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.
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.
The key to reducing the stress in your life is to lead a healthy lifestyle. By eating healthy on a regular basis and exercising, you are giving your body a head start in keeping stress at bay. Eating well-balanced meals gives your body all of the nutrients that are necessary to stay healthy, keeping stress hormones at their lowest levels possible. Exercise also helps to battle any high stress levels, as well as releases the good hormones, known as endorphins, that will help you to be happy.
When you are stressed at work or in class, hold a stress ball. This will allow you to squeeze something every time you get aggravated to help appease the tension that you feel. Holding onto a stress ball for a good part of the day is a very healthy way to eliminate stress.
Before you do or say anything you might regret, stop and count to 10. Take a moment away from the thing or person causing you stress and get yourself together. Take a few deep breaths, recite an affirmation, or stretch. Do whatever it takes to re-center yourself, and get rid of the stress.
A great tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to try and be humble. Having a big ego can come with a heavy price. More often than not, we find that we can’t live up to our own expectations if they’re set too high.
A great tip that can help you fight stress is to take some time off and treat yourself. You can treat yourself in a number of ways. You can splurge and eat something delicious or you can buy yourself a nice piece of clothing that you’ve always wanted.
Stress by any other name is not the same, so stop using the word so much! Self-suggestion does work. If you think about how stressed your life is, it will only increase your stress level. Use other words to describe what you’re feeling; you’ll get the focus off the word, and you might be able to more clearly see what is bothering you if you don’t use the word.
If you are driving on the road and have something on your mind, sing the words of a song at the top of your lungs. Since no one can hear you, this is a great time to let it all out to a song that you know. Singing is a great form of stress relief.
If you can choose and listen to your own music at work, this can help you a lot. Be sure to choose from a selection of music that is comforting to you. Whenever you play an up tempo song, make sure it is positive in nature.
When facing high levels of tension, think about something that makes you happy, such as the beach. Picturing the sand and the waves rolling in is a very peaceful image and will help to remind you of the finer things in life. Create positive imagery to help eliminate unnecessary stress.
A great tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to be able to acknowledge that most things are only temporary. People often get stressed out because they feel like a certain action or situation will define them forever. Most things are usually temporary and should be seen as such.
One way to reduce stress is to go to bed an hour early. If you do this, you probably will naturally wake up before your alarm, which is a very relaxing feeling. By going to bed earlier, you will feel as though you have all the time in the world the next morning.
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.