Did you know that studies reveal that women experience more stress than men? Studies show that women experience more stressors than men and more symptoms and complications. However, stress can be managed with effective strategies. Learn 7 effective stress management techniques for women’s mental health in this article. Visit the best Mental Health Clinic in Brooklyn at Doral Health & Wellness or log on to www.doralhw.org for a consultation.

How does stress affect a woman’s health?

Stress affects both genders differently and causes different symptoms and complications. Women not only experience health symptoms due to stress but also develop additional health problems after getting exposed to stress over long periods. It includes:

Depression and Anxiety: Women have a higher risk of developing these conditions and other psychological disorders including panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder than men.

Heart problems: Stress increases blood pressure and heart rate, leading to arrhythmias or other heart problems.

Headaches and migraines: Women may experience more tension headaches and migraines than men.

Obesity: Women are more prone to gain stress-related weight than men.

Bowel problems: Stress leads to more bowel problems like irritable bowel syndrome in women than men.

Pregnancy issues: Women with higher stress levels may experience more difficulty in becoming pregnant than women who have lower stress levels.

Menstrual problems: Women may experience premenstrual syndrome with higher stress levels.

7 Techniques for stress management

Many people struggle to handle stress and may fall into wrong habits of managing stress like over or under-eating, drinking alcohol, or being inactive. However, you can apply these effective techniques to manage your stress healthily:

Recognizing and counteracting the triggers of stress:

When stressed, you experience symptoms like difficulty concentrating, headaches, cold hands, tight muscles, nervous stomach, irritability, feeling on edge, etc. You need to understand how your body deals with stressful moments. For that, you need to recognize what things cause your stress and how you should respond to them to handle them better. For that, you can use a journal to identify and write about the situations. You can also record your thoughts, feelings, and information about the environment, including the people and circumstances involved, the physical setting, and how you reacted. These notes help you find the patterns that trigger your stressors and your reactions to them so that you can develop a plan to handle them. You may take action to counter that effect like deep breathing, stretching, going for a walk, writing down your thoughts, or spending some quiet time to focus to relax and reduce tension.

Build a strong support system:

Having a good support system works as a great stress reliever. So, stay connected with family and friends, share your feelings and problems with them, and support them in their problems. This way not only do you build a good bond with them but also learn different ways to tackle similar challenges with useful ideas and perspectives. Studies reveal that people with strong social support are healthier, happier, and less stressed. Talking or being with a person can be reassuring and calming. With technological advancement, you don’t need to go somewhere else. You can talk with them in the comfort of your home or office on call or video call. While demands of work, children’s responsibilities, or other commitments can take your time and energy, make time to pursue friendships. You should make an effort to develop and maintain good relations in your life any way you can.

Take time for yourself:

If you don’t plan, prioritize, and make commitments for a daily routine, you can’t make time for important and self-nurturing activities like me-time, exercise, friendships, and even sleep. When you put it into practice, you may need to say no to some of your responsibilities to prioritize yourself. To protect your peace, you need to accept that you can’t fulfill it all. You need to say no to some people respectfully. Your responsibility is to complete important work, not unnecessary work. If you’re on a busy schedule and you can’t take vacations, then try to find ways that you can relax and have fun in your life. In case you can’t make major changes in your schedule, try to look for some ways that keep you feeling energetic to do more and lower your stress levels like listening to music.

Nurture your body:

Women usually are the caretakers of others, but in the process of caretaking, they often don’t take care of their bodies. Nurturing your body allows you to relieve stress and feel good for your overall well-being. Here are some good self-nurturing stress reliever techniques for your body:

Exercise: Staying active with yoga, aerobic activity, or going on a walk offers many benefits including stress management, a stronger body, greater energy levels, better mood, and improved overall health.

Spa treatments: Whether you like to go to a top spa or set up a home spa experience, allow your body to wind down from the outside stressors and feel the stress go away. This makes you feel more refreshed afterwards.

Mindful eating: Eating a nutritious diet offers more benefits than feel-good ingredients because if your diet lacks nutrients and antioxidants that are necessary to offer more energy, mental clarity, and increased emotional regulation, then you might aggravate your stress levels with your diet. So, change it and switch to a healthy nutritious diet with a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, lean meats, etc.

Get enough sleep:

Women who suffer from chronic or prolonged stress often get inadequate sleep or in some cases, develop stress-induced insomnia. Research shows that inadequate sleep or operating in a sleep deficit makes you less productive and more prone to stress. So, women who get less sleep than they need, will not be able to get a good night’s sleep due to stress. So, to get enough sleep, you can use some ways to improve your sleep quality.

Stress and sleep: Learn how physical and emotional damage can lead to getting too little sleep, and how it affects your stress levels.

Relaxation time: Before bedtime, try to relax your mind by engaging in calming activities like listening to relaxing music, reading an enjoyable book, or practicing relaxation techniques like meditation.

Taking a power nap: Learn how to take a power nap to reduce stress, increase your productivity, and improve your health during the process.

Sleep aids: You can use sleep aids like a white noise machine or a sleep mask to promote better sleep and avoid sleep issues.

Dial down your schedule: If you’re too busy with your daily routine tasks then you need to cut down on the tasks to get adequate sleep.

Change your self-talk:

Women often tend to develop this habit of putting themselves down and creating a critical way of talking to themselves. The way you do self-talk from childhood can be ingrained in your point of view on how you see and interact with the world. Your self-talk has the power to aggravate or lower your stress level. If you develop an optimistic style of self-talk by taking small steps, it helps you lower your stress levels and leaves you with a positive mindset.

Seek professional help:

If you continue to feel overwhelmed or have trouble getting through your daily routine, seek professional help from a licensed mental health professional, like a psychologist. These professionals are trained to help you with different strategies to manage stress effectively and make changes to your routine and your overall health.

Stress affects everyone but women struggle more than men. So, follow the above-mentioned tips to manage stress and improve your overall health and quality of life.

If you need help with stress or other mental issues, visit our behavioral clinic in Brooklyn to get professional medical help. Call us to book your appointment now!! Visit our mental health clinic in Brooklyn, to get professional help and guidance on how to manage your problem. Call us on +1-347-384-5690 to get a consultation. If you need help learning coping methods, register your information and make direct contact with our doctors and psychiatrists to learn those methods, log on to www.doralhw.org. Visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212.