Are you feeling stressed? If so, you are not alone. Stress is very common among Americans, but also across the globe. According to The American Institute of Stress, about thirty-three percent of Americans report feeling extreme stress! About seventy-seven percent reported stress that affects their physical health. Seventy-three percent reported stress that affects their mental health. A whopping forty-eight percent of people have trouble sleeping due to their stress. These statistics are alarming, and the fact is that these numbers have been increasing and will continue to increase in the years to come. So what can you do about it?
Top Causes Of Stress
There are many causes of stress in our lives. Increasing work demands, parenting, or caring for other family members, and so much more can add to our feeling stressed. Combine that with a chronic lack of sleep and exercise from being too busy, and you have a recipe for disaster on both your physical and mental health. The top causes of stress that most Americans experience at some point in life are:
- Money – This is usually a lack of money, not being able to support the lifestyle we desire, not paying bills on time. This can be caused by a job loss, divorce, sudden health problems that limit your ability to work, etc.
- Work – There are many factors of how work contributes to stress. If you work a high-stress, demanding job, you can feel tension and irritability just about all day long, every day. Sometimes work stress is from working with negative people, a micromanager boss, and even frustrated customers and clients. Too much workload leading to working longer hours can contribute to stress levels.
- The economy – We experience highs and lows in our economy each year. When our economy is not doing well, we experience an increase in prices from just about everything we need in life. Grocery stores and gas prices increase, and many businesses have to raise their prices as well. The economy can result in workers experiencing job loss, layoffs, or their hours getting cut back. This all correlates with money stress.
- Family responsibilities – If you have a family, chances are you have stress. Parents often experience various amounts of stress through the various stages of raising children. Children who don’t sleep well or have chronic health issues can put a burden on their parents. Taking care of elderly parents or other special needs family members can cause that same burden.
- Relationships – Whether you are married or in a long-term relationship, there are times of conflict. For some relationships, this happens more than others. Not just romantic relationships, but also friendships and family relationships can be toxic. You may need to set boundaries and keep a distance if those types of relationships cause you stress.
- Personal health issues – If you don’t feel well, it can impact your mood, relationships, and work. If you have chronic health issues or any health issue that impacts your finances, this can increase your stress levels even more.
- Housing costs – this correlates with money and the economy. If you rent, your rent likely goes up each year. If you own a home and cannot afford your monthly mortgage payments or the insurance and taxes, you are at risk of losing your home. This can create a huge burden of stress.
Do you notice how many of these top causes of stress create a chain reaction to additional stress causes?
The Physical Impacts Of Stress
How do you feel when you are stressed? You may feel an increase in your heart rate, and your blood pressure may start to rise. If you experience chronic stress, it can be dangerous to your health. It can create hypertension, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. You may also feel headaches, mental fog, and irritability.
When you are stressed, you don’t sleep well. You may experience insomnia when living a stress-filled life. When you do not get quality sleep, you may experience other physical symptoms, such as headaches, brain fog, and drowsiness throughout the day. Our bodies cannot function well without getting at least a few good hours of sleep each night. The recommended amount of sleep for adults is seven to nine hours of sleep each night. For optimal health, aim for at least six hours of sleep each night and try to increase it from there. There are many things we can do to improve our sleep hygiene. The point is to make it a healthy habit to increase your benefits of healthy sleep.
What Can We Do About Stress?
There is no way to remove stress from your life completely. But we can evaluate our lives to find the source of stress and then go from there. Maintaining a positive attitude and being optimistic can help with the effects of stress. The best-case scenario is when you find a source of stress, can you cut it out of your life? If it’s your job, can you find a new job that is a better fit for you? Can you start a business that allows you to work from home and be your own boss, creating more time freedom? If you have a toxic family member living in your home, will you set boundaries and give them a deadline to move out? If your children are driving you crazy, can you find creative solutions to keep both you and the kids happy?
Perhaps taking a break now and then by going out on more dates with your spouse, letting the kids stay at grandma’s, or a favorite family member from time to time will allow you a time of rest. If you have money problems, can you find a financial advisor to help you find practical ways to budget and save more?
Obviously, we cannot cut out every source of stress in our lives. However, we can find ways to relax more and destress. Creating healthy habits to destress will help balance you out. Go for a walk outside and experience the effects of nature. Hit the gym and get some feel-good endorphins from exercise. Meditate or pray more. Learn breathing exercises that help calm you down and regulate your heart rate when you are stressed. Get plenty of quality sleep. Eat healthier meals every few hours to balance your blood sugar. Cut out sugar and caffeine as they can also impact your mood and heart rate.
Awareness Of Your Stressed Life
When you become aware of your stress and how it is affecting you, taking any step to improve can positively impact your health. Check back for more blog posts on how to stress less and improve your life!