Stress comes at us from all angles – work, school, family, and even our daily commute. Fortunately, the advice found in this selection of handpicked tips and tricks can be used to constructively assess and respond to the most common sources of stress. Keep calm, carry on, and remember these tips in your time of need.
Try seeking out humor to relieve your stress. Whether it’s reading jokes on the internet, watching a funny movie, or going to see a comedian, getting a dose of humor in your life can really help reduce the amount of stress. It’s been shown that if you laugh often, you won’t be as stressed out.
A great and simple way to reduce your stress level is to take a break, even if it’s just a minute or two. By stepping away from a stressful situation, you are allowing yourself to rejuvenate and recover for a few short minutes. By letting your body relax and your stress hormones to reduce, you are giving yourself a fresh start at the project at hand. With a new perspective after your small break, you might find that the task at hand isn’t as stressful as it first seemed.
In order to keep your stress level under control, you might want to consider taking up hiking. This is important because nature can be extremely relaxing in itself. This is also important because you are getting exercise at the same time – taking out two birds with one stone!
If you have a group of friends, take a jog in the park and enjoy the great outdoors. Not only will the exercise work out tension, it will also help you to flush out toxins in your system through sweating. A quick jog is all it takes to get your stress under control.
Munch on a snack if you are feeling a little overwhelmed. Foods that contain a lot of carbohydrates work to stimulate the release of the feel good brain chemical, serotonin. The release of serotonin helps to induce calm. Some crackers, a bagel, or pretzels should do the trick.
In order to relieve stress it is very important to have an outlet for it. A great outlet to lessen stress is by laughing. Laughter is known as the best medicine and it also is a great way to lower tension. The less we worry about various things the less stress we have.
Sometimes it helps to get your thoughts out in the open when you’re trying to relieve stress, so write them down. If you aren’t comfortable talking to others about your stress, you can still get some relief by writing out your feelings. By recording these thoughts and feelings, you can chronicle your experiences and identify which methods or thoughts offered the most favorable results.
An important thing to keep in mind that can help you fight stress is to realize that you can’t control everything. Trying to be in control of everything is a great way to keep yourself stressed out at all times. You must learn that there’s only so much you can control in life.
The idea that laughter is the best medicine is especially true for stressful situations. Most biologists now believe that laughing evolved as a response to a stressful or dangerous situation, so take advantage of your own body’s biology and find a way to make yourself laugh. Even if you are unable to laugh for real, fake laughing can also release tension.
Don’t worry about being totally stress free. While it is important to lower our stress levels to maintain a good health, it is also important to have low amounts of stress to push us to succeed. If we had no stress in our lives, then we wouldn’t accomplish much.
If you have someone in your life who always leaves you feeling stressed out and run down, the best way to deal with the problem is either to distance yourself as much as possible from the relationship, or to cut ties all together. This can be incredibly difficult if the person is a friend or family member. However, in the long run it will be better for your overall health and well-being to reduce the stress associated with that person as much as possible.
One great stress reliever is a massage. If you have a partner or close friend, see if they’re interested in trading massages. If not, pay to have one done professionally. Having the tension worked out of your muscles can have a profound effect on your state of mind and relieve a lot of stress.
So whether you are having trouble coping with a new job, passing a difficult course, or dealing with unforeseen events that make it difficult to go about one’s business with an air of calm — do not be afraid to call upon these tips to help you cope.