10 Simple Suggestions for Stress Awareness Month
April is Stress Awareness Month – a time when health care professionals, health promotion experts, and caregivers across the country join forces to raise public awareness about the cause and cures for our modern stress epidemic.
For the 16th consecutive year, Stress Awareness Month – sponsored by The Health Resource Network – seeks to inform people about the dangers of stress, successful coping strategies, and harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in society.
Community Chaplains of America, which provide care for individuals during difficult and stressful situations, has offered 10 simple suggestions on how to provide care, and essentially reduce stress, for someone in the community.
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• Provide a listening ear. Often, those who are going through stressful times simply need someone to talk to. Make an extra phone call or meet a friend for coffee and offer the opportunity for them to talk.
• Send an encouraging note. Words are powerful. In the age of emails and text messages, handwritten notes show that you took time and effort to show you care.
• Say "thank you." Offer your gratitude for people. Thank a coworker for his or her hard work or a waiter for serving you dinner. Everyone wants to feel appreciated.
• Laugh with someone. A good hearty laugh can relax you both and mentally lighten your load. Tell a joke or rent a funny movie with a friend.
• Perform a random act of kindness. Surprise someone with the unexpected. It can be as simple as paying for a friend's coffee or offering to watch the kids so a mom or dad can have that extra time to relax.
• Help someone organize. When the places and things around us are in order, we feel a little more put together. Take time to help a friend clean out a closet or scrub the bathtub.
• Take a walk. Exercise releases endorphins and makes us feel better all around. Walk around the mall with a coworker on your lunch break or meet a friend at a park after work and enjoy the fresh air.
• Share a smile. This contagious act can easily brighten someone's day. Smile to a passing stranger; it may make a big difference in his or her day.
• Get away. Get away from the everyday circumstances that may be causing stress. Plan a weekend getaway or a day trip with a friend.
• Pray. Say a quick prayer for your friend and put his or her stress in the hands of the Ultimate Provider and Healer.
National Stress Awareness Day is April 16.
On the Web: http://www.stresscure.com/hrn/
