The National Institute of Mental Health offers these guidelines for dealing with stress.
- Be observant. Recognize the signs of your body’s response to stress, such as difficulty sleeping, increased alcohol and other substance use, being easily angered, feeling depressed, and having low energy.
- Get regular exercise. Just 30 minutes per day of walking can help boost your mood and improve your health.
- Set goals and priorities. Decide what must get done now and what can wait. Learn to say “no” to new tasks if you start to feel like you’re taking on too much.
- Try a relaxing activity. Explore relaxation or wellness programs, which may incorporate meditation, muscle relaxation, or breathing exercises.
These are all good ideas, but they're just not enough. And that’s where hypnosis comes in. Hypnosis rapidly triggers the body’s relaxation response, the opposite of the stress response. That way you experience the benefits of relaxation more immediately and completely. But hypnosis is more than relaxation. Hypnosis allows you to control your attention and concentration more efficiently. And once you learn the skill of self-hypnosis and the procedures of hypnotically augmented stress management, you’ll be able to free your mind from stress more effectively and utilize your creative potential for overcoming the stressors that create stress, and that’s what makes real change possible.