Besides increasing your risk of heart disease, depression and obesity, prolonged stress state decreases your cognitive performance. Here are 10 strategies used by smart people to cope with it, and keep it under control:

  1. They Disconnect

Given the importance of keeping stress intermittent, it’s easy to see how taking regular time off the grid can help keep your stress under control. When you make yourself available to your work 24/7, you expose yourself to a constant barrage of stressors. Forcing yourself offline and even—gulp!—turning off your phone gives your body a break from a constant source of stress. Studies have shown that something as simple as an email break can lower stress levels.

Technology enables constant communication and the expectation that you should be available 24/7. It is extremely difficult to enjoy a stress-free moment outside of work when an email that will change your train of thought and get you thinking (read: stressing) about work can drop onto your phone at any moment. If detaching yourself from work-related communication on weekday evenings is too big a challenge, then how about the weekend? Choose blocks of time where you cut the cord and go offline. You’ll be amazed at how refreshing these breaks are and how they reduce stress by putting a mental recharge into your weekly schedule. If you’re worried about the negative repercussions of taking this step, first try doing it at times when you’re unlikely to be contacted—maybe Sunday morning. As you grow more comfortable with it, and as your coworkers begin to accept the time you spend offline, gradually expand the amount of time you spend away from technology.

  1. They Limit Their Caffeine Intake

Drinking caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is the source of the “fight-or-flight” response, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for the hills when faced with a threat. The fight-or-flight mechanism sidesteps rational thinking in favor of a faster response. This is great when a bear is chasing you, but not so great when you’re responding to a curt email. When caffeine puts your brain and body into this hyperaroused state of stress, your emotions overrun your behavior. The stress that caffeine creates is far from intermittent, as its long half-life ensures that it takes its sweet time working its way out of your body.

  1. They Sleep

I’ve beaten this one to death over the years and can’t say enough about the importance of sleep to increasing your emotional intelligence and managing your stress levels. When you sleep, your brain literally recharges, so that you wake up alert and clear-headed. Your self-control, attention, and memory are all reduced when you don’t get enough—or the right kind—of sleep. Sleep deprivation raises stress hormone levels on its own, even without a stressor present. Stressful projects often make you feel as if you have no time to sleep, but taking the time to get a decent night’s sleep is often the one thing keeping you from getting things under control.

  1. They Squash Negative Self-Talk

A big step in managing stress involves stopping negative self-talk in its tracks. The more you ruminate on negative thoughts, the more power you give them. Most of our negative thoughts are just that—thoughts, not facts. When you find yourself believing the negative and pessimistic things your inner voice says, it’s time to stop and write them down. Literally stop what you’re doing and write down what you’re thinking. Once you’ve taken a moment to slow down the negative momentum of your thoughts, you will be more rational and clear-headed in evaluating their veracity.

You can bet that your statements aren’t true any time you use words like “never,” “worst,” “ever,” etc. If your statements still look like facts once they’re on paper, take them to a friend or colleague you trust and see if he or she agrees with you. Then the truth will surely come out. When it feels like something always or never happens, this is just your brain’s natural threat tendency inflating the perceived frequency or severity of an event. Identifying and labeling your thoughts as thoughts by separating them from the facts will help you escape the cycle of negativity and move toward a positive new outlook.

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長期處於壓力之下除了會增加患上心臟病、抑鬱症及癡肥的風險外,還會降低你的認知表現。以下是十個精明的壓力處理方法︰

4. 學會抽離

 如果你能明白避免壓力持續的重要性,應該也不難明白,定時從忙碌中抽離能有助控制壓力。當你24小時全天候為工作候命時,其實是讓自己持續活在壓力之下。因此,是時候強迫自己離線了 ! 關掉手機,讓自己抽離壓力源一陣。研究顯示,即使是短至幾分鐘的小休,也能有助降低壓力水平。

科技使即時溝通成為可能,並讓人預期對方可以24小時全天候回覆。當你的手機能隨時收發電郵時,即使是下班時間,你都不能輕鬆下來,擺脫壓力,因爲你的手機可能隨時隨地會收到電郵,它會改變你的思緒,讓你想到工作並感到其壓力。如果你覺得要在週一至週五晚斷絕與工作有關的通訊是項挑戰,那不如在週末時試一下。找幾段可以關掉手機離線的時間,你會發現,這樣的休息時間原來對減壓有如此大的作用。它能在心理上幫你充電,讓你有足夠的能量應付接著來的工作。如果你擔心踏出這步會對工作造成不良影響,可以先嘗試在較少有人聯絡的時間實踐,如星期天早上。當你越來越習慣在非工作時間抽離自己,你的同事又開始接納你有離線時間後,你便可以逐漸增加自己的離線時間。

5. 減少攝取咖啡因

 攝取咖啡因會觸發腎上腺素的釋放。腎上腺素是作出「戰鬥或逃跑」反應的力量來源。此一生存機制驅使我們在面對威脅時戰鬥或逃跑。戰鬥或逃跑機制能讓人繞過理性思考,作出更快的反應。當你被一隻熊追擊時,有這種反應是好事;但當你是在回覆別人的電郵時,如此反應便不太恰當。咖啡因會使大腦及身體對壓力反應過度,令行為受到情緒的影響。咖啡因帶來的壓力絕不是間歇性的,由於咖啡因的半衰期(即身體轉化過半咖啡因所需時間)長,它會停留在我們的體内好一段時間。

6. 注重睡眠

多年來,文章作者反復說了一遍又一遍,就是想強調睡眠對於提升情商及管理壓力的重要性。睡眠可以為你的大腦充電,使你睡醒時有一個清晰敏銳的頭腦。當你睡眠不足或欠佳時,自控力、專注力及記憶力都會減低。即使本來沒有壓力源,缺乏睡眠本身便會令壓力荷爾蒙水平上升。一大堆工作帶來的壓力,會令你覺得沒有時間睡覺,但往往花點時間睡個好覺後,事情反而會處理得更好。

7. 減少負面自我對話

要管理好壓力,其中一個關鍵是讓自己在進行負面自我對話時停下來。愈是想著負面的事,負能量便愈強。其實,我們大部分的負面想法也只是想法,並不是事實。當你察覺到自己聽從了負面且悲觀的內心聲音時,便應立即停止並把它們寫下來,是確切地終止手頭上的工作,將想法寫下來。一旦有了緩沖負面想法的瞬間,你便能更理性清晰地評估這些想法的真確度。

可以打賭,每次當你說“永不”、“壞透”、“不再”等詞時,實況並沒有那麼壞。如果你把想法寫在紙上後,還是覺得這些想法非常真確,那便應該把紙拿給一個你信任的朋友或同事,看看他的想法是否與你一樣,這樣便能確定事情的真相。當你覺得有些事情經常發生或不可能發生,是因爲大腦有自然誇大威脅效果的傾向,它把一件事情的出現頻率及嚴重性誇大了。只要將事實及想法分開識別及標記,便能有助擺脫負面的循環,向建立全新正面的想法邁進。