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Life can easily fall into a toxic routine of us always feeling too busy and just being overly chaotic.
This causes us to feel overwhelmed, anxious and stressed out.
Don’t worry, you are not alone, we all feel that way, life is stressful.
Fortunately, some simple steps can help reduce your stress levels with minimal effort. This short list will give you 15 easy ways to help reduce stress and anxiety and get back to living a more balanced, stress-free, and happy life!
So, What Is Stress?
Stress is something we all experience.
It’s an emotion, that some people may experience more than others.
The way we handle stress depends solely on us, some people handle it in healthy ways, like self-care, reading, or maybe going on a jog. Other people, however, may struggle to handle stress and turn to substances or other unhealthy activities to deal with their stress and anxiety.
Stress manifests itself in a variety of ways, whether it be through physical discomfort, intrusive thoughts, or difficulty concentrating. It can even cause an increase in heart rate or changes in breathing patterns, stress can affect our health negatively.
At its worst, stress can lead to depression and other mental health issues.
Don’t fret, there is a way out. There are strategies that can help you cope with their stress in a healthy and positive way.
Identifying your triggers and being mindful of the physical responses your body has to them is the first step in learning how to manage your stress and anxiety more effectively.
Why Is Stress Dangerous To Your Health & Mental Well-Being?
High amounts of stress can affect your body, your thoughts, feelings, and your behavior.
Being able to recognize common stress symptoms can help you manage them. Stress that’s left unchecked can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
When stress becomes overwhelming and prolonged, the risks for mental health problems increase as well. Long-term stress increases the risk of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, substance use problems, and sleep problems.
It’s important to recognize these impacts early on and find ways to reduce and manage your day-to-day stress load before it has a more serious impact on your physical and psychological well-being.
15 Ways To Reduce Your Stress Levels
It’s important to understand that stress isn’t a mental health disorder such as anxiety or depression, which require treatment from medical professionals. Stress can be handled at home with a few various activities, here’s a short list of my favorite stress relievers.
1. Get Active To Reduce Stress Levels
Exercise and being active are great ways to fight stress and improve your overall well-being.
Not only does physical activity give you those magical feel-good endorphins flowing and help improve your general mood, but it can also help improve your sleep schedule, which in turn will allow you to wake up more revitalized each day.
Regular workouts are also proven to boost your confidence and self-esteem.
2. Spend Quality Time With Friends Or Family
Whether it’s someone to vent to, lean on for help in tough times, or just feel like you belong, having a support system can be one of the most valuable things life has to offer up.
Spending time with family and friends prevents isolation and loneliness. Having a community of people can also increase your sense of belonging and purpose. Boost your happiness and therefore reduce your stress levels.
3. Meditate To Handle Stress
Meditation can produce a deep state of relaxation and allow for a tranquil mind.
During meditation, you focus your attention and block out negative thoughts that may be crowding your mind and cause stress. Meditating for stress may result in better physical and emotional well-being.
Take some time to yourself each day and de-stress with the power of meditation. It can be as little as 5 minutes or as long as you like.
There’s strong evidence that meditating can help relax your mind, and reduce stress levels, so why not give it a try?
4. Journal For Stress Relief
Journaling is a highly effective tool for stress relief.
When you write in detail about your thoughts and feelings related to your day and specifically stressful events it can help process and work through those stressful situations.
Keeping a journal doesn’t require any extra equipment, just grab an old notebook and a pen.
Every day take some time to write about your day, especially when you’re feeling stressed. This will help you figure out why you feel a certain way, identify triggers ad learn how to handle them.
5. Deep Breathing Exercises For Stress Relief
When you experience stress, your body thinks that it’s under attack and relies on its primal instincts to survive.
Your heart rate increases, you begin to sweat, your breath races, and adrenaline pumps through your system. It’s your body’s fight-or-flight response. So you may not be in any physical danger, but your body reacts that way.
Deep breathing techniques combat stress by counteracting this response.
Deep breathing activates your rest-and-digest system and helps stimulate relaxation to return everything to its equilibrium. You take in more oxygen, your heart rate slows, and your mind starts to calm down.
Deep breathing can also lower blood pressure and may help ease headaches and migraines.
When your stress levels start rising, take a deep breath!
Taking time to inhale and exhale deeply can have an instant calming effect on your body. This is because with each breath a signal is sent to our brain that it’s time for you to relax.
Get yourself in a comfortable position whether that’s sitting or lying down and breathe in, taking as deep a breath as you can.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Breathe in gently counting to five and then, hold it while again counting to 5 and release. Continue doing this in cycles for around 5-10 minutes.
6. Spend Time With An Animal
Interacting with animals has been known to decrease levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and even lower blood pressure.
Interacting with pets can boost your mood by stimulating feel-good hormones like oxytocin which help combat stress levels.
You can snuggle up with your puppy in your lap, or take it for a walk to get both physical exercise and spend time with your pet. Incorporating active animals into your life can be a great way to improve both your mental and physical health.
7. Practice Mindfulness
Being more mindful can improve our awareness of ourselves and the environment.
More peace of mind can be attained by setting aside some time each day to focus on our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations.
By encouraging us to put some distance between ourselves and what we are experiencing, practicing mindfulness allows us to free up energy, allowing our reactions to stem from reason rather than just emotion.
Practicing mindfulness is a great and easy way to relieve stress.
8. Talk It Out
Being unable to express how we are feeling and feeling overwhelmed are both common, especially when dealing with stressful situations.
Yet, talking about our concerns may be helpful in lowering tension and gaining a clearer perspective on the situation, which allows for better stress management.
It can also help us understand how to handle future stressful situations.
There are several private services available if you do not have a friend or family member you feel comfortable speaking to.
9. Get Out In Nature
Why not spend some time getting back in touch with nature if life is getting too stressful?
Spending time in the outdoors, whether it’s at your neighborhood park or a botanical garden, or maybe the beach, being outdoors in nature can be very therapeutic.
By taking deep breaths of the fresh air and listening to the sound of nature, you may revive your brain and quiet those anxious and stressful thoughts.
10. Make Time For Self-Care
How often do you stop to consider your own needs, we are so accustomed to taking care of those around us and can easily forget to take care of ourselves.
Self-care is more than just taking care of our outer selves; it’s about making time each day to engage in acts that promote both your physical and emotional and mental health.
Knowing what works best for you to produce balance and fulfillment is the crucial ingredient in this situation. Making an effort to feel in control is necessary, therefore let’s all remember to schedule occasionally for “me” time, especially on days when you feel extra stressed.
11. Listen To Music
Music can cure your stressful days in no time!
So it comes as no surprise that it has been utilized historically to aid in focusing better and reducing stress. There is music for everyone, whether your choice is RnB, or maybe classical music, there’s something for all of us.
Create a personalized soundtrack to make stressful jobs more fun and to lessen the amount of anxiety we carry around with us every day.
12. Avoid Caffeine
If you consume a lot of coffee, energy drinks, or chocolate, you might want to think about cutting back as these can cause the effects of stress to feel more intense.
Many of our favorite snacks include caffeine, which is a stimulant, but too much of it can have the reverse effect and make you more anxious and stressed.
I hope you found these suggestions useful and will be able to use some of them in your day-to-day life. It can seem like a difficult endeavor to lessen tension and stress, but it doesn’t have to be.
Choose one or two techniques that speak to you and start by putting them to the test. When you take the time to look after yourself, you might be surprised by how much better you feel.
If you have fallen victim to burnout here are 5 Tips on Learning to Feel Okay Again After Suffering From Burnout.
Beth
I’m self-employed and chronically stressed, so I really needed this! I’m bookmarking this for future use to save my sanity.
Clark
As a weary traveler on the tumultuous road of life. Each morning, I’d slip into my cozy corner, close my eyes, and breathe deeply. The world would fade away, leaving only the rhythm of my breath. A gentle reminder that amidst chaos, serenity could be found within.
Yeah Lifetstyle
I am a great believer in being outdoors in nature, walking it off, talking and laughing with your favourite people and also listening to music. All of these things really seem to help me a lot!
Lavanda Michelle
Journaling really helped me store my stress! I love it!! Ever since I started, it feels like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
Jupiter Hadley
There is a lot to be stressed about in this day and age! Thank you for your tips on reducing stress.
Cindy
This is packed with practical advice for managing stress. I’m definitely going to try some of these techniques, especially the deep breathing exercises!
Hari
I love the tips you’ve explained in this post to reduce stress. I particularly found meditation super helpful. Thanks for putting this resource together!