There are days that leave the best of us feeling worn out and stressed.

But venting your frustrations is the worst thing you can do, according to scientists.

Instead, it is better to 'positively appraise' the cause of your stress with acceptance and humour as these are the most effective coping strategies for people dealing with failures.

Researchers from the University of Kent had 149 students keep a diary for between three to 14 days.

Each day, the students detailed their most bothersome failure, the strategies they used to cope with the failure and how they felt at the end of the day.

Their coping strategies included using emotional or instrumental support; self-distraction; denial; religion; venting; substance use; self-blame; and behavioural disengagement.

Of these, using social support; denial; venting; behavioural disengagement; and self-blame coping had negative effects on satisfaction at the end of the day.

The more students used these coping strategies in dealing with the day's most bothersome failure, the less satisfied they felt.

In contrast, positive reframing or trying to see things in a more positive light; acceptance and humour coping had positive effects on satisfaction.

The more students used these coping strategies in dealing with failures, the more satisfied they felt at the end of the day.

Lead researcher Dr Joachim Stoeber believes that the findings will be of significant interest to clinicians, counsellors and anyone working on stress research.

He said: 'The finding that positive reframing was helpful for students high in perfectionist concerns is particularly important because it suggests that even people high in perfectionist concerns, who have a tendency to be dissatisfied no matter what they achieve, are able to experience high levels of satisfaction if they use positive reframing coping when dealing with perceived failures.'

From chinadaily.co.uk

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