you relax and begin to think soberly.
- Breath control. When there is nervous tension, breathing becomes labored and rapid. A slow, relaxed rhythm of breathing in and out will help you relax. Breathe in deeply, hold your breath a little, and exhale.
- Speech and Gesture Control. Don’t show those around you that you are tense. Try to move and speak calmly and smoothly – this will help calm you down. Don’t create unnecessary fuss around you.
- Get rid of external stimuli. Try to isolate yourself from the noise around you so you can think about the situation and make an informed decision.