Everyone suffers from stress at some point, and it can be hard to know how to deal with it. No matter, the intensity of your stress, there are proven methods you can use to reduce it and take your life back. This article will help teach you some effective means to conquer stress.
A great way to reduce the stress that you experience is to reduce your caffeine intake. A large intake of caffeine can increase the levels cortisol in your body. Cortisol is the stress hormone in your body that helps to regulate many things including weight gain, mood swings, heart disease and diabetes. By decreasing your caffeine intake, you will naturally decrease your stress levels.
Don’t let your emotions get bottled up. Find a way to release them and you won’t feel as stressed. Some people feel better after venting to a friend, others prefer to write to get their feelings out. If you’re sad, cry for a bit. If you’re angry, try hitting a punching bag for a few minutes. If your emotions aren’t being pent up, you won’t be as stressed.
Make sure you’re not taking too much on. If you’re feeling stressed, particularly at work, it could be because you’re trying to take on too much work at once. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you’re not able to handle your work load, let your boss know. Often, your boss will be more than happy to help you out or help you to find someone who can.
Relax your jaw so that you stop gritting your teeth. Stress has a tendency to make us tighten certain muscles, and the muscles around the jaw are most commonly affected. If you begin to feel yourself becoming overwhelmed, put your index finger on your jaw, clench, take a deep breath in, and release both your jaw and your breath at the same time. You should feel more at ease immediately.
If you are under pressure, one of the things that you can do is lift weights. When you contract your muscles, you will reduce the tension on your body and feel good about yourself. Do this in the comfort of your own home or at the gym to reduce stress levels.
A great tip that can help you fight stress is to challenge the way that you think. Try to stop yourself whenever you’re thinking negative. Instead, try to think more positive in these situations. You’ll notice that you’ll feel much better about yourself and the events in your life.
When you are feeling down or stressed out, call your boyfriend or girlfriend and tell them how much you love them. This will put a smile on their face which will indirectly make you feel good about yourself. Call a loved one to maximize the way that you feel during the day.
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.
Sip on tea to help calm yourself. Chamomile tea is known for its calming effect, but there are also other teas that can calm you as well. Try a cup of passionflower, catnip, kava kava, or skullcap. Steep these herbs for about 10 minutes and you will get the full effects of their calming powers.
One important tip to remember in stress reduction is to know your objectives. When you have a clear idea of your objective, you know exactly what kind of results you want to obtain. Knowing this will help you to act accordingly, in order to achieve those results and avoid being stressed out by unexpected results.
In order to deal with stress, you may wish to consider completely cutting yourself off of whatever is causing your stress temporarily. This is important because sometimes we have problems with completely turning things off and often times this can be the best way. An example would be to turn off your work cell phone and computer for an entire weekend.
A good tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to stop comparing yourself to everyone that you meet. If you’re always worried about what other people have and what you don’t have, you’ll never be happy. All you can do is focus on yourself.
If you are a religious person than you should be in constant prayer as studies show this reduces stress. If you are not religious than you can try out non-religious meditation. This is the concept of meditating or clearing your mind but without doing it for any specific purposes. The results are clear!
Stress doesn’t have to ruin your life. Just knowing that there are ways to deal with stress can help lower your stress levels. If you apply the techniques and advice you have learned from this article, before you know it you will be feeling more relaxed and more in control of your life.