Life can be extremely stressful at times, but no time is more stressful than the holidays. All the cooking, cleaning, shopping, entertaining, and countless details can seem overwhelming. This article will give you some great tips to use to help bring your stress level down a few notches this holiday season.
Make a point to cut out excess stress in your life. Elevated stress levels can lead to health problems such as depresion, ulcers, insomnia, hypertension, stroke and even heart attacks. Getting the right amount of rest will help alleviate some stress while also helping to lower the risk of developing these diseases.
A fantastic way to help you keep your stress levels down is to meditate. There are many different ways to meditate. Meditation is great because it helps you forget about all of your worries for the moment. You’ll be able think more clearly just by meditating a little bit each day.
Call an old friend who you have not spoken to for a long time and catch up on where they are in life. This will bring back the memories that you had with them, which will make you feel great for the rest of the day. Rekindling an old friendship is a great way to eliminate stress.
Your mind can easily become cluttered, which is a fast track to stress, if you attempt to think about more than one thing at a time. Instead of focusing on many things that you need to do, focus on only one at a time so you will be able to accomplish it easier.
A great tip that can help you relieve a lot of stress is to stop being so hard on yourself. Don’t beat yourself up over every little mistake that you make. You have to be able to accept that we are all human and that we all make mistakes.
One great way to deal with stress is to go to a local improv or comedy theater. This is great because laughter is one of the best natural ways to feel better about your life. Laughter truly is a great medicine. Simply a change of scenery may also be what you need to help get over your stress.
You should be sure to learn the difference between good stress and bad stress so that you are better able to deal with each of them. Good stress is short lived and not very strong and can be used to motivate you whereas bad stress feels as though it is unrelated to anything in particular.
One easy way to reduce stress is to disconnect yourself from the outside world for a while. Turn off the computer, turn off the phone, turn off the TV and just sit and read a book for a while. The people who need to get in touch with you can wait for you to check your voicemail.
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.
One great way to deal with stress is to consider taking a multi-vitamin. This is important along with a healthy diet because your stress might be worsened by you not getting all of the needed nutrients in your regular diet. It is important that you have a well balanced diet in order to be at your peak both physically and mentally.
If you are feeling stressed, it’s time to challenge yourself. By setting yourself up for challenges and meeting those challenges, you will boost your self esteem. When your self esteem is boosted it makes you more in control of your own life. When you have more skills and a higher self esteem, you are less likely to feel stressed, which in turn means a healthier lifestyle.
Teens and young adults can relieve stress by playing video games. When playing a game, focus on the strategy so that you can clear your thoughts. You can play alone or with others; both ways improve your mood.
If you feel stressed and irritable in the morning, try waking up 15 minutes earlier. It may seem counter intuitive to deprive yourself of sleep, but this will allow you to have a nice breakfast and to feel less rushed as you head out the door. Getting up earlier may also help you avoid stress inducing traffic.
The holiday season should be a fun, warm and relaxing time to spend with friends and family, but as stated at the beginning of this article, the holidays can be an extra stressful time. Hopefully this article has given you some great tips you can apply when things start to get too stressful this season.