April is Stress Awareness Month. Stress Awareness Month aims to increase public awareness about why we are so stressed and what we can do about it. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of UK adults have had a moment where they’ve felt so stressed that they’ve been totally overwhelmed or unable to cope with a situation.
Stress happens to all of us, and if left unmanaged can impact on our health, both physically and mentally. Stress is a significant contributing factor to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Unmanaged stress is also linked to physical health problems including inflammation, digestive issues including IBS, sleep problems and heart disease.
Learning coping mechanisms and just being more aware of stress can help you deal more effectively with life.
The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH), the UKs largest registering body for hypnotherapists, believes that the key to managing stress is to gain understanding of what is causing us personal stress and to learn what steps we can take to reduce it for ourselves and those around us.
The Stress Management Society invites us to pick an action each day over the course of April to support our mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. The activities suggested range from strengthening social connections with a friend, to taking a walk, or tidying up your home environment.
By focusing on areas of our lives that we do have control over, and taking steps to foster strong social connections we can reduce our stress levels. Exercising helps relieve physical tension which also contributes to stress. If you are still experiencing high levels of stress, even after adopting lifestyle measures, some sessions with a hypnotherapist may be helpful to teach you different skills and new, more helpful ways of thinking and viewing the world.
After sessions with a hypnotherapist you may feel more confident and relaxed in situations that had been challenging previously. Many people report that they feel calmer and have more clarity of thought after hypnotherapy and are therefore able to make decisions more easily. Those who have experienced manifestations of stress anxiety such as disturbed sleep often find that they sleep better after hypnosis sessions and as a result are able to work more effectively.
You can find a fully trained and insured practitioner who is able to assist you by using the NCH Therapists Finder.
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