Stress management includes a range of methods that can help individuals cope with stress and improve overall well-being, although results can vary depending on the person or situation. It also consists of a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of psychological stress, especially chronic stress, generally for the purpose of improving the function of everyday life. Stress produces numerous physical and mental symptoms which vary according to each individual's situational factors. These can include a decline in physical health, such as headaches, chest pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and depression. The process of stress management is a key factor that can lead to a happy and successful life in modern society. . Stress management provides numerous ways to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being. There are several models of stress management, each with distinctive explanations of mechanisms for controlling stress. More research is necessary to provide a better understanding of which mechanisms actually operate and are effective in practice.
Stress management techniques Many stress management techniques cope with stresses one may find themselves withstanding. Some of the following ways listed help to reduce higher than usual stress levels temporarily or to compensate the biological issues involved; others face the stressors at a higher level of abstraction:
Some sources of stress stem from high levels of demand that require extra effort and workload. In such cases, creating a time schedule can help—one that temporarily reduces the usual frequency and duration of previous commitments until the period of increased personal demands has passed. Techniques of stress management will vary according to the philosophical paradigm.
Historical foundations Walter Cannon and Hans Selye used animal studies to establish the earliest scientific basis for the study of stress. They measured the physiological responses of animals to external pressures, such as heat and cold, prolonged restraint, and surgical procedures then extrapolated from these studies to human beings. Subsequent studies of stress in humans by Richard Rahe and others established that stress is caused by distinct, measurable life stressors, and that these life stressors can be ranked by the median degree of stress they produce (leading to the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale). Holmes and Rahe is focused on how life's stressors can influence ones health and wellness. The scale was developed to measure the effects of stress on health using life change units, in an attempt to quantify stress and its correlation to illness. Thus, stress was traditionally conceptualized to be a result of external insults beyond the control of those experiencing the stress. More recently, however, it has been argued that external circumstances do not have any intrinsic capacity to produce stress, but instead, their effect is mediated by the individual's perceptions, capacities, and understanding. There are several models of stress management, each with distinctive explanations of mechanisms for controlling stress. Much more research is necessary to provide a better understanding of which mechanisms actually operate and are effective in practice.
Models The generalized models are:
The emergency response/fight-or-flight response by Walter Cannon (1914, 1932) General Adaptation Syndrome by Hans Selye (1936) Stress Model of Henry and Stephens (1977) Transactional (or cognitive) Stress Model / stress model of Lazarus after Lazarus (1974) Theory of resource conservation by Stevan Hobfoll (1988, 1998; Hobfoll & Buchwald, 2004)
Transactional model In 1981, Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman suggested that stress can be thought of as resulting from an "imbalance between demands and resources" or as occurring when "pressure exceeds one's perceived ability to cope". Stress management was developed and premised on the idea that stress is not a direct response to a stressor but rather an individual's resources and abilities to cope and mediate the stress response which are amenable to change, thus allowing stress to be controllable.Among the many stressors mentioned by employees, these are the most common: Conflicts in company How the company treats co-workers In order to develop an effective stress management program, it is first necessary to identify the factors that are central to a person controlling his/her stress and to identify the intervention methods which effectively target these factors. Lazarus and Folkman's interpretation of stress focuses on the transaction between people and their external environment (known as the Transactional Model). The model contends that stress may not be a stressors if the person does not perceive the stressors as a threat but rather as positive or even challenging. Also, if the person possesses or can use adequate coping skills, then stress may not actually be a result or develop because of the stressors. The model proposes that people can be taught to manage their stress and cope with their stressors. They may learn to change their perspective of the stressors and provide them with the ability and confidence to improve their lives and handle all of the types of stressors.
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