Manage Your Stress!

Explore what stress is by examining its definition, various models, and different types; learn how stress manifests in the body and how you can respond.

Explore how stress is the body’s nonspecific response to demands, real or imagined, triggering emotional and physiological reactions and varying by perception and individual response.

Explore how life events and daily hassles become stress through perception, triggering physical and emotional symptoms, and learn the fight, flight, freeze response that mobilizes adrenaline and cortisol.

Explore how perception shapes stress, from the Greenburgh and fight, flight, or freeze models, to urgency and time management in events like a promotion interview.

Explore the four types of stress—anticipatory, situational, chronic, and acute—along with daily hassles and major life events, with practical examples to recognize and manage them.

Explore the types of stress—anticipatory, situational, chronic, acute, daily hassles, and lengthy events—and learn coping strategies through relaxation techniques, deep breathing, and regulating thoughts using a zero to ten scale.

Explore how perception shapes stress by examining age and experience, gender differences, and personality styles, and learn how beliefs and values influence responses.

Beliefs and values shape how you perceive and respond to stress, with childhood core beliefs about self, others, and the world guiding your thinking.

Explore how personal values and beliefs shape stress perception, reveal value conflicts at work, and use reflection, perspective-taking, and assertive communication to manage stress effectively.

Identify how fears shape perception and stress by exploring nine common fears, from fear of the unknown to fear of failure, and choose to face them to create new possibilities.

Practice mindful breathing to relax, align posture, and cultivate body awareness as you gently count breaths to build concentration and return to the present moment.

Explore how stress affects you and how to respond differently by modifying your thoughts. Build practical stress-management skills and practice relaxation techniques.

Apply the Tebbutt model of thoughts, emotions, and Behaviors to identify distortions and use cognitive reframing and coping strategies for stress management.

Identify how changing your thoughts shifts emotions and behaviors, using the stress management model to link perception, evaluation, and responses to stress.

Define mindfulness as maintaining present-moment attention in an open, non-judgmental way and explore its five components: attention, open awareness, acceptance, identification, and choice.

Practice mindful movement with gentle head and arm sequences synchronized to breath, tune into bodily sensations, and cultivate present-moment awareness through mindful walking.

Dance through a mindful movement routine to manage stress, using Pharrell Williams' Happy to shift focus and have fun. Return to work feeling lighter and refocused after letting loose.

Practice laughter yoga to manage stress, as the brain can't tell real from fake laughter and releases feel-good hormones through simple at-home exercises.

Explore laughter yoga: a 15-minute session combining breathing and laughter to boost mood, relax the body, lower blood pressure, improve blood flow, and release feel good chemicals.

Recognize how stress shapes perception, fears, and beliefs, and apply mindfulness, time management, and assertive communication to build an effective stress management plan.