Stress is a feeling inexplicably intertwined with our day-to-day experiences. When stress is not tackled correctly, it becomes chronic and affects your mental and physical health and well-being. Therefore, taking specific steps in your life that help you fight stress and dampen its effects on your body and mind is essential.
There is one thing to note, though. Nothing works for everyone regarding relieving stress and its damaging effects. Therefore, your stress-busting toolkit must have various tools—when one technique fails to show its effects; you can try the others. Here are some ways you can try when you are under stress.
- Limit your social media engagement
Social media helps a lot in connecting you with others. However, overusing your social media can increase anxiety and stress due to the constant intake of negative and troublesome (mis)information. Therefore, it is best to limit your daily social media intake.
Consider switching off your devices for a few hours daily. Turn off your push notifications, mute your WhatsApp groups, and hide FB (Facebook) notifications that might overwhelm you.
- Manage your issues practically
Stress might be caused by the death of a loved one, especially if they die of an illness such as mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a cancer many veterans and construction workers acquired because of their work environments. Dealing with it is a traumatic time for the family. Yet, you must manage practical issues like funeral arrangements and associated costs.
The bout of stress you feel when everything falls on you is real. But you can address this financial burden by filing for mesothelioma wrongful death settlements, which compensate for all the money you spend on funerals and fulfilling the victim’s family’s financial needs. It is a practical step that you need to take to relieve the financial stress, and so you may need to cope with the emotional stress alone.
- Try to eliminate the source of stress
In most cases, stress is due to an underlying cause, such as relationship, work, family, financial, or health troubles. Try to work on the aspects that are in your control. For instance, if it is due to your job, find other jobs to change your environment, work dynamics, etc. Similarly, sit together and discuss your problems if it is due to marital or family issues.
- Try Guided Imagery
Guided imagery is one of the ways to relieve stress. You picture yourself in your “favorite” and “happy place”— you can think of yourself sitting on a mountain top, relaxing your mind, and smelling the fresh breeze stroking your face. In guided imagery, you take a short vacation in your mind.
You can perform guided imagery by listening to a recording where you listen to someone describing the place where you would want to be. Simply close your eyes for about 60 seconds, and try to concentrate your mind on a peaceful scene. Engage all your senses and try to feel that you are there.
- Eat a balanced diet
Eating a healthy diet impacts not only your physical health but mental health too. A poor diet impacts your stress response and makes you more reactive. Stress increases the cortisol level, which increases your cravings for sugary, fat-rich food, which is not suitable for your body. These empty calories create a nutritional deficiency in your body, affecting your stress response.
Consuming a healthy diet helps you fight stress. It also prevents stress from attacking you in the first place. When you are mentally and physically fit, stress does not strike you as hard as it does on a less fortified body and mind.
Foods that help you reduce stress include avocado, eggs, and walnuts. They strengthen your response to stress in the long run. Healthy foods such as almonds, avocado, apples, peanuts, oatmeal, and bananas, also trigger your reward center, and you feel happy and satisfied.
- Do some artwork
Bringing forward your creative side is one of the ways to fight stress. Creativity might have come to you naturally during childhood, but as stressed-out adults, we struggle to summon the creative self. However, it is still not impossible to bring it out, even if you have lost your penchant for artwork.
Try coloring in a coloring book if you are not fond of drawing or sketching. You can easily find coloring books for adults because they have risen in popularity for a good reason; they are a great stress-buster. Various studies have shown that coloring has a similar effect as meditation. A study mentioned that stress levels considerably declined in people coloring complex geometric patterns, making it a perfect technique to reduce stress.
- Get a Hug from a loved one
When it comes to stress relief, physical touch can do wonders. All it takes to bust your stress is getting a hug from a loved one. When you receive a hug from your loved one, oxytocin, also known as the “cuddle hormone,” is released. The job of this hormone is to lower your stress levels and increase your feelings of happiness. Furthermore, oxytocin reduces your blood pressure. It also decreases the norepinephrine stress hormone and produces a sense of relaxation.
So, don’t hesitate to hug your friends and family, especially your spouse and children. It is positive for both of you and can be used as one of the simplest ways of stress relief.
- Spend some time in nature
Try to make some time to spend in nature. Consider taking a stroll in a nearby park after work or a morning walk for a few days every week. Spending time in nature also helps with your physical health. Various studies have pointed out that staying close to nature reduces stress hormone levels and improves mental health. It lowers blood pressure, muscle tension, and heart rate and induces relaxation.
Scandinavians have a cultural tradition of “open-air life.” Despite the weather, they dress accordingly and go out and reclaim the positive mental health effects of spending time in nature. The idea may seem daunting initially, but it feels better than expected once you are outside.
If there is no park nearby, you can add some green elements (i.e., plants and flowers) to your house or work table. Simply looking at the plants placed on your work desk is also beneficial. It reduces stress and anxiety and improves your mental health in the long haul.
Conclusion
Stress is an inevitable part of your life, from major setbacks to minor issues. While you cannot control certain stressful events from transpiring in your life, you can change your approach to responding to these events. Finding suitable stress-relieving activities that work for you takes some experimentation. However, you can try each one periodically. Still, you can start incorporating some immediately into your lifestyle, like adding a plant to your desk or taking five minutes to color a drawing. You can undertake each and then stick to what works for you in the long run.
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