How Do You Reduce Stress?

Stress is an inevitable part of life that pushes you further away from a healthy lifestyle. After all, not only does stress negatively impact your mental health but physical health as well. If you want to make sure you live a healthy life in the long run, you must learn how to de-stress. Unchecked stress can lead to burnout, and raise levels of chemicals like cortisol. However, reducing stress can be more difficult than it seems. When you look up ways to de-stress on the internet, you get suggested all these elaborate things you can do. They are usually more tedious and stress-inducing than not doing anything. This is why we want to make sure that you get truly helpful advice from this article.

How Do You Reduce Stress?

Reducing stress from your daily life requires extensive focus and hard work. But, it’s not impossible to achieve, and we’re here to help!

Try Out Some Breathing Exercises

When trying to calm down, taking deep breaths is always a smart choice. Slow and deep breaths lower blood pressure and heart rate and balance the mind and body. If you are trying to take a short break from your hectic schedule, take out 15 minutes, take a few deep breaths, focusing on longer exhales than inhales, and meditate before resuming work.

Get More Physical Activity

When you are completely stressed out, you must step outside and take a breather from it all. However, if you decide to stay home when you are stressed, all you will be able to think about is all the million things you have to do, which will stress you out even more.

It is always nice to get out of the house and go on a walk to get some Vitamin D. Even if you can’t go outside, you should keep yourself active by experimenting with some on-competitive aerobic exercises, muscle strengthening exercises, or movement exercises like yoga or Tai Chi.

Do Some Yoga & Meditation

If you are someone who has a 9-5 desk job that is causing you stress, it is extremely important that you relax your muscles and stretch them out, even if it is just for 5 short minutes. It will be helpful for you if you can join a yoga program. Mindfulness can help you be more present in your thoughts. But, if you feel that that is not a possibility for you, you can watch a few YouTube videos to learn some basic yoga poses. This will stretch you out and help you have better posture while reducing your stress.

Listen to Some Music

There is no better cure to stress than a good playlist. Even when everything is going wrong, pop some headphones in and listen to your favorite tunes.

If you are alone or with friends, belt out those lyrics at the top of your lungs, and you are sure to forget all your worldly problems for a bit. And, if you need to relax before bedtime, play some Classical music or even Lo-fi music to calm your mind.

Minimize Screen Time

The biggest contributor to our stress often is our mobile phones. Most of us are guilty of procrastinating about doing work or starting an assignment and mindlessly browsing through our phones, which adds to our stress and anxiety about the impending work. 

On the other hand, many of us have high screen times because we tend to work more than the required amount. Always staring at a laptop and typing away can be just as stress-inducing, so take breaks. Additionally, too much screen time can result in medical concerns, which will only add one more item to the list of things you need to stress. 

So, take our advice and reduce your screen time to reduce stress.

Create Boundaries and Assert Yourself

A problem we often tend to face is the fear of not doing enough and not living up to others’ expectations. This fear leads us to forget our boundaries and always say yes to everything. Even when something we are asked to do is too demanding of us and takes too much time and energy, we forget that it is okay to say “No” sometimes.

It only adds to our stress and makes us believe that we are not good enough. Hence, saying “No” and being assertive are necessary to relieve stress.

Set Realistic Goals

Going hand in hand with creating boundaries, a key step to reducing stress is to set realistic goals and expectations for yourself. It is alright for you not to be able to do everything, and you need to keep that in mind. People often forget that they can not control everything and do a million things at once, or be the best and finish 1st.

So, to relieve stress, know your limitations and do not put too much pressure on yourself.

Maintain a Journal

Sometimes, talking about your problems to others can be too difficult and out of your comfort zone. Hence, keeping a journal can always be a cure for stress. You might see this as a tedious task, perhaps pointless too, but it is a tried and tested method of working through your stress instead of avoiding it. 

Plus, it will give you the skill to articulate and put your thoughts and emotions to words, so it’s not completely pointless.

Get a Massage

Stress often causes our bodies to tense up, which leads to muscle and joint pain, and the best way to relieve that is by getting a massage. It does not matter whether you get a professional masseur or do it yourself. As long as you knead those annoying knots out, you will feel 10 times lighter. Physical touch like a massage or hugs is known to release chemicals that promote mental health.

Talk to Friends and Family

Talking to your loved ones is a form of therapy that beats all else. If you are stressed out of your mind, reach out to a friend or family member and catch up on everything. Share your stresses and anxieties and make yourself lighter. Also, you never know, but the person you are reaching out to might be struggling too, and you talking to them might help them as well. A therapist is also a great individual to talk to if you want to keep things more personal or if you want more advice from a professional.

Reduce Caffeine & Alcohol Intake

While it is nice to sit down and drink a warm glass of tea to de-stress, do not overdo it. Caffeine is a huge contributor to stress and anxiety, and the further you steer clear of it, the better. Only intake the recommended amount of caffeine and no more, and especially not during evening.

Eat Some Chocolate and Cuddle with a Fur Buddy

Saving the best for last, one great way of reducing stress is to eat some chocolate and cuddle with a fur buddy. These things release oxytocin, or the happy hormones, which trick your brain into momentarily forgetting your reasons for stress, thus relieving you of it. The physical touch will help you relax.

Conclusion

Spiraling down an abyss of depression and restlessness due to stress is not the best way to live life. It is highly detrimental to your own physical and mental health, so you must reduce stress through exercise, rest, music, food, or anything else you might like. 

So, stop worrying about everything and use our methods to relax a little! You can also consider helping your body recover and become more resilient with additional supplements such as Tok Wellness, which uses researched adaptogens to help the body recover.

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