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Stress awareness month

Stress Awareness Month has been held every April since 1992 to increase public awareness about both the causes and cures for our modern stress epidemic. Despite this running for 20 years, we have got a long way to go. 

How to observe stress awareness month

There are plenty of resources and helpful organisations available to help with struggles regarding stress, whether it is related to home life, work-life or various relationships. Stress Awareness Month is a time that encourages everyone to stop overlooking stress and pay more attention to its causes and effects. And then to try to do something about it! Try out some of these ideas for observing Stress Awareness Month.

Become more aware of stress and stressors

The most important thing with this month is that people are focusing on their physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing. For some, this might mean putting themselves first for a change and focusing on bringing those stress levels down in whatever ways are possible.

According to the Mental Health Foundation in the United Kingdom, it seems that 74% of UK adults have had a moment where they’ve felt so stressed that they’ve been too overwhelmed or unable to cope with the situation. Not only that, but it has been estimated that between 75% and 90% of all visits to doctors are related to complaints or concerns whose root cause is stress.

Simply endeavoring to pay more attention personally to where stress comes from and its adverse effects is the perfect start to observing Stress Awareness Month.

Participate in the 30 Day Stress Awareness Challenge

One way of doing something for stress awareness month is to participate in the 30-day Stress Awareness challenge. This 30-day challenge encourages people to do one action each day that will benefit their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. This can be really helpful in changing a person’s mindset and outlook on stress, as well as finding ways to help cope with certain stresses that may become more obvious and pervasive over time. This is a great way for people to learn a lot about themselves and the particular triggers that tend to come with stress. 

Practice stress reduction techniques

Try out some of these simple practices that have been known to help people reduce the negative impact of stress on their lives:

• Breathing exercises. One of the easiest ways to bust stress is by pausing to focus on the breath. Whether breathing slowly while counting, or using visualization techniques, the internet is full of ideas for reducing stress by taking everything back to the breath.
• Laugh more. Some studies have shown that people are more relaxed and have an improved mood when they practice laughing. Even when nothing is funny! Laughter yoga might be a practice worth checking out to reduce stress.
• Exercise. One of the best ways to minimize the impact of stress on the body and mind is through good, old-fashioned exercise. Sweat that stress away! It helps to improve sleep, balance hormones, increase endorphins and fosters relaxation following the workout.
• Reduce stress triggers. Take this month to become aware of what triggers tend to cause stress and anxiety. Is it to do with being late? Procrastinating? Terrible traffic? A messy house? Look at the ways that stress begins and then aim to resolve those with life skills such as time management, hiring help around the house, leaving the house sooner or other solutions.

Help others who might struggle with stress

As well as doing the challenge above, there is definitely more that can be done, not only for yourself but also for other people. Talking about stress can be really helpful, and it might be worth reaching out to those you trust or seeking professional help where necessary. This is a great time to encourage others to talk about their feelings, too, and always try to be there for those individuals who may appear to be overwhelmed. People all tend to cope with stress differently, so sharing personal experiences of coping might also help someone else.