by V. Z. Marcus

Created on: September 18, 2009   Last Updated: September 21, 2009

Stress is inescapable. Every person who has ever lived has experienced some form of stress, and for most of us, it is something we experience on a daily basis. Stress impacts everything we do, and often times, how we do it. It can lead to a whole host of problems, namely the degradation of one's physical and mental health. For this reason alone, it is paramount to know what to do to lessen both the rate of negative stress and the intensity of it.

Most people would agree that this requires the opposite of what causes the stress to begin with. For instance, a vacation to offset the stress of work or a relaxing bath to take care of stress acquired from rigorous activity. This is the general cause and effect solution that most people elect to take care of their stress. But it's not proactive. It would appear that most people today allow for stress to come to them; the kind of stress that increases the risk for ailments such as heart disease, depression, and diabetes. We are sitting ducks, waiting for what we put ourselves through to erode a potentially long and healthy life, instead of taking steps to prevent stress and what causes it. It is impossible to remove all stress from our lives, but there are certain steps we can take to greatly reduce it:

-Identify. If you are to reduce the amount of stress that your body and mind takes on, you must first identify what it is that causes your stress in the first place. This goes beyond simply looking at your schedule and imagining what it would be like to never have to sacrifice another golf outing again, it requires an understanding of why certain things have a greater burden on you than something else.

-Prioritize. What is important to you? Ask yourself this question, and realize that there might be certain things in your life that are causing undo stress. Perhaps you're working a late shift, causing tension between yourself and your family, or maybe the job you work is slowly becoming too much. You can take action and alter these things in your life, perhaps allowing for something better.

-Think ahead. Imagine what your life will be like ten years from now. Are you healthy? Are you happy? These are important questions to ask yourself when considering how paramount it is to reduce stress in your life, to secure your physical and mental health in the years to come.

-Take action. Don't sit around and let stress defeat you. The only way to efficiently prevent stress is to take control of your actions. Consider a family man who is overwhelmed with debt. He knows what he has to do to resolve the situation, but he's afraid to make a move. The longer you wait, the greater stress will damage the things that are most important to you.

Remember, stress is inescapable. There is no amount of anything you can do to avoid it completely. Keeping this in mind, it is worthwhile to consider what can happen if you let stress get the better of you. It ruins lives, but it doesn't have to ruin yours. Pay attention to your levels of stress and do your part to sustain a long and healthy life!

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