April has been hosting stress awareness month, and subsequent events, for 30 years and it only continues to grow. We are, now more than ever, becoming more aware of stress, what causes stress and how it manifests between different people.
The NHS stipulates, stress can cause many different symptoms. It might affect how you feel physically, mentally, and how you behave; these all have commonly seen symptoms. As such, mental symptoms can include difficulty concentrating, struggling to make decisions, feeling overwhelmed, constantly worrying, and being forgetful. Physical symptoms can include headaches or dizziness, muscle tension or pain, stomach problems, chest pain or a faster heartbeat. Changes in behaviour can be being irritable and snappy, sleeping too much or too little, eating too much or too little, avoiding certain places or people, and drinking or smoking more.
The Mental Health Foundation named the UK as a ‘stressed nation’ and their research shows that 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope. When looking at age related stress, the largest group to agree to the aforementioned statement is 18-24 year-olds, with a whopping 83% agreeing to the statement.
It’s important to remember that It’s not always easy to recognise when stress is the reason you’re feeling or acting differently. It’s an extremely convoluted condition, which is more reason to make as much progress as possible every single April!
But how can mind mapping actually help manage stress?! Let us tell you.
Think about the statistics above and think about the average age of university students, 18-24. There’s a correlation there. She we now know that a huge percentage of students feel stressed which means they need to find a stress management activity, like mind mapping.
With only 15 – 30 minutes needed to complete a stress management map; mind mapping is quick and easy way to organise thoughts, while creating a space and time in your day to breathe and refocus. As such, mind mapping is a fantastic tool to organise thoughts and concepts, as well as implementing a full root-cause analysis on the pain points. Once you can identify the reasons behind certain stressors, you will be in a much better position to take positive action. We have uploaded an accompanying video on stress management on our YouTube channel – check it out here!
So, overall mind mapping increases your focus, supports analytical skills, and encourages active resolution/conclusion finding.
