All of us face different challenges and pressures in life. These challenges can be frequent or constant. Sometimes it is too hard to tackle them. How we deal physically, mentally, and emotionally with these difficult situations determine the stress in our life. If we react to the challenges of life by feeling overwhelmed or frazzled, we experience stress. Stress is a common fact of life and everybody feel stressed at one point or another in life. Small amount of stress is good as it keeps us motivated, engaged, alert and focused to do the best. But high levels of stress can prove to be very dangerous. It affects our physical as well as mental health. Too much stress makes you unable to think properly, it decreases your efficiency and productivity and disturbs your emotional equilibrium. Stress can be managed by controlling and balancing your thoughts and emotions, by adopting a positive attitude towards life and by changing the way, you deal with the stress. Here are some simple tips to reduce the hold of stress in your life.
Identify the sources of stress
First of all, try to find out what stresses you the most. Sometimes outside sources like work environment, too much workload, colleagues, or spouse or family issues are main stressors while sometimes your own thoughts, worries, emotions or habits can be responsible for your stress and it is very easy to neglect your own behavior. Maintain a diary and pen down when did you feel stress last time, the sources that caused it, how did you react to it, and what did you do to cope with it. This diary will really help you to keep the track of the main stressors in your life and once you identify the sources, you can easily deal with them.
Analyze your time schedule
If you are juggling with a lot of responsibilities, try to analyze, organize and prioritize your tasks by making a to-do list and highlight the tasks that are most important and must be done immediately. Then, divide your time slots according to the priority of the task. If some task is too big to handle at one time, break the task in small parts. Don't overload yourself and try to find some time for yourself to relax. It is said that time management is the key to success and if you manage your time well, then you feel more focused and energetic and stress goes far away from you.
Don't suppress your thoughts and emotions
Don't bottle up your thoughts and emotions. If somebody's behavior is bothering you and making you stressed. Speak to him politely and tell him about that. Take charge of your thoughts and emotions, give your 100% to tackle the challenges of life, and you will see that the command of life is in yours hand.
Learn to say 'no'
It is very difficult to say 'no' in personal or professional life as you think that by refusing the other person will get annoyed. Be firm and confident about your limits and don't give the steer-ring of your life in some other person's hand. Focus on your own goals and targets first and give priority to them as it gives you more satisfaction and prevents you from stress while by taking more responsibilities than you can handle will lead to stress. So sometimes it is better to refuse others in order achieve your goals and dreams in life.
Keep some time for yourself
It is said that all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. So try to keep sometime to unwind and relax. Spend sometime with your family, read a book or watch your favorite movie. Keep in touch with nature as it soothes you and brings harmony and pleasure in life. You can play your favorite sport or indulge yourself in some hobby. It really calms your mind and releases all the tension and stress.
Connect with positive people
It is said that a man is known by his company as the people surrounding you, play a very important role in determining your personality. Spend sometime with the people who are more focused about their goals in life and have positive attitude towards life and limit the amount of time you spend with the people who have the negative approach towards life and make you stressed.
Have a healthy, balanced diet
It has been seen that when the people are in stress, they start eating junk food more frequently, increase the intake of tea or coffee, alcohol, and start taking sleeping pills. All these things further elevate the stress level and lead to severe traumatic conditions. A person should always have a healthy and balanced diet daily that have all the nutritional components of different food groups as it really help to cope with stress. Use green tea like chamomile or kava kava tea as these herbs have claming properties. Go for organic foods and include green leafy vegetables and fruits in your daily diet as these foods have anti-oxidants and vitamins that help to lower the stress releasing hormone. Avoid alcohol, smoking, tea, coffee and soft drinks. Increase the intake of carbs like whole wheat, brown rice or whole barley as they help in stimulating the release of serotonin chemical that helps to calm the mind.
Music therapy
Music works like a magic to calm your mind and gives relief from all the tension and stress. So listen your favorite music or play a guitar or piano when you feel stressed.
Exercise daily
Stay active and exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. When we exercise, our lungs expand and we get a lot of oxygen that improves the blood circulation in our body and helps in decreasing the stress level. Exercise also helps to get a proper sleep. It increases the endorphin level a brain chemical that induces feel good factor and also relaxes your muscles. You can do mild exercises like walking, swimming or aerobics to beat the stress.
Get enough sleep
Sleep for at least 6 to 8 hours daily as it rejuvenates our body and makes it ready for the next day. If we don't get enough sleep, our body remains tired, it does not have the enough energy to concentrate and work properly which further leads to stress.
Meditation
Meditation is a great stress buster. When we practice meditation, total energy of our mind concentrates on one word, or a sound or a symbol. It calms your mind, gives you relaxation and increases your mental focus and concentration. It releases all the negative thoughts, fears, and anxiety, fills you with positive energy and switches your focus from past or future to present. While practicing meditation your spine should be straight and you should choose same place and time schedule everyday for better concentration.
Abdominal breathing
Generally, all of us breathe from our upper chest which means we take shallow breath. We don't breathe from our abdomen or diaphragm. When we are stressed, then our breath becomes shallower which means less oxygen in the body. Our heart beat gets faster, muscles get contracted and we feel stressed. Whereas, diaphragm or abdominal breathing not only involves lungs but also the abdomen or diaphragm. It provides more oxygen in your blood and cleanses your body. Abdominal breathing helps the brain to create long and slow waves that relax your mind and helps in reducing the stress level. For abdominal breathing, sit straight on your spine, keep your hand on the navel, inhale slowly form your nose. Your abdomen should expand when you inhale. Now wait for few seconds and then exhale slowly. Do it for at least 5-10 minutes. It relaxes your mind and body instantly.
Yoga
Yoga involves asanas and breathing techniques called pranayama. Yoga helps a lot to fight against depression, stress and anxiety. It stretches and tones your muscles, improves blood circulation and concentration and makes your immune system strong. Yoga involves all the important organs of your body and releases all the toxins. It gives you immense energy boosts, mind and body co-ordination and enhances the sense of well-being. But if you perform the asanas incorrect, there are chances of injuries. So it is advisable to take some yoga sessions under a yoga teacher.
Massage and acupressure
Massage and manipulating the pressure points with finger also help to release tension and stress. When the pressure points are pressed, there is a mild aching sensation. There are many pressure points on our body. Some self massaging techniques are as follows. Close your eyes and put pressure with your fingertips on the third eye point between our eyebrows on the forehead, it gives relief from stress. Place your one arm on the other shoulder and press the muscles on the shoulder in a circular motion for 5 to 10 times. Now repeat it with the other shoulder. Acupressure gets more beneficial when you take deep breaths at the time of pressing the pressure point.
Good sense of humor
It is said that laughter is a good medicine. If you have a good sense of humor, you are less prone to stress, depression and anxiety. If you face some difficult phase in life, don't loose your heart, maintain a smile on your face and deal with it as a fighter and don't ever curse your destiny.
Take a warm bath with some herbs
Aqua therapy also works wonders in relaxing the mind and body and reducing the stress level. You can also put some aroma oils or herbs in your bath tub like rose petals, lemon and neem half an hour before your bath, these herbs have a soothing effect on your senses and make you relaxed you as well as rejuvenate your body. Alternate Bath with hot and cold water is a great stress reliever.
Sexual intercourse
Sex helps a lot for physical as well as mental relaxation. When we have sex, endorphin level which is a mood boosting chemical in the brain, increases. This is why we feel calm, and relaxed after sexual intercourse.
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