How & Why Stress Impacts Your Behaviour – With Techniques To Manage It

Stress is your body’s response to any changes that lead to emotional, physical, or psychological strain. So, it’s not surprising that you might feel stressed in an Omescape escape room. Your body’s response to stressors can impact your behaviour in various ways, but there are techniques you can use to manage stress and its effects. 

Keep reading to find out how and why stress impacts your behaviour and to learn management techniques. 

Stress And Behaviour 

Escape rooms are one of the many different causes of stress you can encounter in life. Day-to-day inconveniences, relationships with a partner, family, friends, or colleagues, being a parent, financial worries, and work are a few others. The effects of short-term and long-term stress on your behaviour can include: 

– Being inflexible or indecisive 

– Angry outbursts or losing your temper 

– Social withdrawal 

– Tearfulness 

– Overeating or undereating 

– Using tobacco 

– Misusing alcohol or drugs 

– Exercising less frequently 

– Sexual dysfunction 

Of those behavioural signs of stress, the ones you’re most likely to see in an escape room include indecisiveness and/or inflexibility, angry outbursts, withdrawal, and/or tearfulness. 

Why Stress Affects Behaviour 

Stress impacts your behaviour because it triggers your body to release hormones in what’s known as the fight-or-flight response. The hormones that play the biggest role in that response are adrenaline and cortisol. 

The response affects your body in various ways, such as by slowing down your digestion, increasing your heart rate, directing blood flow to major muscle groups, and making more energy available. When the stressor is gone, such as when you solve the puzzles and leave the escape room, the relaxation response sees your body’s systems return to normal.  

It’s important to remember that, in situations of chronic stress, such as an unfulfilling and highly pressured job, the relaxation response doesn’t happen frequently enough. This keeps the body in a prolonged fight-or-flight state, which can lead to health problems.  

Stress Management Techniques 

We all experience stress, but our individual responses to it can vary wildly. Some of us use healthy stress management techniques to cope with it, while others turn to unhealthy methods. Either way, your response can make a massive difference to your wellbeing. Use the following techniques to help you manage stress and its impact on your behaviour: 

Find your best relaxation techniques – Learn about breath control/deep breathing, mindfulness meditation, progressive muscle relaxation and other techniques. Try them out and stick with the ones that work for you. 

Have realistic expectations – Accept that not everything you try will be a complete success. Have realistic expectations, set realistic goals, be mindful of what you can control, and cultivate the wisdom to accept what’s beyond your control. 

Exercise regularly – Regular exercise has been proven to help reduce stress. Try non-competitive exercise such as yoga, tai chi, weight training, or aerobic exercise, which can stimulate the release of mood-boosting endorphins. 

Encourage yourself – Remind yourself of your positive qualities and your skills when you start feeling overwhelmed or your self-esteem has taken a knock. 

Maintain a healthy diet – Choose healthy foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, lean protein, nuts, and wholegrains, as well as fresh water, instead of junk food, coffee, soft drinks, and alcohol. 

Beat The Stress 

You can experience the stress response in a controlled environment thanks to our escape rooms in London. Use the above techniques to prevent it from getting the better of you.