Stress reduction | Know you body, take control, breathe again

What are the symptoms of stress?

These are the most common signs of (chronic) stress:

• You sleep worse: you have trouble falling asleep, wake up earlier, or sleep less deeply.
• You're tired.
• You are more easily irritated at work, and have less patience at home with your partner or children. You get remarks about this, or notice it yourself.
• You often suffer from headaches, or pain in your neck/shoulders.
• You feel sick more often.
• Your cognitive abilities decline: clear thinking, distinguishing between essentials and side issues, your ability to make choices: it’s much more difficult.
• You exhibit restless behaviour: for example, biting your lip, picking your nails, or wiggling your leg.
• You have less and less fun in activities that used to make you happy.
• Weight change. You're in the mood for salt, sweet and fat food, and you're gaining weight. Or you eat a lot less, and lose weight.

Where does stress come from? And how does burnout occur?

This video from the CSR Centre explains it clearly. xxx nieuwe video

I'd like tips on how to avoid a burn-out. How do I reduce stress?

The tip for less stress: Pause regularly. Work hard? That's fine! But combine that every hour with relaxation: close your eyes for a moment, with attention to your breathing. Every day: move / lie down for a moment, and don't do mentally stressful activities in the evening. Every week: do something fun. An evening out or on the couch, taking a long bath, or a walk in the woods. And: don't plan your days too full. Make choices.

How does stress coaching work at Coaching Rotterdam?

We do stress reduction on multiple levels. We work primarily on the bio-physiological recovery of your body. Your stress system sometimes needs to be reset. Without medication, but with the prescription of regular breaks, exercise and stimulus reduction. You learn to reduce stress in a way that suits you.

Then we look at underlying causes and your background. We examine situations in which you experience or have experienced stress, and discover patterns. This way we know what we need to work on. For example on assertiveness, setting limits and self-management. You practice with new habits and behaviour. Together we reflect on these.  

I'm stuck in responsibilities. Does an anti-stress coach work for me, too?

Sometimes you feel like you don't have a choice. But even then you can reduce stress complaints. What conviction causes you not to delegate? Do you recognize resources in your environment sufficiently? Are you assertive enough? Do you really need to be the perfect high performer, carer, or parent? You explore where there is room for you, and take it.