Living with constant stress can have grave consequences for your mental and physical health. Lasting stress can weaken the immune system, lead to depression, and affect digestion. People who have high-stress levels have been known to have high blood pressure, anxiety, diabetes, constant fatigue, and even bad teeth.
Thus, it is in your best interests to find ways to combat stress effectively. Considering the state of the world right now, you owe it to yourself to do everything you can to lead a healthier life. Stress relief is self-care and a gift you give yourself as well as your family. Activities that lead to stress relief can be calming and enjoyable for the whole family.
A regular walk every evening will become a ritual that you can enjoy with your children and pets. An OSIM massage chair can relax you and be shared with your partner and elderly parents. Getting out into nature with activities like camping and hiking can bring you closer to your friends and strengthen your support network.
Success in stress relief is about finding what works for you and your lifestyle. Start small and try different things and keep a log of how you feel after every activity. Soon, you will know exactly what you need to do to feel better when you’re stressed out.
Start Exercising
Physical stress through exercise can help to reduce mental stress. People who exercise regularly will find that they do not get stressed as easily and can deal with issues better.
This is because exercise lowers stress hormones in the body over sustained periods of exertion. Exercise also releases endorphins that improve mood, have painkilling properties, and give you a feeling of satisfaction.
Exercise also gives your body a good kind of tiredness that can help you to sleep better. Sleeping well helps us to deal with stressful situations with equanimity and calm. The strength and stamina from exercise can also help make us feel more competent at dealing with stressors.
Supplement Your Diet
Your stress could be due to a lack of nutrition in your diet. It might help you start taking natural supplements to ensure that your body can combat stressful pressures.
Omega-3 fatty acid supplements and melatonin are good for people who want to relieve anxiety and promote relaxation. Green tea has antioxidants that have been known to lower stress by increasing serotonin in your body.
Use Calming Scents
Some people need to sit in a quiet room by themselves. These people can benefit from having a candle or oil burner to waft calming scents into the room for them to enjoy. Some scents are quite soothing and can help to distract people from anxiety and help them recover from panic attacks.
Some great candle scents are lavender, rose, and orange blossom. A few effective oil burner scents are bergamot, frankincense, and sandalwood.
Reduce Caffeine and Soda
When you are already stressed out, drinking anything with caffeine can make you feel worse. These types of stimulant drinks increase anxiety and make it harder for you to find calm.
Coffee, soda, non-herbal tea, hot chocolate, and energy drinks must be reduced and slowly phased out of your diet to help you reduce your anxiety. You may find that once you stop drinking caffeine, you find it easier to deal with stress. This is because some people are more susceptible to the effects of caffeine, and it can make them jittery and unsettled easily.
Keep a Journal
Some people do not know what triggers their anxiety and leads to a stressful episode. These people can benefit from keeping a journal. Keeping a journal to record your thoughts and feelings has been an effective tool for many people to help with anxiety, stress, and depression.
Writing down how your day went and the activities you did can help you to identify what to avoid in the future to ensure you do not get triggered. Keeping a record of things you enjoyed and what helped to keep you calm and settled can also help you. These records help you identify what you should do and what to avoid and give you a list of things you can read to remind yourself that life is not bad.
A good way to head off a panic attack if you find yourself in a high-stress situation triggering your anxiety is to pop a stick of gum in your mouth and chew vigorously. The act of focusing on chewing will distract your mind from the spiral into panic. Studies say that the act of chewing promotes blood flow to the brain, and this reduces stress.
If you have an activity you cannot avoid but will stress you out, take some gum or a very chewy candy with you. It could help you to handle your business without getting too stressed out.
