Stress is part of being human. However, while positive stress can motivate you to set realistic targets and achieve goals, negative stress can take you down the path of self-destruction with eventual loss of mental and physical health. Any triggers that alter your quality of life, impact your lifestyle negatively, and interfere with your work and personal life, need to be identified and corrected through therapy.
The following is a list of bestsellers on effective stress management, tools, and scientific techniques that can bring wonders to your life, opening fresh and new chapters of self-discovery and restoration. Read on.
1) Burnout: The Secret To Unlocking The Stress Cycle
Authors: Emily Nagoski (Ph.D.) and Amelia Nagoski (DMA)
Print Length: 304 pages
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Language: English
The book is a game-changer meant for women readers, and is penned by a team of author sisters who have compiled their years of experience to dole out precious advice and stress-management strategies for women. The fairer sex experiences and processes burnout differently from their male counterparts. So this book brings to them a simple, science-based plan that will help them to minimize stress, manage emotions, and live a more joyful life.
The book chronicles the societal expectations of women and what it is really like to be a woman in today’s world. It teaches you to love your body despite the pressures of looking slim and young; how do you go slow when despite giving your 110% you are not recognized for your efforts; you will learn how to accept yourself and live happily and healthily in a sexist world that comes too hard on you. End the cycle of feeling overwhelmed and exhausted at breaking point. Learn what you are up against, and learn to fight back — Return your body to a state of relaxation; Learn to monitor and regulate the emotion of frustration; Rest, human connection, and befriending your inner critic are keys to recovering and preventing burnout.
The book is replete with helpful exercises and worksheets. These will empower you to create positive change in your life. The authors gently remind you that you are enough just the way you are; you need not strive for the impossible goal of ‘having it all’. Know that true wellness is within your reach.
2) Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess
Author: Dr. Caroline Leaf
Print Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Baker Books
Language: English
We are surviving in a chaotic world that few can make any sense of. This results in an array of negative and toxic thought patterns that run in loops inside the mind. The author implores and warns us not to settle into this mental mess and to accept anxiety and depression as a new normal.
Dr. Leaf provides a 5-step formula, backed by clinical research, that will help you to eliminate stress, anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts from the roots. When you learn to implement the plan successfully, you will lead an enhanced life. Your mental and physical health will improve dramatically. In just 21 days you will discover a new ‘You’ as you start to clean up your mental mess, and be on the road to wholeness, peace, and happiness.
3) 101 Ways To Be Less Stressed
Author: Dr. Caroline Leaf
Print Length: 160 pages
Publisher: Baker Books
Language: English
The majority of us are concerned about our physical health and consume a healthy diet, combining it with exercise. In the process, we sideline the importance of taking care of our mental health. Ironically, however, the mind being the source of all our thoughts, words, and actions, needs to be pampered daily or else everything comes to naught. Unhealthy thinking leads to unhealthy living, which defeats the purpose of taking particular care and attention to the body alone. No amount of gymming and healthy eating can salvage a drowning mind. Research shows that a chronically stressed mind gives rise to plenty of psychosomatic disorders and stubborn illnesses that have poor diagnoses and treatments.
Mental toughness and resilience help us sail through difficult times, and achieve success in every area of our lives. The power of the mind is incredible which we can use to persist and grow in response to life’s challenges. The author outlines 101 simple ways to reduce stress that would be transformative and restorative. The book is a brave attempt to change our thinking perceptions, and in doing so, change our entire lives.
4) The Stress Prescription: Seven Days To More Joy and Ease (The Seven Days Series)
Author: Elissa Epel, Ph.D.
Print Length: 272 pages
Publisher: Penguin Life
Language: English
The book is just not a manual to manage stress but is a powerful toolkit for preventing it. This is a practical guide that will help you to turn your stress into strength in just 7 days.
Stress is an inevitable part of our lives that we need to embrace and accept, and transform into a positive energy so that we are driven to accomplish our goals. Stressors can be in the form of difficult relationships, meeting/failing deadlines at work, personal crises, or simply the uncertainty of the world. Add to it the intrinsic factors like negative and toxic thinking habits that are hard to break.
The author lays out a practical 7-day plan of science-based techniques that are an outcome of decades of intensive research, infused with wisdom. Day 1st is about accepting the fact that things will go wrong no matter what, and that’s all right; on Day 2nd learn how to control what you can, and put down the rest; be the lion on Day 3rd; train your resilience on Day 4th; let nature do the work on Day 5th; learn to restore, just not relax on Day 6th; and start full, end full on Day 7th.
Train your minds and bodies to shift towards a flexible, beneficial stress response that can actually enhance health. Develop a robust mindset, build the resources you need to turn your stress into strengths and fill your days with more joy, connection, and ease.
5) The Happiness Trap (Second Edition): How To Stop Struggling and Start Living
Author: Russ Harris
Print Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Shambhala
Language: English
The book will prove to be a rich and worthy investment as it will set you free from present-day depression, anxiety, and overall stress, and will help you build a rich and meaningful life. Dr. Russ Harris presents the powerful techniques and insights of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) which will help to clarify your values, develop self-compassion, and find true satisfaction in life.
The book will teach you to reduce stress and worry; handle painful thoughts and feelings more effectively; break self-defeating habits; overcome insecurity and self-doubt; build better relationships; and improve performance while finding fulfillment at work.
‘The Happiness Trap’ is for everyone as it teaches you to build authentic happiness by artfully navigating through daily stressors and cope with loss, face illness, and work in high-stress environments; it is for those who are suffering from a loss of identity, feelings of anxiety and depression, or a drop in levels of confidence.
