The best ways to beat stress, according to the experts

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If your stress levels are making daily life a struggle, these stories offer expert advice to get back on track. Photo / 123rf
Expert advice on ways to manage stress and burnout, from exercise to mindfulness and much more

The terms are often used
confused. It pays to know the difference and treat them accordingly say the experts.

Most of us have said we feel stressed or anxious at some point. One survey of more than 4,000 people by the Mental Foundation found that 74 per cent had been so stressed in the past year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope. A separate survey of 6,000 people, also by the Mental Health Foundation, found that 60 per cent of those polled said they had experienced anxiety at such a level it had impacted their daily life in the past two weeks.
Sometimes we use the terms stress and anxiety interchangeably, but while the symptoms can be similar, they are separate conditions with different causes.
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I was used to being busy, managing a family of four children aged seven to 18, writing a book, editing a weekly magazine and co-hosting a podcast, so I wondered where this feeling of oversized panic came from.
I’m an organised, multi-tasking grown-up, but if one thing went wrong I now illogically catastrophised about the rest of my to-do list being a disaster too.
If this sounds familiar, then you must be in midlife as well. It seems there’s a new tribe in town: The inexplicably overwhelmed over-40s. So what’s going on and is there a way to stop us spiralling when that sense of overload hits?
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Managing stress really requires us to put some effort and time into our nervous system and wellbeing. The general sentiment, especially in Aotearoa, is that one should be able to handle it all. But the truth is that we have potentially the highest number of demands upon us and incoming sensory stimulus in a day, with the least amount of support, of all time. It’s like asking a 60G hard drive to download 180G every day – there’s going to be wear and tear on that hard drive.
Stress is the malaise of modern times. But there are some great ways to reduce it.
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Although people have long believed — and doctors used to claim — that stress can cause stomach ulcers, the relationship between the two is not straightforward, experts say.
It’s true that some critically ill patients, like those admitted to intensive care units, can develop stress ulcers, which are sores in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract that quickly arise after extreme physical stress. But “there is simply no data” confirming that everyday psychological stress can directly cause ulcers, said Dr Tonya Adams, a gastroenterologist at Gastro Health in Fairfax, Virginia.
That said, it’s possible that, among people who are at high risk for developing ulcers for other reasons, such as overusing specific medications or being infected with a certain type of bacteria, stress could tip them over the edge, said Dr Neha Mathur, a gastroenterologist at Houston Methodist Hospital.
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If being too obliging is leading to a stressful life of people-pleasing, it’s time to add some tunnel-vision into your world view.
“They were so generous, we must send a card,” I say to my boyfriend Mike after dinner with his friends. He looks at me as if I’m mad.
“Fine, if you want to, but I’ve never sent a thank-you card in my life.”
There are quite a few things Mike has managed to edit out from his life – sending birthday cards, sponsoring friends on charity runs, buying tickets to friends’ plays. He’s a great hands-on dad to his kids, and was the union rep at work for years, but he rarely worries about social niceties. In my heart I know he’s right – duty is a very different thing from generosity. But how does he get off scot-free?
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Pounding the pavements, despite what we’ve been led to believe, might not in fact be the best way to run off a bad mood. Academics at Ohio State University compared “arousal-increasing” activities such as hitting a bag, jogging, cycling and swimming with “arousal-decreasing” activities; deep breathing, mindfulness, meditation and yoga. The latter were most effective at calming anger, while (arousal-increasing) jogging was the most likely activity to increase anger.
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On a strict diet yet still not beating the bulge? Instead of restricting calories, take control of your cortisol.
Carrying weight around the middle is something that might seem inevitable past the age of 30. We jokingly refer to our “mum tum,” “beer gut” or “love handles”. But those extra inches are no laughing matter. According to the World Health Organisation, a waist circumference of 94cm for men or 80cm for women is associated with “an increased risk of metabolic complications”. Or more bluntly, a higher chance of heart attacks, strokes and Type 2 diabetes.
And now a delightful new phrase is joining the gang; “cortisol belly”. Which is at least a term rooted in science (instead of mere gluttony). Do you have one? And what can you do about it? We asked the experts.
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Do you constantly feel exhausted, negative and overwhelmed by your job? We ask the experts what can be done
Burnout is a buzzword often bandied about when we feel a bit tired at work and overwhelmed by life. In fact, it is a syndrome with clear symptoms, recognised by the World Health Organisation in 2019, which includes exhaustion and feeling cynical about your work. It not only affects workers’ lives but also the economy.
It is not a modern phenomenon, either. Graham Greene’s 1961 novel A Burnt-Out Case is about an architect worn down by his job. In 1974, Bob Dylan sang about being “burned out from exhaustion”.
In the same year, Christina Maslach, professor of psychology at the University of California, started to research the phenomenon. She says: “Someone told me, ‘Lawyers call it burnout’ and that term captured the feelings people were expressing to me”.
If you’re exhausted, feeling negative and your performance has dropped at work, you may well be suffering from burnout – but how can you get back on track?
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What really lowers your stress levels? An expert reveals her top tips, from writing a journal to taking probiotics.
Stress is a normal part of life that can become overwhelming as a result of work, relationship or money worries. However, there are habits we can build into our day to combat it and even ones we can practise during non-stressful periods to make us more resilient when under pressure.
As a neuroscientist, I’ve considered the evidence over the last few years and incorporated around a dozen daily activities into my routine to help me cope with stress. There are also bonus practices that I reserve for particularly stressful times.
There are benefits in starting any of these habits today – even if you’ve never done them before. They will help with your stress levels but they’re not prescriptive and you don’t have to do them every day to see improvements.
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