The One Foolproof Way to Deal With Stress

Everyone deals with emotions daily. Life is full of ups and downs, but understanding how your emotions affect you and your interactions will help you make better judgements. Identifying where your emotions come from can help you manage your feelings and maintain objectivity and professionalism in your work environment.

For example, what happens to you when someone pushes an emotional button? Does your heart rate increase? Does your breathing change? How about your muscles—do they get tense? Does your face flush? Do you sweat?

Everyone experiences stress physically in one way or another, and some of us experience it in many ways. All of the physical symptoms of stress that you experience are the result of an adrenaline rush. And do you remember the purpose of adrenaline? It is to give you the power to fight or flee a dangerous situation. But think about it—how many of these situations today are actually a threat to your life?

In the world most of us face every day, both fighting and fleeing would damage our credibility. Therefore, the secret is to manage the adrenaline and to refuse to permit it to control you. There is a great and easy method for doing this—are you ready?

Breathe.

That’s it! Breathe. If you can take one good deep breath while your mouth is closed, in as relaxed a manner as possible, that breath will tell your body to shut off the adrenaline tap. It is only when you keep breathing in the more stressed way, with your mouth slightly open and at a more rapid pace, that the adrenaline rush is sustained. So breathe—in as relaxed a way as possible—with your mouth closed. Your stress symptoms will begin to disappear, your brain will be able to think more clearly, and your voice will have its normal breath support. This will enable you to sound like you normally do instead of how you do when you are angry or upset.

While breathing can calm you down in the moment, if you really want to overcome stresses that prevent you from thriving, then you must improve your communication techniques and deal with the source of the problem, not the symptoms. So much of the world’s discord comes from people who don’t take the time to really listen to others— and from people who don’t think through what they’re going to say before they say it. Throw in a bit of stress and our communication skills often go out the window. By taking a moment to breath and gather yourself, you can help help protect you from emotional overload and figure out how to really solve the problem.