Author: Dylan Buckley / Source: Lifehack
Stress: It’s an issue that everyone deals with but not an issue that everyone knows how to cope with. When we’re dealing with massive amounts of pressure, some of us may choose to turn to meditation or a friendly chat while others may opt for a cheeseburger or a drink.
How we choose to deal with stress has a major impact on both our mental health and our physical well-being. Are you making the right choices when it comes to coping with stress? Do you know what some of the wrong choices may be?
Regardless of which choices you are currently making to deal with your stress, let’s take a look at some of the unhealthy and healthy coping mechanisms for stress:
Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
In order to identify some of your unhealthy behavioral patterns and foster awareness around them so that you can create change, we are going to tackle the most commonly used unhealthy coping mechanisms first.
People who are not coping properly may be found taking part in behaviors such as:
Excessive Drug/Alcohol Consumption or Abuse
Let me make it clear that “excessive consumption” and “abuse” are the key terms in this section. Enjoying an occasional glass of wine every now and then to unwind is not an unhealthy habit.
Binge drinking, chain smoking, or using drugs as a form of escapism to cope with your current stress levels is, however, unhealthy and dangerous. These coping mechanisms could lead to a path of addiction, severe health problems, and even death.
If you’re using any of these coping mechanisms, reach out to your primary care physician and a mental health specialist immediately to work through your issues.
Turning to Large Amounts of Junk Food for Comfort
It’s not unnatural for people to turn to sweet or sugary foods when they’re experiencing high stress levels. In fact, you can blame cortisol for your cravings for these junk foods.[1]
No matter what you may feel, however, it is important that you fight these urges to feed your stress. Excessive junk food consumption can actually increase stress levels and negatively impact your health. You may also develop an eating disorder as a result of using food to cope with your stress.
Pay attention to these urges and take preventative measures to ensure that you reach for healthier foods instead of ones that will harm you down the road.
Oversleeping or Sleeping Very Little
Much like using drugs or alcohol to numb out the situations in your life that are causing your stress levels, oversleeping is another form of escapism that allows you to avoid the stress in your life.
What you’ll find, however, is that your stressors are still there when you wake up and they will continue to get worse as you continue to avoid them.
On the other hand, there are those who may stay up in order to cram more work into their day and become dependent on caffeine to do so.
Either way, neither of these coping mechanisms work to take care of the problem at…
The post The Healthy and Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms for Stress appeared first on FeedBox.