What Are Some Of The
Biggest Causes of Stress?

Every day we make thousands of choices; choices that have the ability to affect our health and well being, and the health and well being of the people around us. By making bad lifestyle choices we may be subjecting ourselves to unnecessary stress that could have been avoided.

"In every single thing you do, you are choosing a direction. Your life is a product of choices." - Dr. Kathleen Hall from "Alter Your Life"

Our stressful lifestyle choices can be broken down into two groups: Behaviors and lack of forethought. Here is a breakdown of these two groups:

Behaviors

The most common lifestyle behaviors - Overeating, under eating, not exercising, over working and irregular sleep patterns. When it comes to diet and exercise we can reduce stress by creating a regular wellness lifestyle plan. See Coping with Stress for help with wellness planning.

The more serious lifestyle behaviors - Over drinking, smoking, promiscuous behaviors, over medicating yourself and drinking and driving. Why are these lifestyle choices a cause of stress? These choices lead to negative consequences. Over drinking, eating, and medicating yourself can result in serious health problems and even premature death. Being promiscuous can lead to unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, low self-esteem, lack of self-respect and damaged relationships.

Lack of Forethought

This group includes - Procrastination, spreading yourself thin, accumulating debt and large payments, untreated health problems and mismanaging or ignoring stress. This type of stress comes from things that can be prevented. It's all about planning ahead.

Stress Reduction Management

Find out how you can manage your stress through self improvement, both mentally and physically. You have the power to change your stressful lifestyle. You just have to get motivated and be ready to take a good hard look at yourself and your behaviors. Here are some simple steps that may help you in your transition.

- Examine Yourself Honestly. Take a good look at yourself and try to find room for improvement. If you feel that you've been practicing some of the poor behaviors or negative thought patterns listed above, make a change for the better. Don’t feel bad or dwell on the negativity of it, be excited to push yourself further towards improvement. No one's perfect, so don't expect perfection from yourself. Realize that everyone makes mistakes, and that without them we couldn't grow into better people. Acknowledgment is the first step to self improvement.

- Learn To Form Good Habits. For every decision that you make, try to think ahead and ask yourself, "How could this affect me long term?", "What impact could this have on my emotional well-being, finances, family, and so on?". Use this type of forethought as a tool to stop any negative situtations or emotions from occuring.

- Nutrition and Eating. Keeping your body healthy is essential. Proper nutrition plays a major role in keeping our bodies in top shape. If we are deficient in certain vitamins, minerals or other nutrients, our health will be affected by it. Click here to learn Why Nutrition is Important

- Start Exercising. Exercise is an vital step in maintaining our health and making sure that our bodies are running smoothly. Click here to find out how Exercise Reduces Stress here.

Take each situation in life and plan out how to form a good habit to take over the bad one.

- Recondition your thinking. Sometimes we tend to get off base in certain circumstances. We automatically think the workst and react negatively. Actively try to keep a positive outlook when things don't go quite as planned.

- Be goal focused. What is it that you want to accomplish in your life? Write down your goals and go for them. By writing them down you can more easily see what you need to do to accomplish your goals, and also see what you are doing that is hindering your chances of accomplishing them. Then determine a time frame that you would like to be rid of the bad choices. (Be realistic) Having short and long term goals can help rid yourself of the lifestyle choices that cause you stress.

Stress has negative effects. It affects your health, emotional well being, life plans, and your relationships. Stress can rob you of your motivation and momentum in life. Don’t let the lifestyle choices that you cause stress control you. Take some positive steps to get your life back!

"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." - Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.


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