Stress management courseware

There is no universal formula for stress management. The most effective stress response plan for ordinary people is to "first identify their own stress type and match lightweight intervention methods. There is no need to bear the pressure to "act strong", nor to deliberately pursue a "zero stress" state."

I have conducted 12 offline stress management workshops for large Internet companies, county middle school teachers, and medical staff in tertiary hospitals. I have seen too many pitfalls that people have fallen into: either they feel that "poor stress tolerance means they are useless" and they do not seek medical treatment until physical symptoms such as urticaria and migraine occur.； Either make stress management a new KPI, force yourself to meditate for half an hour every day, and write a two-page emotional diary. If you fail to complete it, you will become more anxious.

Let me first clarify for everyone the question that has always been a hot topic: Is stress good or bad? The Yerkes-Dodson law has long been verified that moderate-intensity pressure can push people's work efficiency to its peak. When you meet a deadline, your efficiency is three times higher than usual. This is the reason. ； However, stress that exceeds a person's threshold will only lead to a sharp decline in cognitive ability, trembling hands and blank mind. In the long run, high blood pressure, sleep disorders, and emotional exhaustion will all come to your doorstep. As for the current opinions on the Internet that "pressure is motivation" and "pressure will ruin life", both sides are right, and neither side is wrong. The core is whether your current pressure is within your tolerance threshold.

Oh, yes, don’t rush to find a solution first, first figure out what type of stress you are feeling now. Last time, an operations classmate from Byte came to me and said that she had tried countless mindfulness methods to no avail, and her heart rate soared to 120 every day when she woke up. When I asked, I found out that she was going to hit the KPI for a big promotion next week, and the pressure now was acute and explosive. If you asked her to sit there and meditate for 10 minutes, her mind would be full of to-do lists. It would be strange if it could be useful.

When acute stress breaks out, don't talk about "adjusting your mentality" and just use physiological intervention methods. This is the fastest way to reduce cortisol that has been proven by the neuroscience school: Find a corner where there is no one, inhale slowly through your nose for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 5 seconds, and exhale slowly through your mouth like blowing out a candle for 6 seconds. Repeat 3 times, and you will be able to slow down in 1 minute. I must do this before I go on stage to give a speech. The last time I went to share with hundreds of principals, I was so nervous that my voice trembled before I went on stage. After doing it for two rounds, my speech became stable. This method has no threshold. You can do it when you are fishing at work or catching the subway. There is no need to buy any decompression tools or engage in any sense of ritual.

If you are the kind of person who feels like there is a stone on your chest for a month or two in a row, and you can’t get motivated to do anything, and you have chronic stress, then the method of the cognitive behavioral school will be more useful to you. When I was training middle school teachers, I taught a "sticky note dismantling method". Many people later reported that it saved their lives: just spend 2 minutes before leaving get off work every day to write down all the things in your mind on sticky notes, and then cross out two categories: one is "other people's things", such as "Will my colleagues think what I just said is stupid?" "Will the parents be dissatisfied with my arrangement?"” ； The other category is "things that haven't happened yet", such as "What should I do if I fail the final exam?" "Will I not be included in next year's rating?" After you finish the row, you will find that there are only two or three things left to deal with that day. Most of the pressure is due to you carrying burdens that do not belong to you. I once had a senior class teacher who slept for seven hours for the first time that night after rowing. She said that she always felt that the future of the entire class was on her, but it was really unnecessary.

There is also a type of people who can’t say they have any specific stress, but they are inexplicably irritable every day, can’t sit still, and don’t want to stop scrolling through their mobile phones until they have a headache. This kind of person is “diffuse stress without a clear stress source”, and the micro-awareness of the mindfulness school is very suitable for you. Don’t be fooled by online marketing accounts. Mindfulness does not require you to buy a meditation mat worth thousands of dollars and sit and meditate for half an hour every day. It is completely unnecessary. When you eat, chew the rice carefully and taste the aroma of the rice. ； When walking, feel the touch of the soles of your shoes on the ground ； Even when you drink water, just feel the temperature of the water flowing through your throat for 10 seconds, which is equivalent to pressing the pause button for 10 seconds on your constantly spinning brain. Many people say that mindfulness is useless. In fact, you turn it into a new task, which adds to the burden.

By the way, there are also "vent-type stress reduction" that are very popular on the Internet, such as throwing stress balls and going to the stress relief room to yell. There has been controversy in academic circles: some studies believe that this method can quickly release the anger of the amygdala, and the short-term effect is very good.； Another part of the follow-up study found that using aggressive methods to reduce stress for a long time will actually strengthen people's aggressive tendencies. People who usually have a short temper should not try it. My own experience is that it is better to clean the table for 10 minutes, or walk around the company twice, and move your hands and feet, but you can smooth out the emotions stuck in your heart.

Oh, I forgot to mention the most important point: If you have tried all the methods, but you still can’t get motivated for more than two weeks in a row, have no interest in the things you liked before, or even have physical symptoms such as persistent headaches, insomnia, and inability to eat, don’t take it hard. See a professional psychological counselor, or go to the clinical psychology department of the hospital. There is no shame in it, just like asking for medicine when you have a cold.

I have been working on stress management for so many years, and the thing that bothers me the most is when people say, "You have to learn to be friends with stress." That's nonsense. Who wants to be friends with stress when it really hits you? You don’t have to force yourself to reconcile with stress, nor do you have to force yourself to be positive every day. Occasionally when you are tired, squatting down to pet the cat for ten minutes, drinking half a glass of iced Coke, or even sitting downstairs in a daze watching the uncle play chess is a good adjustment. The method that suits you is the best method. There are not so many standard answers.