It is difficult for anyone to go through the current state of life and the economy without being stressed. There are endless stress triggers and since stress has become a part of life for many, it is important to devise strategies to keep stress at bay.
When your body is under stress, there is a high accumulation of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress. There could also be high adrenaline that causes anxiety or restlessness and the feel-good hormones diminish leaving you feel low, depressed, and stressed.
To get through the already stressful life, you may have to employ the following stress management strategies or tips. They include:
- Exercising
There are uncountable benefits that result from working out. Exercise has been proven to be the best way of relaxing the body and mind. Whenever you work out, the body releases endorphins or feel good hormones that boost your mood.
As you work out, your heartbeat is raised and circulation throughout your body is enhanced. Good circulation means that wastes and toxins accumulated in the body system are removed leading to a cleaner and healthier body that reduces the level of stress resulting from physiological toxicity.
Weight loss and feel good hormones make you feel good about yourself and definitely less stressed.
- Muscle Relaxation
Have you noticed that whenever you feel stressed or sad, your muscles feel tense and even sore? This is a natural side effect of stress and the best way to burst this stress is by stretching and relaxing your muscles. This can happen even when you are working at your desk.
Though hitting may not be possible in the middle of a meeting, you may still stretch those muscles at your desk or at the board room. All you need is a squeeze ball on a string. This ball is tethered to your palm or wrist so it won’t fall off. The squeeze ball works your fingers, arm, hand, and forearm muscles.
You can complement ball squeezing with stretching, getting enough sleep, taking a hot bath, and enjoying a massage.
- Eat well
Poor nutrition is an emergent life and health issue in many fronts. Skipping meals and eating unhealthy foods put your mood off-balance. Healthy foods are mood-uplifting and you can get more stressed if you skip your meals.
- Breathe deeply
To manage stress, breathe deeply. A few deep breaths for about 5 minutes have magical effects on your mood and stress relief. Oxygen in your system rids the body of toxic gases boosting your mood and relieving stress.
- Taking breaks
Even machines break when under pressure. Since you aren’t a machine, you should take breaks to de-stress and to give your body time to rejuvenate. Working continuously means that you will be stressed day in and out, and the stress build-up is unhealthy.
- Find someone to talk to
Talking to a person you trust helps in getting things off your chest. This is an effective way of getting that stress off your shoulders and making things better.
In conclusion, stress is inevitable and you have to find ways of dealing and managing it. Don’t let things build up for too long and always take care of yourself.
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Author Bio
August Spire is a stress management professional. He offers stress management tips and recommends use of the squeeze ball on a string as well as these other strategies mentioned above to manage stress. Check out his blog for more tips.
