I can tell you for sure that stress is very bad for anyone. I was chatting with my 82 year old friend whom we met on a flight to Nairobi some few years ago and was telling her how stressed I was with life.

Taking care of a large family, being a mother, a volunteer teacher, a member of different boards and a business woman is not easy I told her.

Sometime last month I felt like the whole world was crumbling down on me, because I was so stressed.

I went on for days without as much as getting sleep, my weight went up because of eating unhealthy foods and I had a permanent headache. I could not even think straight.

"Stress is not good for you my dear girl,” she told me. "Do what you can, what you cannot do just leave to God!” she advised.

As much as each one of us wants to live to be toothless, it is very difficult to reach that age nowadays because of the many hardships that man goes through with day to day activities.

And with life hurdles people respond to these differently, but the first thing a large number of people I meet today tell me is – "I am stressed”.

Stress is the state of mental or emotional strain that affects the physical as well as mental state of an individual.

We all have faced stress in some ways or other, and of course, some of us have our own ways of coping with stress.

Stress has become an inseparable part of our everyday life, thanks to the fast-paced lifestyle.

As much as many of us admit to being stressed, doctors advise that stress can turnout to be a killer ailment if one does not take proper precaution to keep stress at bay.  So knowing some ways to avoid stress can help you in more ways than one.

Time management

Time management is an essential requirement, if you are looking for effective ways to avoid stress. When you manage your time, most of your work gets completed effortlessly and this results in handling stress at work that you face at the end of each day or month.

Time management can also help you to meet deadlines effectively. One important point to remember here is multitasking.

Many people today multitask, as much as most of us depend our livelihood in multitasking or having to hold more than one job to be able to make the ends meet, this can be very dangerous for anybody’s health, if one is not able to manage their time by arranging the work to be done, as it should stress craves in leading to mental breakdown.

Be positive

Keeping a positive attitude can help you avoid stress to a great extent. If there is a problem with your colleagues, your friends or even family try to sort it out with a talk keeping things hidden in your heart by keeping quite while you are hurting inside is the way to a stressful life.

If one has a problem and they can’t sort it out, it is better if ignored other than trying to move mountains when you know it is impossible.

Most of the times, a positive attitude can help sort out the problem faster and help in relieving stress in a better way

Physical exercise

physical exercises play an important role in maintaining our physical as well as mental health.

There are many forms of exercise that one can perform to help in relieving the stress. For example, dancing helps me relieve stress- when I feel burnt-out with stress I go to a discotheque and dance away the whole night until I feel my head light.

Jogging, cycling, swimming or even going to the gym can help in managing stress.

One can decide to have a regular program of working out every day and this can help out in the long run to keep stress at bay.

Taking a break

Believe you me there is nothing as good as a good rest. In fact a good rest is better taken outside the usual environment.

If one is bale to, they can go to a different town or better still take a holiday outside the country.

This helps one in their thinking; it is while taking such a break that one can think of possible ways of solving whatever problems that have been stressing them.
Eating right should also be on top of the agenda. It should be remembered that stress can lead to poor health.

Problems are part of the living experience, no one is without any problems, the difference is how each of us is able to deal with them as they come.

To conclude it all, if you do want to beat this stress monster eating up your life, you have to take control of your actions. Ways to avoid stress will help you keep stress at bay, and lead a more relaxed life.
 
kayitesius@yahoo.com