You Can Cope With Stress​—But How?

YOU may realize that stress is now epidemic and that it can dispose you to serious illness. But what can you do about it?

As mentioned in the previous article, one of the most important steps is to identify the cause or source of your stress. Volume 1 of “Understanding Human Behavior” explains why this is so vital: “Remember that stress exists when a physical or psychological problem is keeping mind and body on constant if not necessarily high-level alert. In many cases the physical and psychological problems need only to be identified for them to be removed [and] the stress will inevitably disappear.” The point is, if you can isolate clearly in your mind what is putting you under stress, your response to it will likely be less severe even if the cause cannot be avoided.

Let us, though, focus in on some practical suggestions that certainly can help you to cope with stress that you may face.

Try to Adapt

Some persons strive to get away from much of what produces stress. For instance, they may change where they live or work so as to get away from tension-producing conditions, such as working where it is noisy or smelly, or living in a crowded, dirty city.

That may help, but such drastic measures are not always needed to reduce stress. For example, to reduce the stress of commuting on crowded buses or highways, some leave earlier or later. They profitably use the waiting time to read, study or write letters. But, more importantly, by adapting in this way they gain confidence that they are in control of their lives, which experts say is a key to coping with stress.

Adaption can help parents. Some parents seem to careen from one crisis to another. What may be needed to decrease the stress from this source is for them to establish firm, consistent guidelines for the children. The Bible has proved to be an excellent source of wise advice on living with and training children. (Compare Ephesians 6:1-4; Proverbs 29:15, 17.) Millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses who have applied that godly advice have benefited by facing less stress.

As another illustration, what could you do to adapt if noise is adding to your stress? At home, shutting the windows, putting up drapes to absorb sound or closing the door to a room where a radio or television is being used may help. Similar steps might be possible on the job, or you could consider using small ear protectors to reduce noise-produced tension. Similarly, keeping your living or working area neat and clean may cut down on stress by making your surroundings more pleasant for you.

Likely any adaptions of this sort that you make will not totally eliminate potentially harmful stress. But even if it just reduces the stress, your life will be healthier and happier.

Talk Out Stress

Don’t keep all your worries and stress bottled up inside. You will find much relief in ‘getting it off your chest.’ Discuss it with a sympathetic friend whom you respect and who may be able to help or advise. You naturally don’t want to be, and shouldn’t be, a complainer or whiner about troubles real or imagined. But you do not become that by confiding in a trusted friend.

Beyond just emotional relief, you may get a new view of your problems, benefiting from the practical suggestions of an experienced person. (Prov. 18:24; 20:5; Titus 2:3-5) Many have been helped with stress by pouring out their feelings to God, who hears the entreating cries and prayers of distressed ones.​—2 Chron. 6:19.

Exercise Will Help You

Recall that your body often manifests the “fight or flight” response to stress; it is prepared for strenuous effort. Regular physical exercise will help you to use up the extra sugars and fats in your blood caused by stress, thus counteracting the biochemical effects of stress and restoring your body’s healthy balance.

So do you like to exercise, as when swimming, hiking or playing tennis? Then exercise. And if you are under stress but don’t like to exercise, exercise anyway. You’ll feel better, especially if you do some sort of energetic exercise daily, even as you daily feel stress.

The healthful exercise you choose may be the long walk to and from the grocery store, rather than taking the car or a bus. It might be walking up the stairs rather than using the elevator. Or you might ‘burn off stress’ in useful work such as spading a small garden, beating the dust out of the carpet or other useful deeds.

Balance Work and Play

Many persons view work and play as hostile enemies of each other, which view just adds to the stress they may feel.

It helps to appreciate that work is not an evil plague. It is physically and mentally good for you to be active and productive, such as in earning a living and the means to enjoy play. (Eccl. 3:12, 13) In “Stress Without Distress,” Dr. Hans Selye comments: “Your most important aim should not be to work [or be occupied] as little as possible. . . . For the full enjoyment of leisure, you have to be tired first, as for the full enjoyment of food the best cook is hunger.”

Even when you are working, take a few moments regularly to “play” by stretching. That can relieve the muscles of your face, neck, shoulders and back, lessening any buildup of stress.

But just as you make time for work, make time for relaxation. Yes, schedule some recreation, perhaps a hobby that will absorb you and divert you from the physical or emotional causes of your stress. Dr. Selye adds: “In most instances, diversion from one activity to another is more relaxing than complete rest.”

Get Enough Sleep

Some persons make a habit of staying up to socialize over a cup of coffee or to watch a TV program, maybe a comedy or a “talk show,” that they say helps them to unwind. Whatever claimed relaxing effect there might be must be weighed against the constant sleep debt that may be built up. A sleep deficiency is itself a stress on the mind and body, and makes one less able to cope with other stress.

Since stress causes physical changes in the body, you can see why it is vital to get enough rest and sleep. Sleep lets your body repair itself, restoring the balanced biochemical state. Well did Shakespeare describe it: “Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care. The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”

So if you are a victim of stress, try getting more sleep, especially by forming a normal sleep pattern week in and week out.

Adjust Your Viewpoint

In your coping with stress, the most important thing is not where or how you live or work. Nor is it how much exercise or sleep you get. It is how you view life and its problems or stresses.

A three-year study of air-traffic controllers shows a very high incidence of hypertension. But not all suffered ill effects. Dr. Robert M. Rose found that ‘what seemed to increase the incidence of illness was the attitude the men had toward their work.’ Similarly, after decades of research in stress, Dr. Hans Selye wrote: “Rather than relying on drugs or other techniques, I think there’s another, a better way to handle stress, which involves taking a different attitude toward the various events in our lives.”

You need to learn to evaluate your priorities in life. Perhaps you face a situation that will involve stress​—a new job, a social function, having another child, taking out a loan for a major purchase. Before deciding what to do or how to respond, ask, ‘Am I willing to accept the stress involved? Is it worth it? Just how important is this to my life?’ Such sane evaluation will help you to realize your limitations and priorities, resulting in your being a happier person.

Much of what the Bible says about one’s viewpoint toward money conveys this same idea. For example, the apostle Paul wrote: “Those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, . . . The love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some . . . have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.” (1 Tim. 6:9, 10) Also, Jesus told of a man who exerted himself to accumulate much wealth, only to die suddenly. Christ concluded: “So it goes with the man that lays up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21) He urged us not to be anxious​—to feel stress and worry—​about food, clothing and shelter. ‘Not easy,’ you say. True. But the point is that we must begin working to have that outlook. Do not forget, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Jesus added in the Sermon on the Mount: “Never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties. Sufficient for each day is its own badness.” (Matt. 6:25-34) That Biblical counsel comes to the very heart of the most up-to-date advice on how you can best cope with stress.

Lasting Relief from Stress?

It would be unrealistic to think that we could fully avoid stress today. No matter how we live or how fine our attitude is, there will be things that can cause us harmful stress. Crime still abounds. Prejudice and injustice bring grief. So we must learn how to cope with stress.

But could damaging stress​—distress—​be brought to an end someday? The answer based on evidence is, Yes. Your learning how and when that will be can affect your ability to cope with stress right now. The following article will examine this important matter.

Relief From Stress​—Presently and Permanently

WHAT answers would you get if you took a general survey, asking: “Will damaging stress ever be fully eliminated?”

Based on what they have experienced, or on what experts predict for the future, most would likely answer that harmful stress will always be with us.

A few, though, might blithely say that things will turn out fine, that man will solve the problems and eliminate damaging stress.

That view may, however, reflect an ineffective effort to cope with stress. Regarding this, Professor Irving Janis commented: “Another defective coping pattern [is], ‘defensive avoidance,’ which involves seeking relief from emotional tensions by engaging in wishful thinking.”​—The New York Times, Sunday, May 18, 1980.

A sad thing is that many persons who are trying to cope with stress overlook realities that would help them to cope. These realities can help you to gain relief from stress and give you a solid basis for expecting permanent relief in the future.

A Universal Reality

Dr. Hans Selye, one of the giants in the study of stress, wrote: “No sensitive person can look at the sky on a cloudless night without asking himself where the stars came from, where they go, and what keeps the universe in order. The same questions arise when we look at the internal universe within the human body.”​—The Stress of Life.

Have you taken the time to reflect on the marvels of the human body or thoughtfully to gaze at the stars? Doing so can be an important step in your coping with present stresses. Selye adds: “The capacity to contemplate . . . the harmonious elegance in Nature’s manifestations, is one of the most satisfactory experiences of which man is capable. . . . Looking at something infinitely greater than our conscious selves makes all our daily troubles appear to shrink by comparison. There is an equanimity and a peace of mind which can be achieved only through contact with the sublime.”

Centuries ago the poet-king David did what this expert on stress now recommends. Then David uttered this fundamental truth: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling.”​—Ps. 19:1.

David recognized what millions of thinking persons since then have concluded also: A basic reality of the universe is that God, the Creator of the universe and of man, exists. Compared with Him and his handiwork, we humans are insignificant. David said of God: ‘When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, what is mortal man that you keep him in mind?’​—Ps. 8:3, 4.

Hence, when you realize that stress is​—or might be—​a problem for you, you should reflect more deeply on the existence of God, on the enormity of his works and concerns, and on your standing before him. You thus will not be employing ‘defensive avoidance’ but will be gaining perspective before the facts, universal realities.

It Works Now and Will Work

Your recognizing God will in many ways help you to cope with stress.

For one thing, it will increase your regard for his counsel in the Bible. From David’s own experience and what he saw with others, he could say: “The law of Jehovah is perfect, bringing back the soul. The reminder of Jehovah is trustworthy, making the inexperienced one wise.”​—Ps. 19:7.

God’s counsel includes advice to avoid such things as adultery, pre-marital sex, drunkenness, stealing and lying. Persons who engage in those things often do so for pleasure, to ‘make life easier’ or to avoid some embarrassment. Yet, evidence shows that they usually have, as a direct or an indirect result, more stress​—from a troubled conscience, from the ill will generated in others or even from health problems caused by their course. Conversely, following God’s advice means that a person avoids all such resulting stress, as well as promotes peace of mind and happiness.

Around the earth there are millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses who can testify that this has been so with them. Of course, no one today can have a totally stress-free life. But practicing true Christianity certainly has helped them. This agrees with what Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you. . . . You will find refreshment [not stress] for your souls. For my yoke is [not stressful, but] kindly.”​—Matt. 11:28-30.

There is another reason why present stress will decline as you draw closer to God. Your life will have more direction. You will see where you are headed, being committed to pleasing him. “Stress Without Distress” mentions:

History has repeatedly proved that “those who believed in the infallibility of their God or in their particular code of conduct were relatively well-balanced and happy, . . . Faith gave men direction, the basis for commitment, self-discipline, and work that is indispensable to prevent abnormal chaotic behavior.”​—Pp. 2, 3.

Furthermore, in having this wholesome commitment to the Creator and his principles, you can be part of a congregation of happy Christians. Those in the Christian congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses are pleased to accept and work with all who want to please God. They are willing to show others how applying Bible counsel is practical today and works to reduce harmful stress.

They sincerely try to practice love, in line with Jesus’ meaningful words: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (John 13:35) As you, through studying the Scriptures and being around loving Christians, learn to love and help other people, stress will diminish. Others will find that you are a more likable person. You will have fewer conflicts with your fellowmen, whose goodwill and respect you will have earned.​—Matt. 5:40-48; Luke 6:38.

Nor is this help in coping with stress limited to the present; it also looks to the future. The volume “Religious Movements in Contemporary America” points out: “In their own congregational life Witnesses form a genuine community of trust and acceptance. . . . The Jehovah’s Witnesses offer [one] an alternative life strategy that gives its adherents a way to find identity and self-respect, a community of acceptance, and hope for the future.”

Permanent Relief from Stress

The Creator is the solid basis for having hope for the future. In his reliable Word he promises that he is going to intervene in human affairs, doing so in a way that will allow for permanent relief from harmful stress. Consider some of what God promises:

◆ He will permanently eliminate selfish, wicked persons, those whose actions now cause so much stress.​—Ps. 37:28, 29, 34.

◆ Instead of there being persons with vicious, animalistic dispositions, the earth will be populated by peaceable individuals guided by the abundant “knowledge of Jehovah.”​—Isa. 11:6-9; 35:9.

◆ Illness and death, which now cause so much stress, will be replaced with good health and long life.​—Rev. 21:4.

◆ As a result of honest, healthful work, humans will have an abundance of food and life’s necessities.​—Ps. 72:16.

◆ War will end, to be followed by peace and security.​—Mic. 4:3, 4.

◆ All humans will practice the loving interest in others that is a mark of true Christianity.​—John 13:35.

This is no dream. Looking forward to it is not a case of ‘defensive avoidance’ of stress. It is what the Creator of the universe promises. If it appeals to you, you should learn more about it by studying the Bible along with Jehovah’s Witnesses.

However, life under those conditions will not be dull or boring. On occasion your heart will still beat fast. You will become excited and alert for activity. But such will be normal and healthy responses to thrilling, happy events or emotions. What a delightful contrast that will be to the extreme, prolonged and harmful stress that we must cope with today!