Stress Management Strategies for Busy Moms and Other Stressed Out Women

By Allie Mendoza

Effective stress management strategies not only can affect how well you live, but it can also affect how long you live.

by breezeDebris

Busy moms and other women are often overwhelmed with stress. Instead of occasional demands followed by rest, we deal with stress that just doesn’t let up.

We are constantly over-worked, sleep-deprived, under-nourished, budget-challenged and time-starved. Not surprisingly, some of us end up over-eating, smoking, dealing with alcohol or substance abuse. We are stressed out over our relationship problems, money worries, weight issues, family conflicts, demanding jobs, self-destructive habits, guilt for giving our kids too many material things and guilt for giving them too little quality time.

Chronic stress depletes our energy and health. It robs us of our ability to live life to the fullest — it robs us of our ability to find inner peace and happiness.

Busy moms and other stressed out women often have multiple roles: we work hard at home or in the office; we nurture our children as well as our spouse, boyfriend or partner; we care for our elderly parents or sick relatives; we support our friends; we help our neighbors and other people in the community; and of course, we manage our household . We have to deal with a lot more demands than what seems humanly possible.

We’re so used to having a stressful life that if we even think of reducing our stress — most of us will probably stress out over that idea. Yes, it will probably be a shock to our system to reduce our stress. But, it is absolutely necessary for us to start learning and using effective stress management techniques.

Without relief of the underlying causes of stress, the stress-related symptoms we’re experiencing will generally worsen over time — and this can eventually result in devastating stress-related diseases.

Chronic stress can make you sick — it can even kill you. As you get more and more stressed out, you can end up with decreased immunity, excess abdominal fat or even obesity, poor concentration and memory as well as difficulty sleeping. Chronic stress can increase the risk for hypertension, heart disease and other diseases. In turn, this can increase your risk for a stroke and heart attack as well as change the outcome of cancer and other illness.

One of the best ways to manage your stress is to bring more happiness into your life. You are probably stressing out right now just thinking about this. How can you take time away from your loved ones just to be happy? It seems so selfish.

When you don’t take good care of yourself, you are not just hurting yourself — you’re going to end up hurting your loved ones, too. If you’re too sick to perform your multiples roles, who will care for your loved ones? What happens if you’re gone?

Women nurture so many people. But, we’re terrible when it comes to taking care of ourselves. Try this exercise: make a list of the most important people in your life. Did you put yourself on top of that list? Did you even make it on the list?

Most of our lives are filled with so many obligations to our family, friends, work and community. At some point, we just end up “running on empty.” If you go too long without taking a break from stress-causing situations, life can become sheer drudgery.

If you don’t recharge your batteries, you can’t be fully available to your loved ones — it becomes too difficult to be loving and kind to anyone. Some people can get very unpleasant to others when they get stressed out. So, take the time to relax, enjoy simple pleasures or just make time for yourself. When you manage your stress, you can bring more happiness into your life — and you can have greater capacity to nurture your loved ones. Everyone can benefit when you’re happy!

Reducing your stress and boosting your happiness not only can affect how well you live, but it can also affect how long you live. When you take the time and make time to be happy, you are doing it for yourself as well as your loved ones.

You have the power to decrease the burden of stress on your body and boost your happiness. And the sooner you can get started, the better for your health. Even small changes can make a big difference in your life.

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Categories: Health and Fitness, Self-Help and Self-Improvement  |  Tags: busy moms, stress management, stress management strategies, stress management tips, stressed out  |  1 Comment »

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