Stress Management for Farmers

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Farmers, like everyone else, cope successfully with many of their stresses. With farm pressures mounting, however, more and more farmers are feeling out of control in their ability to handle problems and tensions. Farmers have always had to deal with many circumstances beyond their control--weather, land and crop prices, livestock diseases, stock market fluctuations. Successful stress managers have learned how to accept those stressors out of their control and how to "worry effectively" (problem-solve) about those within their control. Effective coping takes discipline and daily practice at controlling events, attitudes, and responses. Following are some techniques individuals may adopt to gain control.

Control Events. To reduce the pile-up of too many stressors at one time, farmers can control some situations.

1. Plan ahead. Don't procrastinate. Replace worn machinery parts, for example, during the off season.
   
   
2. Manage your time. Set priorities for the many tasks you juggle. List what you want done in a day or week. Write an "A" by the urgent jobs, "B" by the next urgent, and "C" by those less pressing. Start with the "A's" and work through your list. If the "C's" don't get done, add them later. Managing pieces of work gives a sense of control in some areas of your life.
   
   
3. Say "no" to extra commitments that you don't have time to do.
   
   
4. Prioritize stressors. Decide which stressors you want to deal with and which you don't. Giving some priority to stressors will help you spend your stress energy wisely.
   
   

Control Attitudes. How farm family members view situations is a key factor in creating or managing stress. A person has to perceive a situation as stressful or threatening in order to experience stress. For example, if you think your dog is barking in the middle of the night because of a vandal, you will experience more stress than if you suspect a rabbit or deer has wandered into its range of smell.

1. Ignore. Many farm stressors are worries about things over which you have no control or incidents that never occur. Know the difference between what you can and cannot change and change those you can. Accept the rest. Ask yourself, "What would happen if I ignored this?"
   
   
2. Find the promise in your problem. Most situations can be viewed from several different angles. It is possible to give most stressful situations a positive name.
   
   
3. Turn your crises into challenges. Shift from worrying to problem solving. Worrying is fretting about what did or might happen. Problem solving is the active attempt to find solutions to problems and trying out the best solution. More problems go unsolved by no decision than by wrong decisions.
   
   
4. Pat yourself on the back. Notice what you have accomplished rather than only what you failed to do.
   
   
5. Give up trying to be perfect. Set realistic goals and expectations daily.
   
   

Control Responses. If you seriously want to ease stress, the key lies in determining the source followed by patiently trying new stress-response strategies. When you find yourself under pressure from frustrating situations or having to do something different than you desire, your alarm system signals that energy is available for you to go into action. Stress energy demands physical or mental responses or both.

1. Tune into your body. Pay attention to your physical, mental, and emotional signs of distress such as fatigue, carelessness, apathy, or vague aches and pains. Don't procrastinate over changing your pace or activities.
   
   
2. Relax. Whether you are walking, driving, or phoning, keep only that muscle tension necessary to accomplish the task.
   
   
3. Take care of your body. Get adequate rest, nutrition, and exercise. Tired farmers keep going for a long time on will power, but the body becomes clumsy and the mind distracted, making farmers more prone to accidents. Well-nourished, rested people withstand stress better. Farmers contend they get enough exercise, but most of what they do is not vigorous enough to raise the pulse rate and bring fresh oxygen to the muscles. Walking, running, dancing, or practicing a body-building routine reduces stress and tones the body, too.
   
   
4. Take relaxation breaks. Several times a day breathe deeply and hold it three times, tense and then relax each part of your body from toes to head, take mind vacations where you imagine yourself in some restful spot for a few minutes, or shake away tension in each of your limbs.
   
   
5. Balance work and play. Farmers take fewer vacations than any other occupational group. Plan time for activities that give pleasure, such as going to the movies, reading a light book, visiting friends, developing a hobby, or listening to music. It's not easy to design a change of pace if you've lost the habit, so practice "mini-breaks."
   
   
6. Talk it out. Keeping everything inside magnifies trifles into disasters. Find someone with whom you can talk about your worries and frustrations. Get professional help when you need it. There are times when all of us can benefit from mental-health agencies, crisis hot lines, church pastors, or private counselors.
   
   
7. Laugh. Look for the humor in everything you do. Positive thoughts and humor will help maintain perspective while you tackle problems seriously.
   
   

Ronald Pitzer
Family Sociologist

Origninally published in February 1986

College of Human Ecology in cooperation with the University of Minnesota Extension Service

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