Stress Management for Dummies by Allen Elkin Book Review (Book Review Sample)

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Stress Management for Dummies by Allen Elkin Book Review
Stress Management for Dummies written by Allen Elkin is one of the most informative books that are important in the management of stress in individuals. Stress is a state of mind that mind that is affecting many people in daily lives. However, it is sometimes difficult or almost impossible to live without having to experience stress at a point in life. These stressful incidences force people to learn the incorrect ways of coping with stress. The book offers time-tested guidance and a trusted approach to training the mind and body to cope with stress while maintaining sanity. Stress Management for Dummies covers stress triggers that may occur in love, family, and work among other areas as well as a way to reduce the stress (Elkin 10).
The author has highlighted several ways that stress can be used positively and serve as a motivating factor rather than letting it affect individual’s life in a negative manner. Additionally, the book has offered unique insight on how individuals retrain their minds and bodies to help them in reacting to stressful situations in a positive way. Stress Management for Dummies also helps in overcoming some of the stresses that are usually faced in the modern life. The book has been divided into different sections systematically to address the concept of stress management (Elkin 13).
The first part of the book has explained the meaning of the stress management. Stress management is a term that is used to refer to the techniques that are employed to help people that are affected negatively by stress. Stress management thereby helps individuals affected by stress to start improving their daily lives. Stress is a term that is used to describe a stress with negative consequences. Stress is an unanticipated response to thought-provoking or dangerous situations. Stress can be of benefit if it is in small amounts since it tends to increase motivation as well as energy (Elkin 15). However, when stress is greater than a person’s ability to cope with it then it tends to affect the quality of life, and it can result in problems with physical and mental health. Every individual experience some level of stress in the life’s but people tend to be affected by stress in different ways. It is vital for everyone to be aware of how stress affects someone since it can be a great way of being able to manage the stressful situations (Davidson 20).
Mastering the basics is the stress management is the second part of the book that has clearly explained some of the important principles that individuals are expected to learn when dealing with stress. The author has explained some of the symptoms of stress that may be present as well as issues that may cause stress in any environment. The stressful situations may arise at the place of work and in the family (Elkin 100). Stress can produce various negative things to an individual including physical health decline as well as depression. Stress management helps individuals to manage anxiety so as to maintain a happy and successful life. Even though life provided various demands for life stress, management helps in reducing anxiety and therefore assisting the individual to maintain a healthy well-being. Stress can be associated with headaches, back pain, sleeping problems and stomach upsets. Stress tends to weaken the immune system and therefore weakens the body such that it is unable to fight diseases. Stress tends to worsen a person’s health in case he/she has a health problem (Dorothy 28).
Secrets of stress-effective thinking are discussed in the third section of the book. It is vital for an individual to get stress under control by first finding out the causes of stress in one’s life. It is important to ensure that one reduces the amount of stress so that it does not go to extreme levels causing excess suffering. An individual need to learn the healthy ways of dealing with stress so as to diminish its harmful effects. At this point, thinking in a positive way is a preventive approach that is used to address stress in individuals. The book has also stressed on a various technique that has proven to be effective in reduction of stress in individuals. Stress can be reduced or eliminate by the change in the way people think. Attracting positive thoughts during stressful occasions is one of the major approaches that can be applied in dealing with stress. Stress is mind-controlled, and it is through retraining our minds that can make addressing the issue an easy task (Geter 20).
There are various symptoms of stress including severe headaches, depression, sleeping problems, stomach pain as well as depression. Stress is unavoidable to many people, but some of them overcome stress by engaging in activities that help in distracting them from the stress. There are various ways of overcoming stress. Some of the techniques are short-term while other are long term.
The short-term techniques include smoking, drinking alcohol, sleeping too much, taking stress on other people, using pills and other ways that are used in reducing the stress level. The techniques are unhealthy ways that are employed by people to help them temporarily in reducing stress levels. The negative consequences of using these short-term techniques are that they cause more damage in the long term and therefore they are discouraged from being used by the general population. If the method the individual uses does not contribute positively to the emotional and physical health of a person them the technique needs to be discarded and a better technique should be sought after to ensure that the individual benefits from such a methodology (Geter 24).
Some people think that there is nothing they can do about their stress level, but certainly, there are some ideas that can be done to relieve the pressure and be in a position to regain control. It is vital for an individual to identify the sources of stress in one’s life. They could emerge from the loss of a loved one. For an individual to identify the sources of stress, there is a need to closely identify the habits, attitudes, and excuses so as to know what brings him or her the stress. The individual needs to find healthier ways of coping with stress. Stress is a condition where one is unable to think clearly and especially after undergoing an unexpected situation. Stress alters one's thinking to make the person unable to go on with their daily activities (Greenberg 14).
The book has also discussed managing stress in real life which gives some of the day-to-day habits that ought to be developed, both at work and at home, to help in living a life that is less stressful. Stress can be managed by the individual engaging in exercises that involve physical activities that help in elevating one’s heart rate can be very effective in reducing the level of anxiety and can work in relieving stress. The person does not need to be an athlete or spend long hours in the gym. The individual just needs to spend a minimum of thirty minutes in a physical exercise and the stress will go away. These exercises effectively address the issue of stress through making sure that the mind is engaged in other activities rather than just thinking about the issue that has triggered stress. Exercising will also ensure that the circulation of the blood in the brain has increased its activity thus triggering different solutions to a particularly stressful situation (Roberts 22).
Managing time wisely and creating a schedule helps in reducing stress and pressure. The individual needs, to be honest, and think of things that work and those that do not work in regards to reducing stress. The individual having stress needs to have plenty of rest and avoid smoking and taking too much alcohol. The individual needs to let go of the worries by writing them down and saying no to such thoughts (Geter 28).
Trying of new ways of thinking is vital for stress management. Stress can also be overcome by speaking up to other people. Finding people whom to trust is critical as it helps ones in sharing the stress with others and they can be a source of encouragement and comfort. Asking for help from Family and friends can help in managing stress. Sometimes it is very difficult to handle stressing situations but with family and friends can help. It is also critical to see a counselor that will help in managing the stress. It is vital to express one’s feelings out by laughing, crying, talking and expressing the anger to people that are trusted. The individual can also engage in a hobby that can help in relaxing the mind. The individual can also try to relax the body by listening to relaxing music. Laughter can be a great way of healing and relieve stress. Stress management is very important as it helps in resetting one’s alarm. Without stress management, the body is on high alert, and therefore there is a high probability that the health, relationships and the quality of life will be affected in a negative way (Smith 13).
The last part of the book is of great significance in addressing the concept of stress management. The book ...