Back to Mental Health services

Stress awareness

If you feel overloaded by tasks and things happening in your life, and you feel upset, worried, or unable to cope, you might describe yourself as feeling stressed. Stress can affect anyone at any time. A little stress can at times be motivating and help us achieve goals and manage our daily tasks better, but too much stress can affect our mood, our body and our relationships – especially when it feels out of our control. If you have been experiencing stress for a while and it's affecting your daily life or causing you distress, you should consider seeking further support.

Signs of stress

Stress affects people in different ways, but there are some common signs you might experience when stressed:

Worry about the future or the past
Feel overwhelmed
Have difficulty concentrating and being forgetful
Be irritable or snappy
Feel constantly worried, anxious, or scared
Feel a lack of self-confidence
Have trouble sleeping or feel tired all the time
Avoid activities or other people
Eating and drinking more or less
Have muscle pain, sweating or shortness of breath

What causes stress?

Stress affects everyone differently and with it, stress levels people can cope with. The level of stress you are comfortable with may be higher or lower than that of other people around you. Even positive events like pregnancy or going on a holiday can cause stress. Some of the examples of things which can cause stress are:

Money worries
Family or relationship problems
Health issues
Feeling lonely or unsupported
Being evicted from your home
Being diagnosed with an illness
Losing a job

Top tips to deal with stress

There are things that you can do to help reduce your symptoms of stress and they’re called self-care tips. You can try some or all and see what works best for you.

Plan ahead
Planning out any upcoming stressful days or events can really help you stay in control. Write a to-do list and prioritise tasks. If a task seems overwhelming and difficult to start, try breaking it down into easier chunks, and give yourself credit for completing them.

Talk to someone
Trusted friends, family and colleagues, or contacting a helpline, can help us when we are struggling. It can help to ‘offload’ your worries. You may feel comfortable talking to someone you know. Or you might prefer to talk to someone who doesn’t know you. You could call an emotional support line or see a counsellor. We have added some emotional support lines at the bottom of this page.

Be more active
Exercise can relieve stress. It can also help your mind and body to stay healthy. There are lots of ways to exercise, from cycling and running to walking and yoga. You could also have a look at YouTube for some relaxing exercises.

Get enough sleep
If you’re dealing with stress you may struggle to sleep well. If you don’t get enough sleep this can cause problems such as poor concentration and low mood. Having a regular bedtime routine, making sure your bed is clean and tidy and not using your phone or computer before you go to sleep can help you have a good night of sleep. Limiting your caffeine intake and drinking a cup of herbal tea or a glass of warm milk with cinnamon can help too.

Eat a balanced diet
Eating a healthy balanced diet is good for your mental and physical health. If you want to find out how to make changes to your diet, go to www.nhs.uk/live-well/

Do something nice for yourself
It is important to do some things because you want to, not because you have to. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, something like taking time to read a favourite book, watching a film or having a nice relaxing bath.

Practice mindfulness and positivity
Mindfulness is a type of meditation to help you to be aware of the present moment and pay attention to it. Take time to think about the good things in your life. Each day, consider what went well and try to list 3 things you're thankful for.

Try a Reading Well book
Reading Well for Mental Health provides helpful information and support, with books on mindfulness and other subjects available free from your local library. You can have a look at a list of Reading Well books here.

Where to get support

If you feel that stress is starting to affect your physical and mental health, there are lots of ways you can help yourself and access support.

Seek NHS support

NHS Psychological Therapies Service (IAPT)
Talking therapies, or psychological therapies, are effective and confidential treatments delivered by fully trained and accredited NHS practitioners. They can help with common mental health problems like stress, anxiety and depression.
Find out more: NHS talking therapies - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

NHS self-help guide: stress
NHS self-help leaflets from depression and low mood to anxiety.
Find out more: Self Help Leaflets - Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (ntw.nhs.uk)

Speak to your GP
You can speak to your GP if you are struggling to cope with stress. Your GP could offer self-help advice, stress management classes, talking therapy, medication, or support groups in your area.

Charities, helplines and communities

Samaritans
Need to talk? If stress is getting on top of you and you feel that you would benefit from talking with someone about what you are experiencing, the Samaritans service provides a free, 24/7, emotional support and listening ear service.
Call free on 116 123 or visit their website.

Mental Health Foundation
Through their website, the Mental Health Foundation provide information on stress, the signs and how we can help ourselves. They also share podcasts and an animation to help us think about how we can cope with stress.
Visit their website: Mental Health Foundation

Stress Management Society
Through the SMS website, you can find out in detail what stress is, how to identify its triggers and a wealth of information on managing it both at home and work.
Visit their website: The Stress Management Society - From Distress to De-Stress

Mind
Through the Mind website, you can access information on what stress is, how it can impact on our mental health, and how to develop emotional resilience to cope with it.
Visit their website: Home - Mind

Shout Crisis Messenger
If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, or that you can’t cope, Shout Crisis Messenger provides a 24/7 text support service.
Text "SHOUT" to 85258 or visit Free, 24/7 mental health text support in the UK | Shout 85258 (giveusashout.org)

Urgent support

If you are having thoughts of suicide, are harming yourself or have thought about self-harm, it's important to speak to someone immediately. You need to understand that you are not alone and there are people who will support and guide you through everything.

NHS urgent mental health helplines
Visit the NHS urgent help website

Shout Crisis Messenger
If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, or that you can’t cope, Shout Crisis Messenger provides a 24/7 text support service.
Text "SHOUT" to 85258
Visit their website

Crisis support for young people

Papyrus
If you're under 35 and feel that life is not worth living any more, call Papyrus's HopelineUK from 9am to 10pm weekdays and 2pm to 10pm on weekends:
Call HopelineUK on 0800 068 41 41
Text 07786 209697
Visit the Papyrus website

Childline
If you're under 19, you can also speak to Childline. The number will not appear on your phone bill:
Call Childline on 0800 1111
Visit the Childline website

CALM
CALM is the Campaign Against Living Miserably, for people in the UK who are down or have hit a wall for any reason:
Call 0800 58 58 58 (daily, 5pm to midnight)
Fee, anonymous webchat with trained CALM staff
Visit the CALM website

Hub of Hope
No matter what you're going through, you should not have to do it alone. The Hub of Hope is a national database that brings together local mental health services.
Visit the Hub of Hope website