10 Ways to Reduce Stress in a Man

Stress is like a disease; it overpowers your senses, leaves you dizzy and then reigns supreme. Let’s talk about how men can reduce stress and live a healthy life.

Since we are going to deal with stress relief in the specific context of men, VIMHANS psychologist, Dr Pulkit Sharma brings to light many interesting facts. Hope you identify with them and deal with them rather than cursing fate!

1.    Identifying and resolving conflicts: Men often find themselves entangled in circumstantial conflicts and feel divided.

Quick Fix: They must draw a realistic picture and methodically prioritize between various options in hand.

2.    Strike a balance in life - Why focus all your energies on your career, family or friends? This is unhealthy and leads to stress.

Quick Fix: Men must take out time for themselves, indulge in their hobbies and give considerable amount of time to their families. Quality time is a great stress reliever.

3.    Interpersonal relationships: Men prefer not to confide in others as this is just part and parcel of their deep routed nature. Nevertheless, they run the risk of exposing themselves to high levels of stress and need to engage in stress relieving exercises.

Quick Fix: They must enter into a reciprocal relationship, which enables them to express themselves and reduce the stress they are suffering.

4.    Deal with negative emotions: Men must acknowledge the presence of negative emotions and deal with them.

Quick Fix: Repressing your innate feelings and fearing failure can only aggravate stress; talking it out is a great stress reliever.

5.    Handle societal pressure: Patriarchy comes with its side-effects. Men often feel burdened to perform well as the sole bread-winner. This attitude is where the problem lies.

Quick Fix: A successful career graph deserves applause but certainly not at the cost of too many sacrifices on the personal front. One must understand that patriarchy is a concept which is created and not something which has been passed on to us by ancestors.

6.    Indulge in exercise: A healthy lifestyle relaxes your nerves.

Quick Fix: Hit the gym or enroll yourself for aerobics, yoga or even swimming classes; all great stress relievers.

7.    Avoid substance abuse:  Initially alcohol, cigarettes and drugs may give a short-term relief from stress but in the long run it can lead to addiction.

Quick Fix: It goes without saying that addiction is an abuse to oneself so stay away and find healthier methods of being stress free.

8.    Create a healthy work atmosphere: Envy is one of the seven most deadly sins.

Quick Fix: You must redirect negative energies creatively and work towards living the philosophy of live and let live.

9.    Indulge in self-introspection: Either in a counseling session or a cup of coffee with your partner or friend. Talking to each other and not about each other helps.

10.    Learn that humans can fail: Failure can either lead to an emotional breakdown or conversely make a man strive for perfection. Either case is an extreme one.

Quick Fix: Learn to acknowledge one’s limits and de-stress yourself from self-created situations of undue pressure.

“We must learn to experience multiplicity of things and unwind, may be even let go off our inhibitions and just be”, signs out Dr Sharma. This is exactly what is required. Men, you must just be!