The Habits That Can Help You Manage Your Daily Stress
When it comes to combatting stress, it’s important to think in the long-term, not just the short-term. This means taking steps such as finding the big sources of stress and seeing if there are ways to either remove or adapt to them where possible. However, stress isn’t just a long-term battle, it goes day-by-day, too. To that end, there are a lot of habits that can help you manage said stress over time. Here are some that you should think of implementing in your daily life.
Get the stress out of your body
There are few things that feel as satisfying as a much-needed stretch, right? It’s not just that the sensation of stretching can be pleasurable and releases the tension built up in your body. That tension can very much contribute to mental stress. Stress is its physical effects just as much as it is the mental symptoms and getting rid of the physical side of stress can ease up the emotional side, too. When were are stressed, it restricts our blood flow, creating tension in the body that can result in aches and pains. By doing stress-fighting stretches from Elite Daily, you can effectively reverse the process. Ease the tension, open up your blood flow, and it can help you induce a calmer mindset, too.
Get moving
It might seem like “exercise” is the answer to all of life’s problems, according to some health professionals. To keep expectations realistic, exercise is not enough to help you combat chronic stress alone. However, the benefits it has in the fight against stress are absolutely worth emphasizing. It can help you work out the tension in your body, much like stretching (though the two should be combined), but it also lowers the stress hormones produced by the body, while also release neurotransmitters like endorphins that can act as natural painkillers while also improving your mood. Exercise is also known to improve your sleep quality, another aspect of life often affected by stress. It’s a great tool to fight against some of the most common symptoms of stress.
Take the time for meditation
There are few practices as widely recommended when it comes to dealing with stress as that of meditation. There are very few practices that are so ancient yet also so widely recommended in modern medicine. One of the biggest benefits of meditation is its ability to pull out a deep state of relaxation, which can effectively slow your thoughts. Don’t worry if you’ve never done meditation before, either, you can try Sound Meditation from Openfit. Guided meditation sessions with the help of modern technology can help you develop the techniques and create the right atmosphere that you can start to unlock the benefits for yourself.
Be nurtured by nature
Have you ever noticed how being in green spaces, out in the fresh air, and under the sun can have a positive effect on your mood, even if you’re doing literally nothing? This is not as uncommon as you might expect, nor are the effects as shallow as solely making you feel a little happier. Spending time in nature, as recommended by Heart, can help to genuinely reduce stress and anxiety. This has been shown in studies that tracked the levels of cortisol within those who spent time in nature, amongst other things. Even a twenty-minute experience outside in nature can help lower your levels of stress, these studies found, which means you don’t need to schedule a huge chunk out of your day to benefit, either.
It’s just good scents
While the exact science of aromatherapy is hard to work down, there’s no denying that a lot of people have found that certain scents do a great job of helping them reduce their feelings of stress and anxiety. Some flavors, or scents, of essential oils or candles that can help include things like lavender, ylang-ylang, orange blossom, and bergamot. While the exact mechanisms of how this works aren’t exactly known, studies have been able to show that aromatherapy can, indeed, improve your sleeping habits and decrease expressions of anxiety. As such, it might be worth looking at aromatherapy options from Nature’s Treasures and similar stores.
Practice mindfulness
While mindfulness often comes as a result of meditation, learning to apply it in daily life can be a different thing and is a skill you should aim to learn. Mindfulness is effectively the ability to focus on sensations you are feeling at the moment, to understand the different influences on your mood, from which you can better learn to adapt or avoid them. For instance, mindfulness can help you learn about your emotional triggers. You can get a better idea of what is causing your body and mind to have such a stressful response. As mentioned, meditation is the single best way to learn mindfulness, but you should also try applying it and practicing it in daily life so that you’re able to “catch yourself” in the middle of an episode of acute stress.
Write it down
Most creative forms of expression are a great way to coping with both stress and trauma, and writing is one of the most effective methods around. One manner of writing that is especially effective is that of journaling. One of the benefits of keeping a journal, as explored by Very Well Mind, is that it allows you to give yourself some distance from your thoughts. When you’re reading your thoughts back to yourself, you get a different perspective than when they are all trapped in your head and you’re effectively living with them from moment to moment. Aside from being great for helping you find solutions, this distance simply allows you experience those same thoughts without as much stress.
Cut down on how much caffeine you drink
There are a lot of people who will share sentiments like “I can’t get through my day until I have a cup of coffee” or “I need my caffeine to relax.” They are, indeed, experiencing these sensations but it’s not because caffeine is great at relieving stress. It’s because they are having withdrawal from a dependency. In fact, caffeine has been found to increase anxiety, especially when taken in high doses. You will be able to experience for yourself what your threshold with caffeine is. If you start to feel jittery or anxious, it’s a good sign that you have had too much. Caffeine doesn’t have to be cut out of your life entirely, but you should listen to your body when drinking it.
Make time for your hobbies
Hobbies are more than just ways to waste time. If you don’t actually make time for them, then your mind is going to experience the effects. Sites like Psychreg show evidence that taking the time for a hobby can effectively short-circuit the mental processes that lead to increase stress. Sometimes, you need something as simple as a distraction to stop your mood from spiraling. If you don’t have a hobby, then take time to begin exploring some options as well, whether it’s some form of artistic expression, a sporting activity, hiking, reading a book, playing video games, or whatever else you think of. The benefits of having a hobby are very well-documented when it comes to your emotional health.
Practice positive self-talk
It might feel a little strange at first, but the benefits of talking positively about yourself and to yourself are well known, now. When we think or our inner-voice or how we talk to ourselves, what tone does that voice typically take? When you’re dealing with stress, anxiety, or depression, that voice is more likely to be reprimanding and critical, and way more so than you would ever be of someone else in your position. Being understanding and kind to one’s self is not easy, which is why it’s important to take the time to actually practice talking positively to yourself. One great time to do this, for instance, is after your meditation session. It not only helps improve your mood, but it cuts off the initial instinct to be mentally critical of yourself, too.
Laugh
Believe it or not, laughing has a lot of health benefits, many of them described here at Gaiam. What’s more, many of them are directly related to the causes of the symptoms of stress. For instance, it can lower your blood pressure, which can help ease physical tension related to sensations of stress. It can also more directly reduce your stress levels while increasing the level of endorphins in your blood, much the way that exercise can. As such, if you need to relax, there’s nothing better than spending time with people who make you laugh. Finding some funny videos or shows you love is a good tip, too.
There are a lot of different habits you can implement described above, so don’t worry if one or two of them don’t work for you as they do for others. We all have our own forms and representations of stress, which means that solutions that help us tackle it can be different, as well.
