Coping Mechanisms for Stress: How to Help Your Body and Mind

What stress is looking back at you today from the mirror? The signs of stress are visible in the faces and behaviors of many people, and you and I are likely no different. The difference, however, is in how we face these challenges. We face many hurdles that are simply too high and too wide to get around and navigate sensibly, and too tough to get through on our own. These challenges are interpreted by our minds and bodies as stressful situations.

After we experience a traumatic event, the human psyche is prone to have a strong and lingering reaction. It is important to be proactive and learn healthy coping mechanisms for stress, including getting the appropriate care and support we need to dial down our symptoms and stressful feelings.

Frequently, reactions to a stressful event are physical and emotional and can include the following factors:

• An inclination to use more tobacco, alcohol, or other substances that we feel will help us cope.
• We may experience physical reactions like body pains, headaches, rashes on our skin, and tummy problems.
• Worsening chronic health problems.
• Being able to make decisions, fall and stay asleep, and concentrate.
• Denial and withdrawal.
• Feelings of anger, fear, frustration, numbness, sadness, shock, and worry.
• A decline in mental health.
• Changes in our appetite, levels of energy, desires, and even interests.

Being affected by others’ anger and abuse of power, or even the consequences of our own mistakes can lead us to feel grief, anxiety, stress, and worry. It may be a mass shooting or natural disaster, a layoff, or a car accident with crippling financial consequences.

Here we discuss some of the ways that you can help not only yourself but also others in your community, to know more about coping mechanisms for stress.

Healthy coping mechanisms for stress

Symptoms of stress like struggling to eat or sleep, or perhaps developing a skin rash or even experiencing hair loss are all physical ways that our bodies deal with stress. If you are experiencing symptoms that affect your body these tips may help you:

Take care of your mind 

Ignorance is bliss, or so the saying goes. If one considers how much useless information is served up to us each time we scroll our social media and news website feeds, it can boggle our minds. The screens of our devices can sometimes feel like a high-pressure fireman’s hose squirting us with bad news at every opportunity. Yes, it is good to be informed, but constantly hearing about traumatic events, the way people are affected by the tragedy, and the inhumane ways people treat each other can be upsetting.

Take control and dial down the bad news entering your life. Consider how you can limit reading the news to once or twice a day, or week. Limit your exposure to the senselessness of social media feeds whose algorithms often curate your feed to more bad news. If you have been exposed to bad news, the likelihood is that their algorithms will double-down on that at the expense of positive, life-affirming news.

Take care of your body

Can you think back to a time of feeling sick, tired, and hungry all at once? The likelihood was that you were unhappy too. Our bodies, minds, and hearts are interconnected and interdependent. It is not only important that you sleep well regularly (at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night) but that you exercise regularly and eat nutritious food that healthily energizes you.

In taking care of your physical health, you must also remember your mental health by taking regular breaks so that you can unwind through activities you enjoy. These can be short breaks during your day, where you can practice stretching or deep breathing for fewer than five minutes, or longer periods where you get away on holiday and can enjoy relaxing activities for longer periods.

Talk with other people. In conversation with others, you trust you can share your concerns and feelings, and share your problems with a parent, friend, counselor, healthcare professional, or pastor. There is a strong possibility that there is an active community group in your area, through a faith-based organization or church.

Do not stumble. Unhealthy coping mechanisms make stress worse. When it comes to coping with stress the lie is that having another cigarette, a can of beer, a glass of wine, or even some over-the-counter medication will help you. They do not help. Rather, they most often create extra problems in your life and increase the feelings of stress that you are already experiencing.

Getting the right kind of help. By being tempted to light another smoke or have another drink, your body and mind are recognizing that you need extra help – it is up to you to use these times to find this help in the right places. This will include looking for a trained professional such as a psychologist, social worker, or professional counselor. 

Help take care of others

In discovering different coping mechanisms for stress and what works for you, you will become better equipped to take care of others too. For example, you will have experienced the positive effects of not feeling lonely or isolated through frequent contact with those you love, now you can pick up the phone or start a video chat to help those in your network to feel the same. Ultimately, in the community, they are stronger and more able to deal with the stress in their life.

Stress affects people of all ages, including children, tweens, teenagers, and young adults. Younger members of our communities can be particularly vulnerable to being overwhelmed by their stress when it is connected to a traumatic event, like a bereavement in the family, a natural disaster, violence in the community, or peer pressure and bullying that they can experience online.

Teaching coping mechanisms to children and young people

Some coping mechanisms that parents, teachers, and caregivers can teach to those younger are similar to those that adults would use. However, parents can influence the child’s environment and so play a helpful and key role in alleviating any stress. Part of this influence is by regularly talking to your children about possibly worrying events or circumstances and letting them express the information they are grappling with in a moderated setting, actively moderating what children see and hear in their lives, such as having active filters on their digital devices.

Other coping mechanisms for stress in younger people:

1. As a parent or guardian, watch and listen to those in your care. Especially be aware of any changes in behavior as this is often a clear sign that your child needs support.
2. Normal, predictable routine. It is not just familiar surroundings that make one feel safe but having a clear pattern of behavior. Going to sleep and waking up at the same time, and eating meals at regular times are both key daily events that can anchor them and provide a sense of stability.
3. Encouraging conversation with your children by talking, listening, and helping them to express themselves are very helpful coping mechanisms for stress. This is especially important if there has been a stressful event. It is important for children to feel that their relationship with you is a safe space where they can express themselves and that you understand their thoughts and fears.
4. Stressful events can shake the innocent sense of safety and security that make our children, children. Keeping children reassured about their safety and well-being by discussing ways that you keep them safe and secure can be very helpful.
5. Learn from teachers and other parents. Discussing ways to help your child and other children cope is often very helpful for parents, schools, and health professionals as they cooperate and collaborate for the well-being of the children under their care.

Christian Counseling to Establish Coping Mechanisms for Stress

If you’re looking for additional help to establish coping mechanisms for stress beyond this article, or perhaps if someone you love is unable or unwilling to recognize the challenges they face, browse our online counselor directory or contact our office to schedule an appointment. We would be honored to walk with you on this journey.