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Stress Management: Approaches for preventing and reducing stress

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Whether it comes in the form of a pile of unpaid bills, a contentious argument with your spouse, a worrisome health problem, or a traffic jam, stress is a part of everyday life. While some stress is inevitable, when your body repeatedly encounters a set of physiological changes dubbed the stress response, trouble can brew. Stress may contribute to or exacerbate various health problems, including these: high blood pressure, suppression of the immune system, headaches, insomnia, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome.

But it’s possible to dismantle negative stress cycles. This report can help you identify your stress warning signs and learn how to better manage stressful situations. In these pages, you’ll find a variety of tools you can use to accomplish that task. In addition, you’ll find a handy four-page portable section that walks you through a variety of quick, easy stress relief techniques.

Your job is to decide which tools fit you best and to start using them. Your efforts can reward you richly with better health, greater peace of mind, and a smoother, more joyful course through life.

Prepared by the editors of Harvard Health Publications in consultation with Herbert Benson, M.D., Director Emeritus, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Mind/Body Medical Institute, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Aggie Casey, M.S., R.N., Director, Cardiac Wellness Programs, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate in Medicine, Harvard Medical School. 45 pages. (2008)

  • Understanding the stress response
    • What is stress?
    • The positive side of stress
    • Stress and its toll on your body
  • Stress in your life
    • The major life event stress scale
    • Recognizing the early signals
    • Unhealthy responses to stress
  • How to prevent and manage stress
    • Learning the relaxation response
    • Breath focus
    • Body scan
    • Guided imagery
    • Proper nutrition
    • Exercise
    • Social support
    • Nurturing yourself
    • Journals: Easing stress the write way
    • Cognitive restructuring: You are what you think
    • The role of positive psychology
  • Your portable guide to stress relief
    • Mini-relaxations
    • Taking the sting out of 10 common stressors
    • Keeping a gratitude journal
    • Deflating cognitive distortions
    • Making a worry box
    • Meditation on the go
    • Learning mindfulness meditation
  • The different faces of stress
    • Sex and stress
    • Age and stress
    • Caregiving and stress
    • Work and stress
  • How stress affects the body
    • Stress and cardiovascular disease
    • Stress and cancer
    • Stress and high blood pressure
    • Stress and the immune system
    • Stress and asthma
    • Stress and gastrointestinal disorders
  • Developing your personal plan for stress relief
  • Glossary
  • Resources

Cognitive restructuring: You are what you think

Stop for a moment and try to remember the thoughts that were running through your head as you got dressed for work this morning. What were you saying to yourself? What were you thinking? Then think about how you felt.

Perhaps a simple thought, such as “the train is late,” quickly drifted out of control. Suddenly, you were thinking: “I’ll be late to work. I won’t make it to my meeting on time. My boss will be angry with me. My job is in jeopardy.”

Sometimes even seemingly happy thoughts hurtle down the same track. “Wonderful, the lab report says my biopsy results are negative!” can quickly turn to “I wonder how good that lab is? Maybe the results were positive, and the lab didn’t pick it up. Cancer that’s undetected gets worse. By the time the error is found, it could be too late.”

These scenarios are examples of automatic thinking. They can engage the stress response almost as easily as a growling Doberman bounding in your direction.

So, too, can the barrage of negative thoughts that many people play through their minds on an endless loop, or flip on automatically when faced with certain people or situations. Familiar examples include: “I look awful,” “I can’t do this,” “I’m stupid,” “I’m such a screw-up,” and “I’m a loser.” The voice may be yours or that of someone else from your life, such as an overly critical parent. Even in the absence of obviously stressful situations, this inner critic can make you miserable and stressed.

Cognitive therapy is built on the premise that thoughts and perceptions shape moods and emotions. A stream of highly negative thoughts may contribute to depression and anxiety. These negative thoughts are often riddled with irrational distortions and exaggerations. They can be examined and deflated, though, once you learn the skills of cognitive restructuring, a cognitive therapy technique that helps people change the way they think.

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The articles are always easy to read and full of pertinent information. They provide an excellent overview of what's going on in practice now and provide references to look towards for more information. Armando Ribeiro das Neves Neto Sao Paulo/Brazil.

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