According to The American Psychological Association, year after year, women consistently report higher levels of stress than their male counterparts. Furthermore, according to a 2016 study by The Journal of Brain and Behaviour, women are twice as likely to suffer from severe stress and anxiety as men.
Reasons for this are attributed to how a woman’s hormonal system responds to stress and because women face more daily stressors due to the numerous roles they typically assume, including cooking, home-keeping, and caregiving.
In the U.S., 66% of caregivers identify as female (a caregiver may categorize someone looking after a child, a parent, or someone living with a life-altering illness like dementia); those female caregivers spend up to 50% more time in their role as a caregiver than their male counterparts. In addition to home-based stress, it’s estimated that women experience workplace stress at a rate 50%higher than men.
With these facts in mind, here are some helpful definitions and ways women can ease the burden of stress and embrace a higher quality way of life.
The Three Forms of Stress
Three ways to breakdown different types of stress are:
Acute Stress: This is the result of a traumatic, triggering event.
Episodic Acute Stress: This is a slow, simmering stress. People living with episodic acute stress may consistently feel under pressure or like things are never going right.
Chronic Stress: This is a consistent and heavy feeling of stress. Feeling pressured and feeling overwhelmed are signs of chronic stress.
How to Manage Stress
First and foremost, depending on the severity of the stress, chatting with a specialist, like a therapist, might be necessary. This is especially true if one is experiencing harmful thoughts or if an interest in personal wellbeing has dipped. Also consider chatting with friends or familyor seeking out invigilated online support groups.
Here are six more ways to approach getting help and improving the situation.
Connect With Professionals: If you are caring for a loved one, like a parent, who’s living with a life-altering illness, consider seeking outside help. Specialized teams such as Integracare Home Care offer at-home services, including but not limited to dementia care, wound care, palliative care,and other treatments, such as massage therapy and physiotherapy. With their assistance, seniors can age comfortably at home, and you can receive a compassionate network of support.
Chat with Your Family Physician: If your stress is causing physical as well as mental disruptions, your family physician will be able to help. In some cases of stress, sufferers may experience headaches, bodily aches and pains, and a loss of appetite. In instances like this, professional help is recommended.
Get to the Root of the Problem: Libraries (both in person and online) offer a wealth of books on stress. Podcasts are a great resource, too. Try to establish what the common cause of stress is and try to either eliminate it or better it.
Improve Sleep Hygiene: Lack of sleep can be a contributing cause of stress. Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night is the recommended adult average. Some ways to improve your quality of sleep include removing electronic devices from the room, eliminating caffeine or alcohol before bed, creating a dark, distraction-free space and maintaining consistency in bedtimes.
Exercise: Gentle exercise has been shown to reduce feelings of stress. You don’t need to join a gym to achieve this. Walking home instead of taking the bus or driving, taking the stairs at work or in the subway, jogging, dancing, and yoga are all easy ways to fit exercise into the day. Start by doing 15 minutes before dinner and slowly increase your time allocation.
Implement Time Management and Delegate: Ask your kids to peel potatoes for dinner or meal prep for the week on Sundays (saving you time during the week). By planning ahead where you can and by asking for help, you’re freeing up more ‘me time’ to focus on your own wellbeing.
Set Aside Time for You
Lastly, set aside time for you. Turn off your cell phone ringer and let your partner, roommate or kids know that you’re busy between 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. exercising or meditating, for example. Establishing boundaries, being kind to yourself and allowing time just for you is a great way to reduce stress moving forward.
