Women lead a stressful life and anyone who thinks otherwise is probably male.  It doesn't matter what role you play: Stay-at-home Mom, working mother, single mother, married or single with no children; the expectations and requirements of making it through a day can be overwhelming.

Many stress management books say that women appear to be more susceptible to stress and stress-induced illnesses then men do. While many of us like to take the "liberated woman" high road when we classify our lives, the truth is that most of us are somewhere in-between being natural nurturers or caretakers, and high-powered workplace professionals who are on an even basis with our male counterparts.

Women experience what is often called "multiple-role stress". Because of our basic female instincts women almost always will take on additional roles and responsibilities that don't even cross a man's mind. While planning our next work project those of us that are mothers may also be coordinating Brownie meetings, or soccer tournaments, getting school lunches ready, picking out school clothes, checking homework while making breakfast, and preparing the shopping list.

Even if you have no children, there is housework and grocery shopping, laundry, doctor's appointments, pet care, and a host of other "leave it to the woman to do" chores that never end. It's no wonder that stress management for women is such a popular topic.

Common symptoms of stress include:

Unexplained sadness or irritability Loss of energy Little or no interest in pleasurable activities Unexplained changes in weight Abnormal sleep patterns Sore teeth or jaw when you wake up Lack of concentration General anxiety

You should note that these symptoms closely resemble the symptoms of clinical depression and many health care professionals believe that, left untreated, victims of stress can easily become depressed.

Stress management for women is more than simply saying to yourself "It's OK, I'm just under a lot of stress".  You need to make immediate changes in your life in order to avoid potentially serious health risks.

In order to recognize what needs to change in your life, your first need to get a firm grasp on what is happening on your life.  The best way to do that is to keep a stress management journal.

Keeping a stress management journal doesn't have to add even more stress to your life.  There is no formal structure but the penalty for not keeping one is prolonging the amount of time that it is going to take to reduce your stress levels.

Here's a quick summary on keeping a stress journal Instructions:

1. Steal some time for yourself at the end of the day to review your activities to see whether there were any stressful situations that day.

2. For each activity that had stressful repercussions you should write:

Date and Time of the activity.  What stress symptoms you experienced. How long the symptoms lasted. Suggestions on alternate ways to handle that activity in the future.

Keep your stress management journal for a few weeks and then study it carefully to identify your stress patterns. Once those patterns are identified you can brainstorm ways to assign those activities to someone else or handle those activities in a less stressful manner.

Years ago an elderly couple were on a game show competing for a $10,000 prize which was a serious amount of money at that time.  When asked what they would do with the money if they became rich, the woman said "I'd hire someone to wash the dishes so I would never have to do it again".  The husband said "I'd hire someone to cut the lawn so I'd never have to do it again".  Well, they didn't win but the show's M.C. made a great comment at the end of the show.  He said to them to them "If you would cut the lawn for your husband, and if he would wash the dishes for you, it would be just like you had won the money. You'd be rich".

How much richer would you be if you could practice the stress management technique of having someone share your responsibilities with you?