COPING WITH FINANCIAL STRESS

The Government has put out a great little booklet on ways to manage the Stress of the Economic Downturn.

Below are a few extracts from the booklet, the full version of which can be downloaded from:

http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/coping-with-financial-stress

How to manage your stress and feel more in control:

• Talk openly about what’s going on for you with people you trust. It can help you and the people around you to understand what is happening and work out how to deal with it.
  
• It’s important to look after all aspects of your health. This includes physical health, mental health, spiritual health and the health of your family.
  
• Get physically active. It helps to reduce stress and improve your mood. Try walking, swimming, dancing, playing sport or gardening. Learning yoga, tai chi, meditation or breathing exercises can also be effective in reducing stress. Choose something you enjoy and make a plan to do some kind of activity every day. You might enjoy this more with a friend or get the whole family involved.
  
• Getting a good night’s sleep is important.
  
• Plan time to relax and stay in touch with people you care about.
  
• Take time to think through hard decisions. See the ‘solving problems’ section for some advice for approaching problems.