This article “How to deal with stress?” is a continuation of the article “how to cope with a bad mood.” The cause of a bad mood is not only external and internal factors leading to disharmony of the mental state, but also a consequence of stressful situations. In this article, stress will be considered not only from the negative side, but also from the positive side. The purpose of writing this article is to outline the main ways to combat the negative consequences of stress. The positive effect of stress on activity (for example, when passing an exam) is as follows: it becomes possible to concentrate before a responsible task and thereby activate thought processes. Based on this, we conclude that stress plays the role of a stimulant of the nervous system, helping the student to mobilize all his knowledge and personal reserves to solve the educational tasks assigned to him. Stress according to the definition of Meshcheryakov B.G. and Zinchenko V.P. is a state of mental stress that occurs in a person in the process of activity in the most complex, difficult conditions, both in everyday life and under special circumstances, for example during space flight, when preparing for a final exam or before the start of a sports competition. The negative impact of stress on the example of sports competitions. During sports competitions, there is a significant discrepancy between the tasks assigned to athletes and the opportunities for their implementation that the athlete has. Moreover, not only the objective difficulty of the task, but the athlete’s probabilistic assessment of its achievement is the main cause of mental stress. The less confident an athlete is in the accuracy of his prediction, the higher the stress. Consequently, both the positive and negative effects of stress on the body require the restoration of wasted energy and strengthening of the nervous system. There are various ways to deal with stress, for example: - listening to classical or relaxation music used in auto-training; - performing a set of breathing exercises or breathing meditation; - performing physical exercises; - various techniques of muscle relaxation and visualization; - reframing (search for positive aspects in negative events that have already occurred and require a rational approach in the psychoanalysis of the event); - physiotherapy (massage, sauna, electric sleep); - acupuncture; - biofeedback, etc. Practical recommendations Breathing techniques Exercise No. 1 Meditation on breathing Sit comfortably, take a break from extraneous thoughts for a while and concentrate your attention only on the flow of air that enters your lungs and then leaves it in the rhythm of your breathing. Your first task: to feel how, during inhalation, the air follows the path: nasal cavity - nasopharynx - larynx - trachea - bronchi - lungs, and then leaves the body in the reverse order. The second task is to only monitor the breathing, but not to interfere with its rhythm. The fact is that as soon as you start monitoring some process in the body, the natural rhythm gets lost. Therefore, give your body the opportunity to breathe at a comfortable rhythm and with the required depth. The next stage of the exercise is to concentrate on the characteristics of the air entering and leaving the lungs. Pay attention to the fact that the incoming air is colder compared to the exhaled air, which seems warmer and saturated with the excess energy of our body. The duration of the exercise is 5 minutes, after which you can assess your condition by determining how much the stress indicator has decreased. Exercise No. 2 Full breathing Place one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest. Start inhaling from the stomach, filling it with air as much as possible, and when you reach limit, then begin to lift your chest up, now filling the upper sections of the lungs. Make a short delay while inhaling (1-2 s) and begin to exhale slowly in the reverse order: firstdrawing in the stomach and then lowering the ribs. Make the delay longer after completing the exhalation and start the next cycle only when you want to inhale. The approximate duration of the respiratory phases can be as follows: inhale - 3-4 s, pause - 1-2 s, exhale - 5-6 s, pause on exhalation -3-5 s. Breathe like this every day, first for 5 minutes, and then adding one minute every day and gradually increasing the length of the exhalation and the delay at the end. Once you have mastered this breathing method, you can use it in some stressful situation. If you perform this exercise correctly, you will feel how your anxiety or anger will decrease within 5 minutes after the start of full breathing, and after 10 minutes you will be able to assess the situation soberly enough and will be ready to use other methods of dealing with stress that were discussed in this manual Sources of literature: Shcherbatykh Yu. V. Psychology of stress and correction methods. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2006. - 256 p.: ill. — (Series “Tutorial”) Each of us, depending on the situation, experienced emotional excitement and anxiety about the events occurring in our lives. If you ask a student studying at a university: “Which of the most striking events caused a hurricane of emotions in your soul?” Ninety percent out of a hundred will answer that it was admission to university. Exams within the walls of the university create a state of emotional tension. This formulation has a shorter name - stress. As E.P. wrote Ilyin in textbooks entitled: “Emotions and Feelings”, in a state of emotional tension, spontaneous speech manifestations are activated; The number of habitual sayings and words – “parasites” – increases sharply. The number of non-communicative gestures increases, the choice of words and the formulation of thoughts become difficult. The unpleasant condition is accompanied by sweating, “bear sickness” (the activity of the gastrointestinal tract is disrupted), increased heart rate, impaired appetite, and nausea. All of these symptoms are classic manifestations of stress. The more we are afraid, the more our body begins to show negative symptoms that do not cause positive emotions. To suppress them, as a recommendation, we will share key exercises aimed at how to breathe correctly and set the intention for self-regulation of your psychophysiological state. Exercise No. 1 How to breathe correctly if you are experiencing stress. Scientists have proven that if a person is experiencing stress, then his breathing becomes so frequent that it can increase anxiety and reduce stress tolerance. This technique will help you learn to breathe correctly. It takes about 5 minutes to complete. 1. To begin, stretch out straight or sit in a way that is comfortable for you. 2. Place your hand on your stomach. 3. Breathe as you usually do, while paying attention to the movement of your stomach and chest while breathing. 4. Try to breathe “with your stomach” - so that the abdominal muscles participate in breathing, and the chest remains motionless. 5.Now try to inhale slowly through your nose, counting to 5 and feeling your stomach gently pushing the hand lying on it. Hold your breath for the count of 5. 6. Exhale slowly through your nose for a count of 5, gently pressing your hand on your stomach. Breathe like this for 5 minutes. 7.If you feel anxious during an exercise, stop the exercise. 8.At first you can do the exercise for a shorter period of time, gradually increasing it to 5 minutes. Don't forget to do it 2 times a day. 9.Soon you will be able to breathe like this all day long without noticing it. 10. Once you learn this exercise, you can do it during times of anxiety and stress. You will feel relief. Exercise No. 2 Self-order A self-order is a short, abrupt order made to yourself. Tell yourself: “Talk calmly!”, “Be silent, be silent!”, “Do not succumb to provocation!” - this helps to restrain emotions, behave with dignity, and comply with ethical requirements. The sequence of working with self-orders is as follows: formulate a self-order, mentally repeat!»