4 Things You Can Do To Help Manage Stress
I don’t care who you are at some point you have had to deal with stress. This stress can take on many forms, it may be large life threatening stress or it could be the stress of having deadlines or bills to pay. Some stress is actually good for us and enables us to adapt and bounce back from it. This helps in our productivity ultimately leading to success.
It’s the nagging day in and day out stress that can throw a real tipping point in our progress and success and this is the type we need to learn how to manage.
Here are 4 things you can do to manage stress
1. Breathe!
The next time you are involved in some serious concentration or intense focus take notice of what’s happening with your breathing. More often than not you will find yourself with your breath held in any stressful or tense situation. You need to focus on becoming more aware of your breathing as a way to manage stress. Deep breathing helps to oxygenate your blood cells and lungs and helps in lowering your blood pressure and heart rate.
So take a moment when you’re feeling overwhelmed and focus on slow and controlled breathing to help yourself regroup.
2. Get Up & Move Around
Motion creates emotion and just the act of getting some more blood flowing will help you bust out of any temporary and stressful ruts. When you find yourself overwhelmed just the act of getting up and moving around can work wonders in regards to stress management. If you are able to, going for a walk is a quick stress buster or if you are stuck in an office doing some jumping jacks or push-ups.
Regular exercise is important for managing stress but in those moments where you feel it building up a short burst of activity will help you overcome.
3. Listen To Music
The type of music is not even critical it’s just the fact that your brain gets to take a break from what it had been focussed on that was causing you stress. Traditionally calm and relaxing music always does the trick, but some people respond better to various styles. Ideally you want a music choice that is your go to choice when you are relaxing at home and listening for pleasure. Whatever style this is has a way of taking you back to that relaxed and calmer period. It may be jazz or country or even death metal, but whatever works for you go with it!
4. Get More Sleep
With my background as a personal trainer and health and wellness coach, this is something that can have the greatest impact on your day to day stress. Lack of sleep is associated with higher stress hormones and not only does this weaken your ability to handle stress day to day but can lead to chronic diseases over time.
The stress levels that you experience in the day lead to this build up of stress hormones in the body and the only way to burn these off is through sleep. So start getting to bed earlier and getting into a nightly routine so you can adopt a more consistent and effective sleeping routine. You will not only feel more refreshed and energized each day but will have helped your body in overcoming and handling stress.
Wrapping It Up
There’s no avoiding stress, it follows us wherever we go and shows itself in many different forms. The trick is recognizing that it is not avoidable but developing ways to manage and cope with it. Just like any skill it takes awhile to master but using some of these coping skills I’ve pointed out you can get on the road to reducing and controlling stress in your life.
