National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Manage Stress

• What's Important to Know?
• Want to Know More?
• Resources

Pay attention to stress. Tools are available to help you manage and reduce your stress.

What's Important to Know?

If you are having difficulty coping with the demands in your life, you are experiencing stress. Everyone has stress. While some challenge is healthy, too much stress creates problems in our lives.

If you are overly stressed for too long, it can put your health at risk. If you have too much stress, your body will let you know in different ways, and you may:

• Have difficulty concentrating
• Feel worried and fearful
• Feel “wound up”—sweaty palms, pounding heart, and tense muscles
• Feel irritable toward others
• Feel tired

If you or someone you know is in emotional crisis, you can call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). You can also text 838255 or chat online at: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/

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Want to Know More?

There are many things you can do to better manage stress, and many resources to help you. You will find a variety of stress management strategies to help you better problem solve, relax and be more mindful, express yourself, manage your time, think positively, be more physically active, and plan pleasant activities in the Manage Stress Workbook and the resources below.

Your VA health care team can also help you manage stress. They can provide information or classes and can suggest stress-management tools, such as the PTSD Coach, Moving Forward, and Breathe2Relax mobile apps that are available at https://mobile.va.gov/appstore.

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Resources

• VHA Mental Health Services:
  www.mentalhealth.va.gov
• Manage Stress Workbook:
  https://www.prevention.va.gov/docs/NCP_ManageStreeWkBk_F_EditedJune102019.pdf
• Veterans Health Library:
  https://www.veteranshealthlibrary.va.gov/

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