Experiencing stress is unavoidable. It’s a part of your daily routine, whether for work or house chores. However, subjecting yourself to high levels of stress can impede your daily functions. It can lead to headaches, loss of sleep, changes in blood pressure, and other health issues.
Fortunately, there are various ways to cope with stress. This blog will explore how to relieve stress in healthy ways.
Exercise Regularly
One of the go-to ways to cope with stress is through exercise. Aside from keeping your body fit and healthy, exercising also helps relieve stress. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins and other natural hormones that boost your mood and keep you happy throughout the day. Additionally, it also promotes an overall sense of well-being.
Incorporating exercise into your daily routine may not be easy at first, but you can build consistency when you start slow. Begin with a few rounds of jumping jacks, quick runs, or brisk walking every morning or afternoon.
You can also try biking, lifting weights, and playing sports such as tennis to get your muscles moving. Slowly increase your intensity over time to achieve your fitness goals while relieving your stress.
Eat a Well-Balanced Diet
Whenever you feel stressed, your first instinct might be to reach out for junk food or something unhealthy for comfort. After all, binge-eating and drinking may provide a temporary sense of relief. However, they can cause serious health issues and additional stress in the future.
If you consider your long-term, a well-balanced diet will always be the better stress reliever. How so, you may ask?
A healthy diet provides your body with energy and all the essential nutrients. This, in turn, helps you function well throughout the day and lowers your chances of getting stressed.
Add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to your meals for a healthier diet. When taking snacks, you can substitute sweets and treats with better alternatives such as dark chocolate, pecans, berries, and green tea.
Get a Good Night’s Rest
Getting enough sleep at night is another great way to relieve stress. Your quality of sleep can affect your concentration, energy level, mood, and overall function throughout the day. Poor sleep quality, after all, results in an increase in stress levels.
So make sure you stick to your established sleeping schedule for a fitful rest. Improve your sleep quality with a quiet relaxing bedtime routine, whether by playing ambient music or infusing essential oils into your air purifier.
Perform Breathing Exercises
Stress can affect the way your body functions, including the way you breathe. Take slow, deep breaths to slow down your heart rate, relax your muscles, and put your mind at ease. During stressful situations, focusing on your breathing can keep you grounded so you can more easily calm down.
You can find various breathing exercises online. Sit in a quiet place, inhale through your nose, and slowly exhale through your mouth or nose to achieve that calming effect.
Practice Mantra & Mindfulness Meditation
Meditation allows you to shift your focus whenever your mind wanders. By focusing your attention and quieting your tangled stream of thoughts, you can achieve a sense of calm and peace. Studies show that meditation helps in reducing and managing stress while also promoting overall well-being.
Two of the most common meditation methods are mantra and mindfulness meditation. Mantra meditation channels your attention to a single object such as a mantra, a phrase, or an object to help you stay grounded. Meanwhile, mindfulness meditation realigns your focus to the things going on around you.
Distractions could cloud your thoughts during your first attempts, but with constant practice, you can effectively focus and achieve a sense of peace as you meditate.
Perform Yoga or Tai-chi Exercises
Yoga and tai-chi are well-known exercises for relieving stress. They are movement-based exercises that require low intensity. Aside from reducing stress, they also lower your blood pressure, improve your flexibility, and reduce muscle tension.
Yoga exercises require you to hold stretching and strengthening positions for a certain amount of time. While keeping yourself in a certain position, it also helps you focus on your breathing. A 10-minute yoga routine can ease your tense muscles and provide you with a peaceful mind and body all day long.
Meanwhile, tai-chi is a form of martial art that can be used for stress relief. It requires slow, graceful movements completed continuously in a sequence. Moving from one pose to another requires you to concentrate and control your breathing. This way, you can relax your muscles and breathe easily throughout the day.
To choose which one’s best for you, you can check this article.
Soothe Your Senses with Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is another great way to relieve stress. Plant essences provide a calming effect through the nose receptors as you breathe them in. Studies show that it is effective in improving your mood and reducing your anxiety.
You can light an aromatic candle or use essential oils on your diffuser or air purifier to ease your stress. The most common scents are lavender, chamomile, lemon, bergamot, and cedarwood.
Write Down Your Thoughts in a Journal
Sometimes, your thoughts run wild to the point that it stresses you out. You can release these thoughts by writing them down in your journal. Letting your thoughts flow in writing provides a relieving cathartic effect to help ease your stressful thoughts.
You can use a notebook and pen, your computer, or your phone depending on your preference. There is no rule when it comes to journaling, so feel free to use whichever method that works best for you.
Manage Your Stress Effectively
Huge amounts of stress can be overwhelming to deal with daily. Fortunately, you can find ways to relieve stress with the right activities and mindset. Your options could range from home remedies and counseling to chiropractic and physical therapy. It is important to note that stress relievers can vary from person to person. You can try these stress management tips whenever you feel stressed and see which ones work best for you.
For more health and stress relief tips, check out the LifeClinic blog.
