Due to constant overwhelming, we feel stressed, become unhappy and endanger our physical and mental health. We introduce you to some measures with which you can fight the stress factor.
A mountain of files, forms or homework, long working days and to-do lists and the everyday duties in the household: It is not uncommon for us to feel overwhelmed because of inexperienced tasks and new challenges. We then have the feeling of running after the time, questioning our skills and are constantly stressed. A study from 2024 showed that 61 percent of employees: inside in Germany feel overloaded.
So it is overwhelming
Such a long -term overwhelming and associated permanent stress express, among other things, in the following symptoms and behavioral patterns:
- Inner unrest
- Tension
- nervousness
- irritability
- aggressive behavior
- Fast and choppy speaking
- fatigue
- Avoid breaks
-
Brood and spiral of thought
- forgetfulness
- Susceptibility to errors
- Sleep disorders
- Rapid heartbeat
- Muscle tensions
- Fear of failure
- Self -doubt and allegations
Chronically overwhelmed: a health risk
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / Stocksnap)
Stress causes many muscles to be constantly tense. That is why many people, for example, also suffer from neck and shoulder tension when stressed. This can go so far that those affected keep shaking all over the body – often internally.
Because our metabolism is also raised in stressful situations and the cortisol level increases, chronic excessive demands can also lead to increased blood pressure, changed blood lipid levels and a weakening of the immune system. In addition, permanent stress often brings strong sweating. Afterwards our body cools down again, we usually feel tired, weak and drained. So stress demands a lot from the body.
Since the immune system weakens permanently, it generally makes more susceptible to infections. No wonder that chronic excessive demand favors the emergence of many diseases and symptoms. This includes, for example, cardiovascular disorders, migraines, diabetes and stomach ulcers.
The feeling of being constantly overwhelmed is also tempted not to take enough time for friends: inside, family and yourself. This takes a large part of your quality of life, prevents the emergence of happiness and can lead to burnout or depression in the long run. To prevent this, you should listen to the signals of your body and take the right measures if they are overwhelmed. We present some tips that can help you.
Tip 1: look into the overwhelming
In order to be able to perceive and classify signs of excessive demands, you should watch and your behavior regularly. If you only deal with your to-do list and crush your feelings and needs, you may not notice for a long time that you are overwhelmed. Maybe you have already noticed it, but don’t want to admit it and push the feeling aside.
That will take revenge sooner or later. Therefore, practice yourself in acceptance and make yourself aware that admitting an overwhelming is not a sign of weakness. On the contrary, a healthy self -assessment and self -care will make you stronger in the long term. They allow you to master larger challenges – but at your own pace and adapted to your individual needs.
To take over an overwhelming in good time, you can take about five to 15 minutes every day to check your emotional situation. For example, you can meditate or write a diary.
Tip 2: less overwhelming thanks to realistic planning
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / Congerdesign)
We often feel overwhelmed when a mountain of tasks seems confusing and therefore insurmountable. Therefore, it can help you to write down all your duties and projects as part of a to-do list and to divide it into categories. For this, for example, you can use the Eisenhower principle according to which you divided your tasks into the following four sections:
- important and urgent
- Important, but not urgent
- unimportant, but urgent
- unimportant and not urgent
Depending on the type of task, you can now create a more precise schedule when and how you want to work on the individual tasks.
Pay attention to realistic deadlines and plan breaks and setbacks in your schedule. In general, your plan should be designed in such a way that you can tick off all tasks every day and go to the end of the day. So you avoid stress and overwhelm.
Tip 3: take breaks!
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / TVjoern)
In a world in which everything revolves around efficiency and willingness to perform, we often forget to take time for breaks. Regular relaxation helps you to be able to work more concentrated, more alert and creative. In this way, we feel significantly less powerful even in the event of a lack of sleep than after a relaxing night in which our body could rest for eight hours.
Good sleep hygiene is therefore essential to prevent overwhelming. If you fight with sleep disorders, a fixed evening routine, relaxation techniques before falling asleep, less caffeine and sleep -promoting herbs (such as valerian) can help you.
But you should also take breaks regularly during a working day. If possible, not only spend this time on the cell phone, but concentrate on yourself and your time -out. For example, you can briefly close your eyes and perform breathing exercise or meditation. With longer breaks, power napping or a walk is ideal.
Tip 4: A strong social network against excessive demands
Close social contacts like friend: Inside and family are important: they strengthen your back and are important protection against stress and overwhelming. Therefore, make sure to maintain your social contacts in the long term and not to neglect in the face of growing tasks and challenges.
In addition to regular meetings and phone calls, you can also write a personal letter or send a small package to make you happy.
Tip 5: Stop the stimulus overflowing
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / Lukasbieri)
In addition to daily tasks, permanent overstimulation can also increase the feeling of stress and overwhelming. So we are surrounded by stressful noises almost every day, for example by car and construction site noise or loud music. In addition, there are visual stimuli, which we particularly absorb through smartphones, laptops and other screens. In order to give your brain a break, you should therefore make sure that you regularly deliberately distance yourself from these stimuli.
How to avoid or reduce stimulus overflowing:
- Take a walk in the forest, at the lake or in the park.
- Do sports, for example you can jog a short round.
- Even a warm bathroom with calm music or a reading evening are often more relaxed than a film evening on which your eyes are exposed to a flickering screen again.
Tip 6: Please help
If you feel that a certain workload will overwhelm you again and again, you shouldn’t hesitate to get support. For example, you can ask for a college: Inside whether someone could take part of your tasks or appeal to you in the family group that household obligations must be divided more fairly. If you have too little time for your private life, an hourly shortcut or a job change may also make sense.
After all, you can also consult professional support when dealing with chronic excessive demands by going to psychological or psychotherapeutic treatment.
Read more on utopia.de:
- Eat the Frog: How a frog helps with time management
- Autogenic training: effect, areas of application and exercises
- Resilience: This is how you train your mental resilience
Revised by Philipp Multhaupt
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