Coping with layoff stress
By Melanie Chambers • Bankrate.com

It may sound naive, but it's important to adopt an optimistic attitude; if you're in a good frame of mind, you're in a better position to bounce back from a potential job loss.

Oddly enough, the more optimistic you are, the less stress you'll feel, according to a Carleton University study which looked at stress for employed and unemployed high-tech workers. To chart your emotional-job-loss-roller-coaster, write down what you're feeling. "Look at your emotions realistically and keep a journal," says Nancy Hurst, an Edmonton-based psychologist.

Treat your negative emotions like a TV on in the background: hear them, but don't let them distract you or take over.

Healthy choices
Since most people define themselves by their jobs, losing one's job can initiate an identity crisis.

To help redefine yourself, Wisenthal recommends taking time out from job hunting and everything job related. "Generally, it's not a time when you reward yourself. It seems contrary, but you need to take care of yourself, and that means finding other ways to define yourself and other ways to feel good."

She suggests that time spent playing an instrument, reading or even jogging can take your mind off looking for new work and make you feel refreshed when it's time to pound the pavement.

Exercise is on the top of the list because biologically speaking, dopamine is a feel-good chemical that is released in the brain when you exercise. A good dose of dopamine from high intensity cardiovascular exercise will also help you sleep and think more clearly.

Conversely, don't adopt bad habits such as drinking to cope. Alcohol is a depressant and will only exacerbate the problem.