Managing Stress In Unprecedented Times

This article has been written by Dr. Don McCreary, owner of Donald McCreary Scientific Consulting and Movember affiliated researcher. Dr. McCreary’s research focuses in the areas of men’s health, workplace stress and health, and resilience both in and out of the workplace.

Contributions also from Clinical Psychologist, regular media contributor for TVNZ and key note speaker Jacqui Maguire.

“We are living in unprecedented times” is a phrase that has become commonplace in 2020, whether it be in the media or amongst our colleagues, friends and family.

One of the impacts many of us are experiencing around the world is the significant changes we’re having to adjust to:  daily habits, day-to-day interactions with people, and relationships with family, friends, and co-workers. Many people have also been significantly affected financially – they may have temporarily or permanently lost their jobs or have had their work hours severely cut. This has significantly reduced the amount of money coming into their households, leading to what is often called economic insecurity. These are all elements of our day-to-day lives that, for many people, have tended to be fairly stable and predictable; some might even argue, comforting. But now, many people have lost that stability and predictability and, with it, maybe even their sense of safety and security. This can cause a wide range of responses, but the one I want to talk about here is an increase in stress.

We don’t do a good job of teaching people about stress – what it is, what it isn’t, how it can be both helpful and harmful, its potential health implications if gone unchecked, and how to manage it effectively. This means, during trying times like we’re experiencing now, people may be experiencing more stress than they would be if they were better equipped with how to recognise and cope with it.

WHAT IS STRESS?

While stress is a common word in most vocabularies, we all have varying ideas about what it actually is. Put simply, stress is the physical and psychological responses we experience as a result of not being able to effectively manage the stressors in our lives.

But what are stressors? Stressors are aspects of our daily lives that we may not have the ability to cope with or manage. We’ve all experienced stressors in our lives, these can be anything from getting a speeding ticket to losing your wallet or the tragic death of a loved one.

The bottom line is stress is an outcome of dealing with the stressors in our daily lives.

Jacqui Maguire says, “research highlights that men are less likely to recognise early symptoms of distress, seek professional support or understand the factors that will protect their mental health. Couple this with New Zealand’s historic ‘do it yourself’, ‘harden up’ and ‘she’ll be right’ attitudes; you have a sector of society at risk of struggling. What’s worse is that they’re also more likely to struggle alone.”

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF STRESS?

Although stress can be a good thing in the short-term by helping us to respond to pressing problems, when we’re constantly stressed, it puts our physical and mental health at risk. The effects range from higher blood pressure, irritability to depression and poorer decision making.

Chronic stress can significantly impact physical and emotional health, relationships and work. It is critical that we can all recognise our early warning signs of stress, enabling swift implementation of stress management strategies.

For men, stress can present different to stereotyped symptoms. Instead of tears, men may get angry and irritable, struggle to sleep or they could be suffering in silence. An effective way to notice stress is to keep track of external stressors such as job loss, financial stress, health concerns, parenting, caring for parents, business turbulence and relationship difficulties.

HOW CAN I MANAGE STRESS?

When it comes to managing stress, it’s not one size fits all. It’s important we all build our own toolbox for stress management. Managing stress is no easy feat. It’s something that needs to be practiced on a regular basis. It can’t be pulled out and miraculously sorted in the moment. And by a “regular basis,” we mean practicing 3-5 times per week.

Repeated practice has two benefits, it enhances the effectiveness of your wellbeing strategies and enables your brain to form fast neural pathway loops (which we call habits). When stress is then triggered, your adaptive habited behaviours can then kick in.

In other words, there are no silver bullets. Like any skill, we need to invest time and energy into stress management.

So, what types of coping strategies should go into a stress management toolbox?

Breathing. Diaphragmatic (or belly) breathing, to be specific, is a deep breathing technique that engages the diaphragm. When we’re stressed, we don’t breathe as deeply and therefore don’t get as much oxygen into our system. Slowly inhale through your nose, feeling your stomach rise, then breath out through your mouth. There is no one way to do this technique, and apps and online guided exercises make practicing easy.

Meditation. These days mindfulness-based meditation is everywhere, for good reason. It incorporates breathing and visualisation exercises to help individuals remain focused on the present. One of the basic exercises of mindfulness-based meditation is the body scan, which starts as a focus on breathing, but then transitions into a visualisation of the body and its parts, from toe to head.

Visualization and Rehearsal. This can be especially effective when learning new skills. The goal here is to spend time visualising the steps to achieve a desirable outcome, a technique often used in sports psychology. For example, if someone is experiencing anxiety around their performance on a task (e.g. trying to improve a golf swing), visualising the task over and over can help reduce the stress. This mental rehearsal can also help to improve task performance.

Physical Exercise. One of the many health benefits of exercise is stress reduction. Whether it’s a walk along the beach or a run around the neighbourhood, it’s helpful to stay active and get out in nature.
These coping strategies can help people manage their stress, but we also need to be realistic about our expectations. They may not make our stress disappear, but they can reduce the stress to a more manageable level.

“One of our roles as mental health thought leaders is to promote a better understanding of stress, so that men will be able to identify their potential stress triggers and early warning signs at any given moment. Understanding that unhelpful stress can be managed, provides people a greater sense of control over their lives and their health,” says Jacqui.

I encourage all men to take the time to build out their own stress management toolbox and find what works for them. If you are stuck identifying your triggers and early signs, it can be helpful to ask a close family member or friend for feedback. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves.