Stress

What is stress?

Life can be busy and confusing, sometimes things start to build up.

It might be looking for work, trying to balance looking after your children and your job, money worries, living in an area where you don’t feel safe, or trying to live up to how someone thinks your life should be.

Stress is your body’s reaction when you feel overwhelmed by problems or pressure and you are starting to find it hard to cope.  Stress can trigger the ‘fight or flight’ response feelings of anxiety.

What are the effects of stress?

A little bit of stress can be helpful; it can improve your concentration and give you short term energy to achieve a goal e.g. completing a big task for a deadline at work, or organising a big event.  However, too much stress or feeling stress for weeks and months at a time can cause problems such as:

• difficulty sleeping
• feeling anxious or tense
• struggling to concentrate
• feeling irritable or angry
• headaches
• not enjoying things anymore

How to cope with stress

Top tips for supporting someone to reduce their stress:

• Try to be supportive and not to put pressure on them
• Help them to problem solve any practical difficulties they are facing
• Offer to help them to get organised e.g. to make a timetable of what they need to do and when they will do it
• Encourage them to get plenty of sleep and eat well
• Encourage them to take regular breaks and get exercise outside
• Practise relaxation or mindfulness exercises together
• Help them recognise their achievements