By now most people are aware that men and women handle stress in different ways and they both seek different Stress Relaxation Techniques to deal with stress. To understand the reasons why men and women handle stress differently we need to pull out the scientific hat for a moment to look at the physiological differences between men and women.

One of the differences is in hormones. There are 3 hormones that men and women produce when under pressure or stress called – cortisol, epinephrine and oxytocin. When we are stressed the cortisol and epinephrine together raise a person’s blood pressure. The amount of cortisol and epinephrine produced by both men and women are about the same. It’s the 3^rd hormone oxytocin that plays the big part. When women are stressed they produce a greater quantity of oxytocin that counteracts the effects of the cortisol and epinephrine and promotes nurturing and relaxing emotions. Men do not produce as much of the hormone oxytocin and as a result they handle their stress differently.

A method women use to find stress relief is open talking and communication. Women just want to talk about their stress, examine their stress and cry about it (if they need to) to release the stress. Men on the other hand will either fight back or bottle it up. Relaxation Techniques for men are usually some form of sport of physical method to release the stress.

This puts a whole different slant on work related stress and methods you may offer both men and women as effective Stress Relief Techniques. Even though work related stress affects men and women differently it can be harder for a woman working in an all man environment and vice-versa for them to truly experience Stress Relief. This is an area where it is important for an employer to offer different methods of support and stress relief techniques to ensure a happy, healthy and productive workplace.

It is always very interesting to watch a couple go through a relaxation program together. There are certain relaxation breathing techniques that will work for women that aren’t as effective for men, and there are visualization techniques for relaxation that won’t work as well for women. Whichever program a couple chooses it is always important to ensure the program is structured for stress management activities for both men and women.