Feeling stressed out? 3 strategies to help you through it

Farming can be a stressful business, and many factors that influence agricultural production can’t be controlled. In busy seasons like planting or harvest, the added workload and time sensitivity pressures can cause stress levels to escalate.

Kathy Somers, a registered kinesiologist at the Stress Management and High-Performance Clinic in Guelph, Ont., describes stress as what we experience when demands and pressures exceed our personal and environmental strengths and resources.

Stress responses can be physical, emotional or cognitive. Symptoms can vary from person to person.

Recognize the signs
It is common to experience headaches, neck, back and shoulder tightness, gastrointestinal disturbances or increased blood pressure as symptoms of stress. Changes in sleep, mood and behaviour can also occur.

“Some people think that stress symptoms are all body experiences, so they’re surprised that having a shorter fuse, not being able to see somebody else’s perspective, feeling less hope or needing to be alone are also stress responses,” says Somers.

In addition, stress can trigger behavioural changes such as smoking or drinking more, tapping fingers or twirling hair.

3 strategies to manage stress

While eliminating stress and seasonal increases in stress is unrealistic, there are ways to prepare for busy seasons and implement healthy management strategies. To maintain physical and mental health, Somers shares three suggestions:


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