Stress management

Stress management includes a range of methods that can help individuals cope with stress and improve overall well-being, although results can vary depending on the person or situation. It also consists of a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of psychological stress, especially chronic stress, generally for the purpose of improving the function of everyday life. Stress produces numerous physical and mental symptoms which vary according to each individual's situational factors. These can include a decline in physical health, such as headaches, chest pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and depression. The process of stress management is a key factor that can lead to a happy and successful life in modern society.
. Stress management provides numerous ways to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being.
There are several models of stress management, each with distinctive explanations of mechanisms for controlling stress. More research is necessary to provide a better understanding of which mechanisms actually operate and are effective in practice.

Stress management techniques

Many stress management techniques cope with stresses one may find themselves withstanding. Some of the following ways listed help to reduce higher than usual stress levels temporarily or to compensate the biological issues involved; others face the stressors at a higher level of abstraction:
Some sources of stress stem from high levels of demand that require extra effort and workload. In such cases, creating a time schedule can help—one that temporarily reduces the usual frequency and duration of previous commitments until the period of increased personal demands has passed.
Techniques of stress management will vary according to the philosophical paradigm.

Historical foundations

and Hans Selye used animal studies to establish the earliest scientific basis for the study of stress. They measured the physiological responses of animals to external pressures, such as heat and cold, prolonged restraint, and surgical procedures then extrapolated from these studies to human beings.
Subsequent studies of stress in humans by Richard Rahe and others established that stress is caused by distinct, measurable life stressors, and that these life stressors can be ranked by the median degree of stress they produce. Holmes and Rahe is focused on how life's stressors can influence ones health and wellness. The scale was developed to measure the effects of stress on health using life change units, in an attempt to quantify stress and its correlation to illness. Thus, stress was traditionally conceptualized to be a result of external insults beyond the control of those experiencing the stress. More recently, however, it has been argued that external circumstances do not have any intrinsic capacity to produce stress, but instead, their effect is mediated by the individual's perceptions, capacities, and understanding.
There are several models of stress management, each with distinctive explanations of mechanisms for controlling stress. Much more research is necessary to provide a better understanding of which mechanisms actually operate and are effective in practice.

Models

The generalized models are:

The emergency response/fight-or-flight response by Walter Cannon
General Adaptation Syndrome by Hans Selye
Stress Model of Henry and Stephens
Transactional Stress Model / stress model of Lazarus after Lazarus
Theory of resource conservation by Stevan Hobfoll
Transactional model

In 1981, Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman suggested that stress can be thought of as resulting from an "imbalance between demands and resources" or as occurring when "pressure exceeds one's perceived ability to cope". Stress management was developed and premised on the idea that stress is not a direct response to a stressor but rather an individual's resources and abilities to cope and mediate the stress response which are amenable to change, thus allowing stress to be controllable.Among the many stressors mentioned by employees, these are the most common:

Conflicts in company
How the company treats co-workers

In order to develop an effective stress management program, it is first necessary to identify the factors that are central to a person controlling his/her stress and to identify the intervention methods which effectively target these factors. Lazarus and Folkman's interpretation of stress focuses on the transaction between people and their external environment. The model contends that stress may not be a stressors if the person does not perceive the stressors as a threat but rather as positive or even challenging. Also, if the person possesses or can use adequate coping skills, then stress may not actually be a result or develop because of the stressors. The model proposes that people can be taught to manage their stress and cope with their stressors. They may learn to change their perspective of the stressors and provide them with the ability and confidence to improve their lives and handle all of the types of stressors.

Health realization/innate health model

The health realization/innate health model of stress is founded on the idea that stress does not necessarily follow the presence of a potential stressor. Instead of focusing on the individual's appraisal of so-called stressors in relation to his or her own coping skills, the health realization model focuses on the nature of thought, stating that it is ultimately a person's thought processes that determines the response to potentially stressful external circumstances. In this model, stress results from appraising oneself and one's circumstances through a mental filter of insecurity and negativity, whereas a feeling of well-being results from approaching the world with a "quiet mind". This theory deposits that moods fluctuate and cannot be changed by a specific pattern of thinking. Mental discomfort is only deepened by focus on how to change one's mood, so moods should be "waited out" and dwelling avoided based on this framework. This model proposes that helping stressed individuals understand the nature of thought—especially providing them with the ability to recognize when they are in the grip of insecure thinking, disengage from it, and access natural positive feelings—will reduce their stress.

Stress prevention and resilience

Although many techniques have traditionally been developed to deal with the consequences of stress, considerable research has also been conducted on the prevention of stress, a subject closely related to psychological resilience-building. A number of self-help approaches to stress-prevention and resilience-building have been developed, drawing mainly on the theory and practice of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Measuring stress

There are different ways to measure stress levels. One way is through psychological testing. The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale is used to rate stressful life events and how life stressors influence illness. The DASS contains a scale for stress based on self-report items. Changes in blood pressure and galvanic skin response can also be measured to test stress levels. A digital thermometer can be used to evaluate changes in skin temperature, which can indicate activation of the fight-or-flight response drawing blood away from the extremities. Cortisol is the main hormone released during a stress response and measuring cortisol from hair will give a 60- to 90-day baseline stress level of an individual. This method of measuring stress is currently the most popular method in the clinic.
Research has shown that participating in stress management programs can lower cortisol levels, which are associated with the body's stress response.Which can lead to affect on immune function, mood and sleep. The authors mentioned benefits were stronger programs were practiced over time, methods that can have physical improvements but also emotional.
Despite stress often being thought of as a subjective experience, levels of stress are readily measurable; using various physiological tests, similar to those used in polygraphs. An example of stress being measured is using nano EEG sensors in detecting stress.

Effectiveness

Stress management has physiological and immune benefits.
Positive outcomes are observed using a combination of non-drug interventions:

treatment of anger or hostility,
autogenic training which is a relaxation technique used to reduce stress and bring the mind and the body into balance through repeated exercises, such as deep breathing, to promote mental relaxation. Research done by L. Varvogli and C. Darviri shows that this technique has several therapeutic health benefits aiding in those that experienced tension headaches, heart disease, anxiety, and many others.
talking therapy
biofeedback allows people to monitor their bodies internal function such as, heart rate, muscle tension, temperature, and use this information to learn how to control the bodies response which can lead to better physical, mental, and emotional health. Some consider it to be effective however critics have compared its efficacy to that of conventional therapies as well as the cost effectiveness of biofeedback is uncertain.
cognitive therapy for anxiety or clinical depression
Stress management programs

Many businesses have begun to use stress management programs for employees who are having trouble adapting to stress at the workplace or at home. Some companies provide special equipment adapting to stress in the workplace to their employees, like coloring diaries and stress relieving gadgets. Many people have spill over stress from home into their working environment. There are a couple of ways businesses try to reduce the stress levels of their employees. One way is through individual intervention. This starts off by monitoring the stressors of the individual. After monitoring what causes the stress, next is attacking that stressor and trying to figure out ways to alleviate them. Developing and maintaining social support networks is considered vital in stress management interventions. Research has shown that social support enhances resilience to stress and contributes to better physical and mental health outcomes by buffering the effects of stressful experiences on the body and mind. Changing behavioral patterns, may in turn, help reduce some of the stress that is put on at work as well.
Employee assistance programs can include in-house counseling programs on managing stress. Evaluative research has been conducted on EAPs that teach individuals stress control and inoculation techniques such as relaxation, biofeedback, and cognitive restructuring. Studies show that these programs can reduce the level of physiological arousal associated with high stress. Participants who master behavioral and cognitive stress-relief techniques report less tension, fewer sleep disturbances, and an improved ability to cope with workplace stressors.
Another way of reducing stress at work is by simply changing the workload for an employee, or even giving them more control as to when or where they work.
Improving communications between employees is very effective for helping reduce stress. Making the employee feel like they are a bigger part of the company, by giving them a voice in bigger situations shows trust and value in their opinion. Having all the employees cooperate with each other is an underlying factor which can take away much of workplace stress. Lastly, changing the physical qualities of the workplace may reduce stress. Changing things such as the lighting, air temperature, odor, and up to date technology.
Intervention is broken down into three steps: primary, secondary, tertiary. Primary deals with eliminating the stressors altogether. Secondary deals with detecting stress and figuring out ways to cope with it and improving stress management skills. Finally, tertiary deals with recovery and rehabbing the stress altogether. These three steps are usually the most effective way to deal with stress not just in the workplace, but overall.

Stress management