Stress Relief Activities

Knowing a few good stress relief activities for various situations is a great help to help you remove the pressures of life that build up daily from work and your personal life. Knowing how to help others de-stress is also a good thing if you manage people at work too so you have a less stressed team.

The reason activities to reduce stress are so good is because of the negative effects that stress can have on a person. We are in fact only just starting to understand exactly how stress can impact on our psychology as well as our physical health. Some problems stress causes:

Mental

• Anxiety & Panic Attacks – Those prone to anxiety can have major flare ups from continued stress. Those that do not usually suffer from anxiety however can develop symptoms of anxiety disorders because of the stress and hormonal changes that can bring.
• Depression – Chronic stress can lead to excess stress hormones which can lead to a lack of energy and negative thoughts which can trigger a depressive state.
• Focus - Stress can interfere with your learning and decision making centers if the stress is consistent and strong making it had to focus and do your job or live your life in general!
• Personality Changes – Ever seen a normal guy become a major grump or an aggressive workmate if you add juts a bit of stress? Many people under stress undergo personality change that is out of character for them because of stress.

Physical

• Lower Immune System – Studies have shown that high stress levels have a negative impact in our physical health by lowering our immune system responses making it easier to get sick.
• Hormonal Imbalance – Many ailments are caused by hormonal imbalances. Women in particular are vulnerable to a number of issues caused by hormone imbalance and the reason for the hormone changes is because hormones produced from stress interfere with the balance by using pathways usually used by more regular hormones. Long term stress can really through this balance out.
• Aggravate Conditions – Related to a lower immune system, if you already have a medical condition a high level of stress can aggravate that condition making it hard to live with and treat.

As you can see stress relief activities are one facet of reducing stress and for a good reason … your health depends on it!