Stress is something we experience when we feel under too much pressure and unable to cope. We all experience stress from time to time and we all experience it differently. A certain situation (for example, bungee jumping) may be incredibly stressful for one person, but someone else's idea of fun.
Different events and situations can cause stress and often it’s a build-up of small, subtle stressors like work-related stress or financial worries that lead to ongoing (or chronic) stress. Feeling stressed for long periods of time takes its toll on both our mental and physical health.
While we can’t always control the stressful events and situations we experience, we can control our reactions to them. Here we’ll look into common stress symptoms and explore how hypnosis for stress can help change your reaction and manage stress better.
Why do we get stressed?
Our brains evolved to help us survive back in the stone age when we were facing daily threats to our life. When a threat revealed itself, our brains would fire off hormones like adrenaline and cortisol which got our hearts to beat faster, our breath to quicken and our muscles to tense. This put us in ‘fight or flight’ mode, giving our bodies the physical edge they needed to either run away from the threat or fight it off.
While times have certainly changed and the level of threats to our lives has decreased - our brains have retained this survival feature. Now, different things are perceived as threats to our brains - for example when your manager emails you with a tight deadline. Your brain still goes through the motions to prepare you to ‘fight or flight’, but instead of fighting your manager or running away from your desk, it’s more likely that you’ll stay sat at your desk.
This leaves stress hormones coursing through your veins, making you feel stressed. Usually, this sensation will pass, but when we’re coming face to face with multiple stressors regularly, we can feel in a constant state of stress and start to develop symptoms.
Stress can affect us in various different ways, often manifesting in emotional, mental and physical symptoms. One of the best tools for stress management is understanding what your particular symptoms are. Getting to know these will help you become more aware of when you are stressed, so you can take action to reduce it.
Some of the ways you may feel emotionally include:
- overwhelmed and as if you can’t cope
- easily irritated and angry
- low in self-esteem and self-worth
These feelings may change the way you behave and interact with those around you.
Some of the ways you may feel mentally include:
- fast thinking
- difficulty making decisions
- difficulty focusing
- constant worrying
Some of the ways you may feel physically include:
- tense muscles
- feeling dizzy
- problems sleeping
- a change in appetite
These feelings can make you feel very unwell and may require you to take time off work to recover.
Stress has become part of our everyday vocabulary and at some point, most people will experience the signs and symptoms associated with increased levels of stress. Many people miss the early signs of stress until a breaking point is reached or their body responds to the constant level of stress through a physical reaction.
Stress symptoms can cause you to behave in different ways. You might find you’re getting angry at people and snapping more often. You may feel the desire to turn to alcohol or even drugs to help you cope.
Learning how to manage your stress in healthy and helpful ways is key, and sometimes this involves getting professional support.
What can help reduce stress?
The first step to managing stress is to become aware of what triggers it for you and what stress symptoms you experience. Remember, we’re all different and will respond and react to stress differently.
Try making a list of the different things in your life that makes you feel stressed and then note how stress shows up for you. Do you notice symptoms physically, mentally or emotionally? What causes you to you feel stressed? Understanding your triggers means you can anticipate when you might struggle in the future and come up with ways to cope.
Tools and techniques to help you manage stress better include:
- Increasing your communication skills and being more assertive (learn to say no when your plate is already full).
- Using relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation or having a bath can help to ease tension mentally and physically.
- Exercising frequently helps to decrease stress and promotes relaxation. If you’re not a fan of the gym, try going for a walk, swimming or a yoga class.
- Making time for self-care is a good reminder that you matter and will help you develop emotional resilience.
- Connecting with friends and loved ones. Talking problems out and spending time in other people’s company can help you feel less alone and more able to cope.
- Making space for hobbies and fun can encourage a sense of playfulness and help to alleviate stress.
- Working on your sleep routine to ensure you’re getting enough restful sleep can help you feel more energetic and resilient.
- Assessing your diet and reducing the amount of sugar and caffeine you’re consuming can help ease some physical stress symptoms.
If stress is impacting your life, you may need further support. There are several options available, including talk therapies like cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnotherapy.
Hypnosis for stress
Hypnotherapy aims to break negative thought patterns and responses to stress and instead provide you with a more healthy reaction. This is done via the subconscious - the part of our mind that works automatically and without us realising.
Your hypnotherapist will help you enter a state of deep relaxation (hypnosis). When you’re in this state, your subconscious is more open to suggestion. The idea here is for the hypnotherapist to ‘suggest’ different ways of responding to stress, to your subconscious.
Some people will see results after one session while others may require a number of sessions. This will depend on your individual circumstances and the depth of work needed. Often hypnotherapists will also teach you self-hypnosis and relaxation techniques you can use after the sessions are over.
Since having hypnotherapy my mind has settled into a calmer way of thinking. My enthusiasm for life has increased and I'm less stressed at looking for answers.
Hypnosis for stress can be especially helpful when you’re experiencing short-term stress. For example, if you have an exam coming up or a public speaking engagement, hypnotherapy can help you respond in a more relaxed way.
Regular self-hypnosis can then help you reduce tension and ease stress on a more long-term basis. The very act of going into a hypnotic state will ease stress as you need to be very relaxed. For this reason alone many find hypnotherapy an effective tool for managing stress.
Hypnotherapy can also be used to help increase your confidence and self-esteem, making you feel more comfortable setting boundaries and saying no to people. These are essential tools for managing stress.
Getting support for stress
If you think hypnotherapy could support you, you can use our website to find a hypnotherapist near you. We ensure all hypnotherapists listed with us are members of a professional body or have shown us relevant qualifications and insurance cover.
You can search according to location and find out more about the hypnotherapist by reading their profile. Here the hypnotherapist will go into more detail about how they work and what they can help with. The next step is to contact them and book in an initial consultation. This is your opportunity to discuss what you need support with and how the hypnotherapist can help you. You can enquire more about the length of treatment and the techniques they use before diving into treatment.
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