Stress can, indeed, be a brat.  Annoying, irritating and disruptive, stress causes many nagging symptoms that negatively impact our emotional and physical well-being.

When you think of stress as A BRAT, you will have at your fingertips a handy acronym to stop that brat in its tracks.  The next time you find yourself suffering from stress and anxiety, follow these five steps:

A:          Acknowledge that you are stressed.  Simply stopping for a moment and realizing, “I am just feeling stressed right now” takes the edge off the anxiety symptoms.  Also, acknowledge the reason you are feeling stressed.  For example:  “I am stressed because I am running late for my appointment,” or “I am anxious about the meeting.”

B:          Breathe.  Take 3 deep breaths, breathing in through your nose for a count of 4, and out through your mouth for a count of 8.  In order to breathe correctly, try not to take heaving breaths through your chest.  Rather, breathe from your stomach.  Think of your stomach like a balloon:  When you breathe in, your stomach should protrude, like you are filling up a balloon.  When you breathe out, your stomach should “deflate:”  Focus on your belly button inching its way back to your spine.

R:          Relax.  Make a conscious effort to relax any muscles that are tense.  Focus on your jaw, shoulders, and stomach, as these muscles often tense up during periods of stress.

A:          Adjust your thoughts to more positive, soothing ones.  For example, instead of thinking, “I’m running late and they will be upset,” change that thought to “It’s not the end of the world that I am running late.  Everything and everyone will be okay.”

T:           Think about something else.  If you are in the car, turn on the radio and listen to music or a talk radio show.  If you’re at home, do something to take your mind away from the stress-producing event.  Call a friend, do a crossword puzzle, or look through a magazine or catalogue.

Following these five steps will stop an episode of stress in its tracks and allow you to move on with your day.  Remember that stress can be A BRAT —  and you’ll have all you need to keep that brat at bay!

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1. Deep breathing. When we listen to music, our breathing automatically slows and deepens.

2. Increased serotonin. Often called the “feel good” chemical, serotonin is a neurotransmitter in our brains that affects our feelings of happiness, comfort and relaxation.

3. Better sleep. Listening to music before bed results in a more sound sleep.

4. Reduced pain.

5. Slower heart rate

6. Lower blood pressure.

7. Production of heart-protective chemicals. Why does music have such profound effects on our bodies and minds? The answer could stem back to our very first lullabye – in our mother’s womb. For nine months we were tucked safely away, comforted by the steady rhythm of a heartbeat and the gentle rush of water surrounding us.

So the next time you’re feeling uptight, stressed or anxious, turn back to music. Here are some tips on how to make music relieve your stress:

1. Listen to music you like. It doesn’t have to be classical to be relaxing. In fact, if you don’t like classical music, it could make you more stressed! Research has proven that listening to the kind of music we like lessens our stress – but music we dislike can actually raise our stress levels. Jazz, country, reggae, alternative, pop and rock music will all reduce stress, if it’s your kind of music.

2. Vary the songs you play. Listening to the same song over and over again will lessen the music’s stress-relieving effect.

3. For extra comfort, listen to old favorites from your youth.

4. Listen with our without headphones. Whichever way you prefer is best.

5. Make your own music. Playing an instrument has the same effect as listening to music.

6. Walk while you listen. If you have an MP3 or walkman, pop on your earphones on and head outside for a walk. This will give you a three-fold boost to surmount your stress: music, exercise, and fresh air. If you aren’t in the mood to walk, resting while listening will still be effective.

7. Whether you walk, sit, fold laundry or lie down, listen for about 20 minutes to achieve the best result. Still, even a song or two will help you feel less tense.

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1. Not planning well in advance.

Poor planning causes all sorts of stressful activity, like rushing to get ready in the morning, staying up all night to prepare for a meeting, running late for appointments, missing a flight.

To avoid this type of stress, focus on planning for things ahead of time. Lay your clothes out at night so you don’t waste time in your closet the next morning fretting over what to wear. Tell yourself you need to be somewhere 30 minutes before the actual time of the appointment. Start packing a week before you leave for vacation, rather than the night before.

2. Disorganization.

When our desks, kitchens, closets, and counters are filled with clutter, we cause ourselves stress – not only because we lose things in the shuffle, but also because the visual clutter overwhelms us. We forget birthdays, lose addresses, owe the library late fees, miss important appointments. We feel stressed looking at the mess around us, not knowing where to begin.

To get better organized, take baby steps. Don’t try to do it all in a day or you will burn yourself out and become even more stressed. Start in one room, and pick up for 10 minutes a day. It doesn’t sound like a lot of time but you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish. Another idea for reducing clutter: throw away 20 things a day. It’s easiest to do this all at once – just grab a trash bag and walk around your house. Throw away old papers on your desk, cheap toys the kids don’t play with anymore, that used up candle, the scraps of litter on the floor. Your bag will be filled before you know it.

3. Worry.

Worry is a wasted emotion. It does nothing to help us, and only causes mental stress and anguish. When we worry, we are focusing on the future, over which we have no control. Instead of worrying we need to bring our focus back to the present moment. We can do this by paying attention to our breathing, listening to the sounds around us, and thinking about the things we are grateful for in the here and now.

4. Guilt.

Guilt is worry’s twin; another wasted emotion with one difference – while worry focuses on the future, guilt focuses on the past. We anguish over mistakes we have made – whether 20 minutes ago or 20 years ago. We wish we had done things differently, made different decisions, not said that harsh word, not behaved in that foolish way. Just like worry, guilt does nothing but cause us more stress and torment. Again, come back to the present moment. The past is gone. Let it go, and choose to accept all that went before. Mistakes teach lessons and help us grow. We can choose to learn from the past and move on, rather than try to live it over again.

5. Negative Thinking.

Many people are surprised to learn how many negative thoughts they have each day. We constantly bombard ourselves with thinking that tears us down rather than builds us up. Thoughts like, “I have too many wrinkles,” “I can’t stand my job,” “I messed up that presentation,” “I’m such a loser,” cross our minds more than we know.

This type of negative thinking wreaks havoc not only in our minds, but also in our bodies. Did you know that thoughts are actually chemicals? Every thought we put into our heads will have a reaction in our bodies. If we think negative thoughts, the reaction will be negative, while positive thoughts will produce positive reactions.

Try this tip:

Every time you notice yourself having a negative thought, write it down. Then, come up with a positive thought to replace it. Talk to yourself like you would talk to a good friend. Give yourself praise for the good things you do and the good person you are. Forgive yourself for mistakes.

We will always have stress in our lives, but much of that stress can be avoided. Making healthy choices in our lives and thoughts will greatly reduce our stress and result in more peace and well-being.

Here are 20 simple tips to keep stress from invading your life and affecting your health. Practice one or two at a time, then add more. You will feel better in no time!

1. Eat a balanced diet. Three small meals and two snacks a day will keep your blood sugar level and help you manage stress.

2. Limit sugar, caffeine and alcohol.

3. Get to sleep before midnight.

4. Exercise regularly – even a 20-minute walk will help relieve feelings of stress.

5. Don’t worry about what other people think of you.

6. Avoid comparing yourself or your work to others.

7. Focus on your positive characteristics.

8. Change your negative thoughts to positive ones: For example,

9. Make sure your goals are realistic, then break them down into small tasks. Baby steps!

10. Watch out for perfectionism. Remember that nobody is perfect.

11. Use humor: making a joke when you feel stressed will lighten the atmosphere and reduce tension.

12. Laugh. Watch a comedian on TV, a funny movie , or a humorous video on the internet. Read the comics. Keep a joke book handy. Laughter is a great stress-reliever (and it burns calories, too!)

13. Smile, even if you don’t feel like it. Just the act of using your smile muscles will make you feel happier and less tense.

14. Practice meditation and yoga.

15. Call a friend or family member. Focusing on others helps us get our minds off of ourselves, and puts things into perspective.

16. Treat yourself to a massage

17. Take a hot shower or bath

18. Take time out for yourself each day to rest, read and reflect.

19. Keep a gratitude journal: Each morning or night, list 5 things you are thankful for. If you have trouble thinking of things, focus on the simple things: clean water to drink, a bed to sleep in, the sunshine, birds singing.

20. Listen to fun music with uplifting lyrics – and dance if you can!

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When stressed out, your body undergoes changes through which you prepare to fight or run away from the situation. This change causes release of cortisol from your brain. If this response doesn’t get reverted, chronic stress is caused which interferes with the hormones responsible for sexual activities. The result is lower libido and loss of sex drive. Try to relieve stress and learn stress management techniques.

Many people are so occupied with their professional and social responsibilities, that they feel exhausted at the end of the day. This is very common for women who work in the day, take care of children in evenings and have to do the chores of household activities. Being packed with work, there’s hardly any time for you to relax. Your energies are drained as soon as you complete the work and only feel like sleeping. You don’t get into the mood for sex. Even if you are in a mood for sex, you hardly find time for sex. Try to be less busy by cutting down unwanted activities, you’ll find some free time and have sex to boost your mood. Try to complete the important jobs first and seek assistance from your spouse on some work. He’ll be more than helpful, especially since he is getting sex afterwards.

Relationship issues are another reason for lower sex drive. Conflicts and arguments often arise in a relationship. Work through tough times and resolve the matter. Support your partner, and communicate with each other. Understand each other’s expectations. Sex after a fight is often a great boost, as sex brings people closer.

Want to find out more truth about sex and stress, here are a few excerpts from researches

• Arizona state university studied 58 middle-aged women. They stressed the women through out the day, and their partners got intimate with them the same night. The next morning, these women were in better mood. Orgasm has many benefits for health and stress relief. But when these women had an orgasm without a partner, their mood was still negative. Positive physical contact is important in relieving stress.
• These women had a better sex drive on the next day. Being in good mood meant their partners got more physical affection and sexual activity.
• Another study revealed that positive physical contact helped women relieve stress. Emotional stress alone didn’t work effectively.

It can hence be said that having sex when stressed out leads you to good mood. This good mood will get you good sex and very often.

To be able to manage stresses, you must first be able to find the cause. Without finding the reason for feeling stressed out, you cannot fix the solution. It is like roaming aimlessly to find a way to your home. People who feel stressed out have tried all options of relieving stresses, but failed just because they haven’t been able to figure out what caused them to stress. If you are determined and spare time from your schedules, you can find the stressors. Once you have identified the stressors, you can easily take steps to do whatever required getting these out of your life.

Stress is something which refuses to get ignored, and its affects are seen adversely on the mind and body. Stress is the catalyst for headaches, muscle aches, migraines, digestive disorders and many more illnesses. Stress can cause serious damages to health, cancer and heart problems being two primary diseases that could be caused by stress. Hence eradicating the stressors from your life as soon as possible is important. But to eliminate stresses, we need to know what causes stress and where do they come from.

So where do these stressors come from? Sources are classified broadly into external and internal stressors. External stress comes from your work, the pressure of performing, etc, from relationships with family and friends, the atmosphere you live in. If you feel that theses are not the sources of stresses in your life, look internally for the state of your mind, sleeping and eating habits, the emotional trauma you’ve been through.

Not all families are perfect, and you cannot deny the fact the pressure from family members can stress you out. The pressure may not be directly from them, but you may start worrying about the future of kids, health conditions of you parents, happiness of all the members etc. Some family events may be missed due to work pressure, and you start worrying about not being able to be there for your family. You must learn to strike a balance in your life. This same can be applied for your relationships with friends.

Once you have identified the stressors, devise a plan to get rid of them. For instance, if you are stressed because of your job, you can consider quitting the job and finding a better one, or a career change. You can opt for doing your own business. This will make you feel relaxed, and you will enjoy what you are doing. But if you are unable to conclude on what is causing stresses to you, make a note of the possibilities whenever you feel stressed. Over a period of time, you will definitely be able to find a few causes, and eventually pinpoint one reason that is responsible to stress you out. Locating stressors is not an easy job, but to get rid of stress from your life, you have to manage stresses properly so that you can move forward comfortably.

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Stress is a silent killer, and being too anxious is not good for health and your social status. People often torture themselves with thoughts and feelings. Self induced stress can be avoided by utilizing your time working out ways to tackle problems rather than thinking about it.

If you do not plan well in advance, you may get into trouble or fall short of achieving what you had set out for. We may find ourselves in the middle of nowhere if we travel to an unknown place for the first time without a set of clear instructions or a map or guide. If planned and organized properly, we could save time, money and unwanted stresses.

Another reason for stressing out in our daily lives is not organizing the desks, work place, closet, home, etc. These things if properly organized could save a lot of time and stress. If your desk is organized, you won’t have to look for a pen amidst papers and files; you could just pick it up from the pen stand or pen holder.

It is very common not to find your car keys on the key stand. The previous night you could have left it in your pockets and put the clothes in cleaners. Taking time out and organizing your self and your surroundings will help you in preventing the self induced stress.

A poor mind set will not help you overcome self induced stress. Learn to forgive yourself when you make a mistake, after all you are just a human being, and are bound to make mistakes. You cannot be flawless all the time. Learning from mistakes will help you preventing from inducing stresses on yourself.

Here are ways to avoid self induced stress

1. Eliminate stress inducing from your mind

Self induced stress is something that you bring it from your choice. It has nothing to do with the outside world. You can fix the problem. Set your mind to overcome the issue, you can eliminate self induced stress from your life.

2. Look at the brighter picture

Learn to take positives from mistakes and correct what can be corrected.

3. Combat self induced pressure

Laugh it out and forget those things which you cannot solve. Take a break and find peace. Keep yourself occupied with things that you like to do.

Stresses are not easy to avoid, but trying to avoid them will definitely reduce stresses in your life.

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