Staying calm in extremely stressful situations is a superpower. Had it not been the case, only the most successful people won’t have this skill. [url=https://www.talentsmarteq.com/articles/How-Successful-People-Beat-Stress-2147446616-p-1.html#:~:text=TalentSmart]One study[/url] proves that 90% of top performers in any field are skilled at managing their emotions in crisis – a percentage that nosedives among bottom-rung leaders.

Managing your success doesn’t only lead to monetary success. Research has linked it with health-related benefits too. More than forty percent of adults suffer harmful effects from stress, including headaches, anxiety, depression, skin conditions, and even heart problems.

There’s one final reason why you may want to manage your stress. It will help you retain a better mode throughout the day and let you get along better with family and friends. Your relationship will blossom the moment you know how to place a lid on stress.

Here are 10 tips and tricks to stay calm in extremely stressful situations:

#1: Express gratitude
Do you know about the hormone that causes stress? The levels of ‘Cortisol’ regularly spike in people who suffer from bouts of stress, whereas those who don’t let their emotions get the better of them somehow manage to keep a lid on this hormone. Here’s how they do that.

Such people express gratitude on a daily basis. Some of them have kept a gratitude journal which they populate first thing in the morning. Others tell their coworkers one thing daily which they are grateful for. Still others send out ‘Thank You’ notes to people they love while sitting under UVC light.

The route you’d take to express gratitude won’t matter as much as you take any route. That is to say how you express gratitude isn’t important. The fact that you express it does. As it will help you stay calm in the eye of stressful situations. Isn’t that great!

#2: Maintain a positive outlook
Ryan Holiday’s ‘The Daily Stoic’ is one of the best books that I’ve read of late. In it the author quotes at least half a dozen philosophers who all say multiple variation of the same thought: the only thing you can control in this world is how you think. Or how you respond to external events.

That is right. You can’t control what happens around you or how people would behave to what you have to say. What you can control, however, is how you respond to what happens around you. And that you can only do if you’ve a grip over your thinking pattern.

Isn’t that great? As it tells us that regardless of how gloomy the external world is, we can always fixate our mind on a positive situation. Doing so won’t only save us from dwelling on how worse the situation we currently find ourselves is. It will also keep our stress levels in check.

#3: Get some sleep
Stress and sleeplessness nourish each other in a feedback look. You cannot sleep because you’re feeling too stressed out, you’re feeling too stressed out because you cannot sleep. The only way you can break this vicious sleeplessness-stress-sleeplessness cycle is by having a good night’s sleep.

There are multiple ways you could have just that. You can lower the temperature of your bedroom and find the one that works best for you. You can practice yoga just before you sleep. You can resist the temptation of enjoying naps during the day. Or you can include some exercise in your daily routine.

All these ‘tricks’ have been proven to put you to bed early. Yet it goes without saying that not all of them might come handy in your case. Which is why it’s essential that you try as many of them as you can to hop onto the one which will help you sleep better besides your UVC lamp.

#4: Do more, think less
Successful people tend to focus more on the solutions. Those that are not successful tend to focus more on the roadblocks. Both these thinking patterns might lead you towards success. But only the former will help you stay sane in the process. Here’s why.

The ‘What If’ statements that most of us ask on a daily basis serve as fuel to our stress hormones. All of us are aware that things can go in hundreds of different directions, some of which we haven’t even foreseen. Yet asking this question forces our mind to ponder the possibility.

That, in turn, forces us to think more about problems and less about possibilities. Hence the reason why you throw that ‘What If’ mentality out of your system. It will only take you to an imaginary place where you don’t need – or want – to go.

#5: Don’t stay available 24/7
Ever wondered why the most successful people don’t respond to work emails when they are home? Why some of them leave their workplace-supplied phones at the office? That’s because they are aware that there’s one time for work, and there’s one time for home life.

This mantra of work-life balance has attracted the attention of policymakers in the west. Yet the general populace still seems to subscribe to the idea of ‘Hustle Your Way To Get Rich’. Sure, that might make you rich, but working all the hours you’re awake will also adversely affect your mental health.

Studies back up this point. The Atlantic mentions one which draws a straight line between email breaks at work and reduced stress levels. Another research, this one from British Psychological Society, suggests turning off your smartphone as a simple way to put a lid on your stress.

#6: Limit your daily caffeine intake
Nobody can deny that most people benefit from moderate daily doses of caffeine. But the problem is that most of us cannot differentiate moderate from excess. Are two cups of caffeine moderate? Are six too excessively? Luckily for our health, NY Times has the answer to these questions.

Quoting The Food and Drug Administration, it states that daily intake of 400 mgs of caffeine can be designated as moderate, or the amount which you consume in up to three cups of caffeinated coffee, depending on your favorite brand and roast.

Anything more and you might end up exposing yourself to several health problems, of which stress is but only one. Other issues you may encounter on gulping six cups of caffeinated drinks include high blood pressure, anxiety, irritability and irregular heartbeat.

#7: Stay active throughout the day
Almost all of us are aware of staying active throughout the day. It keeps our stress levels in check, puts a dampener on our bodyweight and minimizes the risk of various diseases. Yet only a few manage to muster the time they need to do workout.

Which is why I’ve come up with these () simple tricks using which you can stay more active throughout the day. Some of them may come to the aid of all of you. Others may target a specific populace. Yet all of them have one thing in common: they’ll help in staying active:
- Park your car at the far end of the office parking lot. This will force you to walk more to reach your office.
- Wear activity trackers that track your steps. Doing so will keep you motivated to remain more active throughout the day
- Use your lunch time to walk around. Use the stairs instead of the lift to get to the bottom floor if your office is above ground.
- Arrange your workstation in such a way that you’ve to rise from your seat to reach crucial work-related files. Hang shelves that are away from your reach.
- Encourage walking or standing meetings. The latter may easily turn into the former, thereby killing two birds with one stone.

#8: Try breathing techniques
Here’s my favorite technique which I learned from the internet: breathe in counting to four, wait a few seconds, breathe out counting to seven. This controlled breathing, according to experts, reduces stress, boosts our immune system and even increases our alertness. Here’s how.

When we undertake controlled breathing sessions, our autonomic nervous system, which controls digestion and heart rate, promotes feeling of calm. More importantly, it controls the release of cortisol, the much-derided yet important stress hormone, thereby helping us feel in control.

The best thing about breathing techniques is that you don’t have to go to a specific place to perform them. Nor do you have to put a specific dress. You can do them as easily in the middle of a meeting as you can while sitting at your bed just before you go to sleep.

Conclusion
I’ve presented you with eight highly actionable tips using which you can stay calm in extremely stressful situations. You can adopt all of them at once or you can go step by step. The onus is on you to find the one which would help you keep control of your emotions in times of crises.