Verywell Mind is a mental health and wellness platform for all aspects of your life — whether you’re living with a mental health condition, managing day-to-day stressors, looking to level up your relationships, or tapping into fascinating psychology theories.
Its team of mental health professionals recognize that research in this space is constantly evolving, along with their understanding of these topics. You can count on them to sift through the noise that too often makes mental health advice confusing, bringing it back down to earth through clear and actionable guidance.
In this article, I’m sharing 10 best Verywell Mind articles on stress management, along with my favorite quotes.
1. “What Is Stress? Symptoms, Causes, Impact, Treatment, Coping”
Stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or mental strain. Stress is your body’s response to anything that requires attention or action.
Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way you respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to your overall mental and physical well-being.
Click here to read the article “What Is Stress? Symptoms, Causes, Impact, Treatment, Coping”.
2. “Types of Stress and Stress Relief Techniques”
If you’re like many people, you may feel that certain stress relief techniques don’t work for you while others work quite well. When a technique is ineffective, it’s usually for one of two reasons: either it is a poor match for your personality, or it doesn’t suit the situation.
Click here to read the article “Types of Stress and Stress Relief Techniques”.
3. “Chronic Stress: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, Coping”
Chronic stress is a prolonged and constant feeling of stress that can negatively affect your health if it goes untreated. It can be caused by the everyday pressures of family and work or by traumatic situations.
Chronic stress occurs when the body experiences stressors with such frequency or intensity that the autonomic nervous system does not have an adequate chance to activate the relaxation response on a regular basis. This means that the body remains in a constant state of physiological arousal.
This affects virtually every system in the body, either directly or indirectly.
Click here to read the article “Chronic Stress: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, Coping”.
4. “Good Stress: When Stress Can Help (and When It Can Hurt)”
While we often think of stress as something negative to be avoided, it is a natural and expected part of daily life. You might be surprised to hear that some stress is actually considered “good stress.” Also known as eustress, it is the type of stress you might feel before a first date or important competition.
Click here to read the article “Good Stress: When Stress Can Help (and When It Can Hurt)”.
5. “What to Stop Doing If You’re Stressed”
Many of the stressors we face in life are not under our control. However, our responses to these things can either lighten the load or add weight to our stress levels.1 Many of the thoughts we have and actions we take when stressed can contribute to our problems by intensifying the already negative feelings we may have.
It is wise to look at the things we can control, stop doing things that perpetuate and exacerbate our stress levels, and focus on what we can do to help ourselves feel more relaxed.
Click here to read the article “What to Stop Doing If You’re Stressed”.
6. “5 Surprising Effects of Stress on the Brain”
Stress can … have a serious impact on your brain.1 When faced with stress, your brain goes through a series of reactions—some good and some bad—designed to mobilize and protect itself from potential threats.
Sometimes stress can help sharpen the mind and improve the ability to remember details about what is happening. But it can also have negative effects on the brain, such as contributing to mental illness and actually shrinking the volume of the brain.
Click here to read the article “5 Surprising Effects of Stress on the Brain”.
7. “Understanding Your Body’s Stress Response”
The stress response can be helpful as long as it doesn’t last long and we are able to return to a more relaxed state. It becomes a problem, however, when we enter a state of chronic stress. The stress response happens in three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
Fortunately, there are things that you can do to help manage your stress response, including things like relaxation techniques, physical activity, and getting support from friends and family.
Click here to read the article “Understanding Your Body’s Stress Response”.
8. “How to Manage Stress at Work”
According to Pew Research Center, a little more than half of adults find that their job is stressful some of the time. However, 29% say that their job is stressful most of the time, with 19% suggest that this stress is overwhelming.
Work stress has significant health consequences that range from relatively benign (like getting more colds and flus) to potentially serious (such as heart disease and metabolic syndrome).2
Click here to read the article “How to Manage Stress at Work”.
9. “How to Deal With Stress Insomnia”
Stress insomnia is when high levels of stress and anxiety prevent you from getting adequate sleep. Are you so stressed about finances, your job, a relationship conflict, or another issue that you’re experiencing insomnia?
At any given time, about one-third of adults have insomnia in some form.1 Although these sleep issues aren’t always due to stress, when the two are combined, it can make matters worse.
Click here to read the article “How to Deal With Stress Insomnia”.
10. “Stress Relief: 18 Highly Effective Strategies for Relieving Stress”
From minor challenges to major crises, stress is part of life. And while you can’t always control your circumstances, you can control how you respond to them.
When stress becomes overwhelming or chronic, it can affect your well-being. That’s why it’s essential to have effective stress relievers that can calm your mind and body.
Click here to read the article “Stress Relief: 18 Highly Effective Strategies for Relieving Stress”.
Complement this list of best stress management articles from VeryWell Mind with Mindfulness for Stress Management: 50 Ways to Improve Your Mood and Cultivate Calmness by Dr. Robert Schachter and then revisit VeryWell Mind articles on meditation and why you should read Mindful America by Jeff Wilson.
