Stress and resilience

What is stress?

You’re having a bad week. You’ve got a to do list that just keeps getting longer, it feels like everyone needs you for something and you’re worried about how you’re going to pay the electricity bill this month…

Stress is a natural part of the body’s defence mechanism. When you feel threatened or under pressure, whether the feeling is caused by relationships, money, work, health, or something else, your body goes into ‘fight or flight’ mode. This can make you feel irritable or anxious, overwhelmed and unable to enjoy yourself, or like you can’t slow down your thoughts or switch off. It can also have physical effects such as headaches or feeling sick, muscle pains or fatigue, among other things.

Stress affects everyone differently, and each person has a different tolerance to stress. There are also outside factors that can make it more difficult to deal with stress – things which are often beyond our control, such as money worries, or living far away from family and friends.

The good news is that it is something we can all learn to manage more successfully. For example, being prepared for periods of stress can make them easier to deal with and knowing that you need to build some downtime into your day or week after a stressful event can give you time to recover.

Resilience – the unsung superpower

Resilience is our ability to cope with or recover from difficulties, hiccups and setbacks. Taking care of our wellbeing can help us feel more able to manage stress, building up our resilience.

Different things will work for different people, but here are some ideas you could try:

• Be kind to yourself. Treat yourself with the same compassion as you would a friend. Appreciate the effort you put into things and forgive yourself for any mistakes you might make. Don’t criticise yourself too harshly – we’re all human, after all.
• Look after your body. It’s easy to overlook these things when you’re feeling stressed – but getting enough sleep, keeping active and eating a healthy, balanced diet can make stress much easier to manage.
• Breathe and relax. This can be especially difficult if you have no control over a situation that makes you feel stressed. But if you can, try to take a break, however short, in which to breathe slowly and deeply and relax those muscles (often the neck and shoulders). This can help with how you’re feeling.
• Spend time in nature. This can help to reduce stress and improve your overall wellbeing. You could try going out for a walk in our beautiful Town Park or your nearest green space, or you could bring nature into your home and garden with indoor plants or a small vegetable patch or pots. Even just taking 10 minutes each day to watch the birds that visit your garden or local park or spending some quality time outdoors with your pet can improve your mood.
• Develop your interests and hobbies. Spending time on things you enjoy could help distract you from a stressful situation and help to clear your mind. Or, if stress is making you feel lonely or isolated, shared hobbies can be a great way to meet new people.

Here at Healthy Telford we believe that small changes can have a big impact. We all get stressed and knowing how to manage it by making small, positive changes like those listed above can help improve your mood and turn that bad week into a better one.

If you would like more information and support locally, help is available at the Telford Mind Calm Cafés.

Further reading:

Visit the Mind website for more information on how to improve your mental wellbeing

Visit the NHS website for more information and support for your mental health

Want to learn more about improving your health and wellbeing?