Stress can affect your health and well- being. Looking into the causes of stress and using techniques to eliminate or reduce stress from your life can do wonders: improve the quality of your life, relationships, as well as, your physical condition. Read the tips below to get you on the road to stress free or stress reduced living.
Active meditation will nourish your spirit, improve your mood and help you find peace within yourself. Take the time to stop and clear the mind and deep breathe if only for a minute. It can reduce stress, lower your blood pressure and relax the body as well as the spirit.
Breathing works wonders for alleviating stress. Take a deep breath, this helps to oxygenate your blood and can help you to relax instantly. If you breath shallow, it causes your heart to beat faster and your muscles start to get tense. Instead, breathe deeply, inhale through your nose, hold a few seconds and then exhale through your nose.
Avoid factory farmed meats, eggs and dairy products. These products are filled with adrenaline due to the horrible cruelty experienced by the animals. Excess adrenaline will raise your levels of the stress hormone, Cortisol. This will cause you to experience excess stress levels, decreasing your level of overall health and happiness.
The word “stress” might tend to get overused, and in doing so, it can create more stressful feelings. By telling yourself you’re hungry, you will be, and the same thing goes for stress. If you repeatedly tell yourself that you are extremely stressed, your body will respond by allowing you to experience more stressful feelings. Instead, try refocusing your thoughts.
Stay active and get enough exercise to beat stress. Although not a perfect solution, it will alleviate immediate stress, reduce physical tension and if you make it a regular part of your life, can really provide you with a positive activity to keep looking forward to. Exercise eases stress and gives you self confidence. You will feel better and more in control of your life.
A great tip that can help you feel less stressed is to try and visualize calm in your mind. An example of calm would be a feather slowly falling down or a lake that’s barely moving. Visualizing images such as this can help you keep your stress in check.
Animals can help relieve stress. Some research has shown that petting animals for even a few moments can greatly reduce stress levels.
Take some time for yourself. Always set aside a little time each day to devote to yourself. Whether it’s a little time in the morning before anyone else is awake or in the evening when dinner is over – try to relax. Some people find that meditation helps them, some like relaxing in a warm bath, whereas others like to destress themselves by going for a walk or a run.
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.
A good tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to start forgiving people that have wronged you in the past. Holding onto grudges will keep you feeling stressed out. Get rid of all that negativity and start letting the past go. It can help you out a lot.
A good stress reliever is drinking a nice cup of hot tea. There are many herbal teas that can help you relax. A couple of these include kava kava and chamomile! Leaving it to steep in hot water for ten minutes will produce a strong tea. Find a relaxing tea you like and drink it first thing in the morning and just before you go to bed.
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.
If you are looking to reduce your stress, a great way is to take a positive approach to your situation. We tend to feel the most stressed when we feel the most out of control. By taking an active role rather than a passive role in your situation, you will feel much more control over the situation, which in turn means less stress.
As stated above, there are many simple ways to combat stress in your life. Reducing stress can make you a better person, make life more enjoyable and even add some years to your life. Use the tips above to help you on the road to reduced, better yet, stress free living!