Ines Gomez Campos

There may be times when you feel overwhelmed, stressed out, without energy, and unable to get back on your feet by yourself, nor with the aid of friends or information on the internet. In this case, you have to seek professional counseling. Here is how a psychiatrist may help you to reduce stress.

Lack of control over your work, time or even life is known to cause a lot of stress. Many stress counselors therefore say that you have to learn to say no to others to regain control and reduce stress. However, this is not always possible, and there are more techniques to help you regain control.

Positive reframing is a psychological trick to think about stress more positively. When you reframe stress as something positive, you will not only feel less stressed, but also benefit from stress. After all, stress helps us to cope with challenging situations, and is a friend rather than an enemy.

Have you ever noticed that your breathing frequency is higher when you are stressed? This is part of the "fight-or-flight" reaction, serving to supply more oxygen to the muscles and to prepare you for action. Breathing exercises are designed to normalize breathing and help to calm you down.

Stressful events make it more difficult to fall or stay asleep. Such sleep disturbance by stress makes dealing with stress a lot harder, so that sleep is even more affected. For successful stress management it is important to break this vicious cycle. Scientific research shows how this can be done.