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Ten top tips to beat Xmas stress and MindinfoLine open for Christmas distress
Embargoed until – Thursday 20 December 2001
Today Mind launches ten top tips for staying stress-free this Christmas with a free leaflet on beating stress, and announces that the MindinfoLine will be open over the Christmas period for people needing information about mental health problems.
Tips from the Mind Troubleshooters guide to stress are available free from the charity on their website or by post.
A previous survey by Mind found that Christmas caused just as much stress as relationship problems (* 1).
The Mind Troubleshooters guide to stress tips for beating stress are:
| • Make the connection that it’s stress |
• Take a regular break |
| • Learn to relax |
• Get better organised |
| • Sort out your worries |
• Change what you can |
| • Look at your long-term priorities |
• Improve your lifestyle |
| • Confide in someone |
• Focus on the positive aspects of your life |
The fold-out factfile also lists some of the signs that stress could be getting to you. Things like how your body may react, how you may feel and how you may behave.
To get hold of your copy of the Mind Troubleshooters guide to stress visit the Mind website at www.mind.org.uk.
Speaking today, Mind’s Chief Executive Richard Brook said
"As the countdown to Christmas starts stress levels can really rise. Whether it’s the prospect of last minute Christmas shopping, spending too much money or several days at home with the extended family, for some, goodwill can seem in pretty short supply at this time of year, and stress may start to take over. That’s why we’ve produced the Troubleshooters guide to stress packed with simple tips for beating stress that will apply not just at Christmas but all year round."
Previous years have seen a steep rise in calls to the MindinfoLine immediately after Christmas and New Year. This year, to boost the support available to people over Christmas, Mind has decided to open the MindinfoLine throughout the festive period.
Trained workers and volunteers staff the lines and are ready to speak to callers on any aspect of mental health, whether it be Christmas stress or the isolation, loneliness and depression felt by many at this time of year.
Call the MindinfoLine on 08457 660 163 open over Christmas (25 Dec to 1 Jan) between 11am and 3pm.
The MindinfoLine is open from Mon-Fri 9.15am to 5.15pm the rest of the year.
(*1) Mind’s Stress League 1998 – The survey asked a representative sample of 1,000 adults in England, Wales and Scotland what had caused them stress over the last 12 months, and what had helped them relax.
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