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Stress affects everybody and anybody these days. There is a persistent prejudice that only grown-up adults are prone to stress. In the fast-paced life of today, anybody from a child of ten to a person of eighty can experience different levels of stress. Here are some ways of identifying and dealing with stress.

Stress symptoms include mental, social and physical changes that a person experiences. These include exhaustion, headaches, crying, sleeplessness, oversleeping, loss of appetite and feelings of frustration, rage, apathy.

If you feel that you are stressed out and this stress is interfering with your normal activities then you must seek professional guidance. Sometimes, dealing with stress can be easy and you can do it on your own. Look around and see whether you can change, the situation that you are in. Set realistic goals for yourself so that you reduce the number of events that are going on in your life. It stops the circuit overload that you experience. This can sometimes become very serious and can cause a nervous breakdown.

More tips include;

1) Prioritize the series of events that go on in your life.

2) Do not fret over the entire workload. Instead, dissect it in small bit and pieces and perform them one by one.

3) Meditation and breathing exercises help a lot in controlling stress and cleansing your mind of all the disturbing thoughts.

4) Get your mind off all the worries of your life. Get busy, do something for others and keep your mind occupied so that you ignore all the stressful situations. It helps in reducing stress but that happens to a small degree. If you stop and have a rest then all that will come back and you will feel that you are not caring enough for yourself. This can increase the stress manifold. The best way is to treat the stress before it ensnares your life.

5) Get just the right amount of sleep. Do not keep awake when you know that you need rest. Lack of sleep aggravates stress.

6) Exercise is a most important tool when dealing with stress. When you exercise, your heart pumps blood faster which increases the blood flow to the brain. This is refreshes you a lot. The increased heart rate, breathing and blood flow contribute to the release of serotonin, a feel-good hormone in your body. It relieves the stress and combats the cortisol in our body. (Cortisol is the stress-hormone of our body.)

Note that being pessimistic is a number one symptom of stress and depression. Try to think positive and go easy on yourself. Face any situation that you encounter and then think about it in a positive way. Twist the message of the situation to tell yourself that it is in fact good for you.

Remember one thing, a little bit of stress is like a small cup of coffee. It stimulates you to be alert and precise. You need some sort of pressure to keep you at bay and to keep you working efficiently. But too much of stress can lead to many physical problems which can lead to other graver problems like migraine, chronic depression, nervous breakdowns and so on. Stress weakens your immune system and hence, makes you more susceptible to diseases. Bearing stress is probably the worst way of dealing with stress!