Best Practical Ways to Reduce Your Stress Level

Get organized. Disorganization frequently leads to stressful situations when you can’t find what you need or miss deadlines and assignments. Here are some tips:

Pick out what you’re going to wear the next day the night before.Put everything you want to take with you to school or work or wherever you’re going in one place.Get into the habit of putting things you use every day—your keys, jewelry, medications, makeup, iPod, cell phone—in the same place every time.Keep a list, either on paper or electronically, of everything you have to do, and keep the list in a place where you can access it easilyUse a planner to keep track of all your activities.Use a planner to keep track of your homework assignments and deadlines.Keep your room, or your part of your room if you share, in some sort of order so that you know where things are.Break down big assignments or projects into parts and do one part at a time, making sure you leave enough time to finish the entire project.

 

Slow down. Moving through life at a frantic speed can get to seem normal after you’ve done it for a while, but it is wearing and stressful. Try some of these ways of relaxing:

Plan a stay-at-home night and chill out with a video or a book.Invite a friend or two for a “no-stress” night with facials and favorite movies.If you’re in a particularly busy and stressful time, reschedule a lesson or appointment and use the extra time to catch up on your work or to relax.Don’t overschedule yourself with social or other obligations.Determine what you most enjoy and spend your time on one or two activities, rather than always jumping from one thing to another.

Here are ways to make some quiet time:

Take the headphones out of your ears, turn off your cell phone, get away from your computer, and just sit quietly for 15 minutes.If you live in an area where you can do so, go outside and listen to sounds of nature such as birds, the wind, or crickets at night.Create a small space, either indoors or out, where you can go to be alone and undisturbed, and visit it several times a week.Practice deep breathing, meditation, or journaling.Consider your spirituality and what it means to you.

Do something nice for someone else. Research shows that people who reach out and care about others are happier than those who don’t. Try doing the following:

Visit an elderly relative or neighbor.Take a child to the park or for a walk.Tell a parent, a grandparent, or a friend that you appreciate him or her, and why.Volunteer at a nursing home or assisted living facility.Take your neighbor’s dog for a walk or help clean up his or her yard.Be aware of what other people are going through and express concern to someone who you know is experiencing a problem or difficult time. Volunteer at your local library; a preschool; or your church, synagogue, or mosque.

Get active. Exercise is an important stress management tool, so make sure you find time to fit in some physical activity every day:

Keep a jump rope handy and do 100 jumps three times a day.Train yourself to think of physical activity as a gift of time that you give to yourself, instead of a chore that needs to be done.Engage in little bits of physical activity at a time, increasing the duration as you go.Participate in an organized sport, or get a group of friends toge­ther for an informal game of football, Frisbee, or other activity.Dig out the skateboard or scooter you had as a kid and give it a go.

Finally, take care of yourself, no matter what:

Give yourself some time before bed to relax and quiet down.Try to go to bed and get up at about the same time every day.Make your room as quiet and restful as you can, and turn off the TV before you go to sleep.Avoid drinks that contain caffeine, especially later in the day.Try to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables every day and stay away from too much fast food and processed foods, especially those that contain lots of sugar, salt, and fat.Don’t beat yourself up over little things you did or didn’t do.Don’t demand perfectionism of yourself or anyone else—you won’t find it!Regularly take time to think about what’s good in your life and practice feeling grateful.Engage in an activity that you enjoy every day, even if it’s only for a short time.Forgive yourself when you do something wrong and forgive others for their mistakes.

When Lifestyle Changes Aren’t Enough to Reduce Stress

Some part of your first visit to the professional who will be treat­ing you is likely to be spent filling out forms. Unless you’ve made the appointment on your own and do not have the support of a family member, you’ll need to have a parent or guardian with you to sign some of the forms.

You’ll probably be asked to read information regarding the prac­tice’s privacy policy and fill out forms such as a statement of finan­cial responsibility (normally a parent completes that one), a personal history questionnaire, an authorization for release of protected health information, and possibly other forms. You’ll be asked to answer a lot of questions that are very personal, but it’s extremely important to be honest—that way, the professional who will be treating you can get an accurate assessment of what’s going on and learn what issues need to be addressed.

Some teens find it difficult to be completely truthful when they fill out personal history forms and questionnaires, which normally include questions concerning smoking, drug and alcohol use, and may contain questions about sexual history and other issues about which teens may be reluctant to share information. If you are asked to answer such questions, remember that an experienced health-care professional will have treated a great many patients, and it’s extremely unlikely that he or she will be disturbed or shocked by anything you write on the form. As a patient, it’s your responsibility to be honest in order to best facilitate treatment.

Under normal circumstances, before your treatment starts, you, your parents or guardian, and the therapist will have a conversation regarding what type of information will be shared with your parents, and what will remain confidential between you and the therapist. You might agree that parents will sit in on any sessions regarding medical problems, such as stress-related headaches, but will not be present for sessions during which you discuss situations in school that are making you feel stressed and causing problems. Joint sessions may be scheduled to deal with problems between your parents and you or other family members.

These situations vary from patient to patient and family to family, and it sometimes can be challenging to reach an agreement that suits all involved parties, but it’s important that an understanding is in place before therapy begins. You should realize that while conversa­tions between a health-care professional and a patient are generally confidential, a doctor or other mental health-care provider is obli­gated by law to report it if someone is threatening to harm himself or others. On the flip side, the same law may prevent a doctor from informing parents of issues such as repeated drug use. Much of what a doctor shares with parents will be determined by the conversation among the three parties prior to the start of treatment, so you can see that it’s important that the conversation takes place and all the parties involved share the same expectations.