It seems like every day, we are always constantly getting bombarded by stress either from our boss, our work and sometimes even from our friends and family. We can’t escape it. It’s easy to get stressed in this world juggling work, relationships and all the life stuff in between.
Life will always be demanding. We all must work hard so that we can feed our families and to survive in our modern world and because of that, stress management is getting more important than ever.
Here are some amazing habits that can help you to avoid stress in your daily life. Whether you’re a boss of a corporation or an essay writer, this simple guide can help you handle the stresses of your everyday life.
Moderate your intake of caffeine
Let’s face it, everyone needs their daily dose of caffeine to give themselves a little jumpstart for
their daily routine and they get that by drinking a hot cup of coffee but people should know what it can do to contribute to your stress.
According to a study done and lead by Dr. James D. Lane, coffee has “long-lasting and
exaggerate the stress response both in terms of the body’s physiological response in blood
pressure elevations and stress hormone levels, but it also magnifies a person’s perception of stress.”
Of course, coffee isn’t all that bad, it still has its own positive effects on stress management.
A team of scientists from Portugal, the US, and Brazil conducted a study on the effects of caffeine on stress on mice by subjecting them to different stressors and found out that mice who drank plain water exhibited stress-induced changes in their brains and behavior. However, the mice that drank caffeine didn’t show any of these changes. This study suggests that it’s the caffeine itself that helps us cope with stress and puts us in a better mood.
Stay active
Our lives are getting faster and faster. Our jobs are getting more complicated and it can demand a lot on our bodies. Our work schedules are so hectic that a lot of people do not even have enough time to have a proper workout. Stress can inhibit our efforts to have a healthy and active life.
The opposite is also true with this one: Staying active reduces stress. We all know that exercise lowers anxiety and stress because it bumps up the endorphins and it can help one to meditate and relax, which thereby leads to an improvement in one’s mood.
Of course, it’s better to exercise with a friend than to workout alone. It can be a big motivator for you to work out if you know that someone else would be exercising along with you. Working out with a friend, co-worker or family member brings a new level of commitment to your workouts.
Sticking to the workout is also a problem to some. That’s why it’s important to stick to SMART goals. Goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-limited. Knowing this, it would be easier for you to stick to your exercise routines weekly.
Sit up properly
We’ve been taught from childhood to sit up properly and there’s a lot of merit to that. When we’re stressed and unhappy we’re more likely to hunch over. This is not only as a sign of stress but maybe making you feel worse than you need to.
Research has shown that not only it can say something about our mood, our posture can actually affect the way we handle stress. In a study conducted by Shwetha Nair and her colleagues, they have found that slouchers had a lower self-esteem, mood, and even a much greater fear compared to those who sat properly.
The team of researchers even concluded that sitting upright may be a simple behavioral strategy to help build resilience to stress. Adopting an upright seated posture in the face of stress can maintain self-esteem, reduce negative mood, and increase positive mood compared to a slumped posture.
Furthermore, sitting upright increases the rate of speech and reduces self-focus. Besides sitting and standing up properly, studies have found out that adopting a power pose and holding it for one minute every day can drastically improve your stress management. People who do this power pose have lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, and higher levels of testosterone compared to the one who slouches and hunches over in a powerless pose.
Do some breathing exercises
When faced with difficult or stressful situations, a common response would be to pause and breathe deeply. It’s a natural reaction for us to take a deep breath so we can focus on the task on hand. Breath control is also found in a lot of relaxing exercises like yoga, tai chi, and meditation.
Whenever we feel stressed our breathing rate and pattern changes. This is part of the ‘fight-or-flight response’. Anxious and stressed out people tend to make short and shallow quick breaths. Hyperventilating can prolong feelings of anxiety by making the physical symptoms of stress worse. Abdominal breathing for 20 to 30 minutes each day will reduce anxiety and stress.
Deep breathing will increase the supply of oxygen to your brain and stimulates the nervous system, which promotes calmness. Breathing techniques can also help you feel connected to your body by quieting your mind and helping remove anxiety.
Listen to good music
Sometimes, people also listen to different kinds of music to eliminate or lessen the stress that they’re facing. It’s a part of some people’s defense mechanism.
Music has been linked to human emotions. Different kinds of music have a different effect on our bodies. For example, fast and upbeat music can make the listener more alert and focused while soothing and calm music makes the listener relaxed and feel free.
Certain music is appropriate for meditation as it can help the mind slow down and initiate the relaxation response. But not all “peaceful” music works for everyone. Research has shown that listening to music with Native American, Celtic, Indian stringed-instruments, drums, and flutes are very effective at relaxing the mind even when played louder than normal.
Sounds produced by rain, thunder, and other kinds of sounds made by nature can have some significant effects on the body, especially when mixed with other music like light jazz, classical music, and the like. As music can absorb our attention, it acts as a distraction because it can help us to explore our emotions. This means it can be a great aid to meditation, helping to prevent the mind wandering.
Music has been used to treat illnesses but recent discoveries have shown us that listening to music on headphones reduces stress and anxiety in hospital patients before and after surgery and it can reduce both the sensation and distress of both chronic pain and postoperative pain, among other benefits to the body.
Manage your time properly
If you manage your time wisely, you can manage your stress levels. That’s because the goal of time management is for you to find and handle different kinds of ways to work more efficiently and properly.
You don’t always have to work. Rather than just having a break to take a cigarette or drink some coffee, try incorporating restorative physical activity into your routine. It is also important to schedule time away from work for purposes of vacation.
Although large vacation periods can be wonderful to all of us, many simply do not have enough vacation time from work or the available resources to make these big vacations practical. Having a series of mini-breaks spread evenly throughout the year away from work is much better than having just one big vacation period.
Get more sleep
Sleep is a necessary human function — it allows our brains to recharge and our bodies to rest but studies have shown that 1 out of 3 adults in America don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis.
The recommended number of hours that adults aged 18–60 years need to promote optimal health and well-being is at least 7 hours. Sleeping less than that is associated with an increased risk of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and frequent mental distress. Sleep is so crucial that even slight sleep deprivation or poor sleep can affect memory, judgment, and mood.
Having lots of stress can affect your sleep pattern. Stress causes hyperarousal, which can upset the balance between sleep and wakefulness. But it’s not just the adults that are affected by the lack of sleep. More and more millennials report that they’re getting fewer hours of sleep per night on average and are more likely than adults to not get good sleep.
Younger adults are more likely to say that they feel more stressed by a lack of sleep than the Baby Boomer generation. This is why it’s very important to promote better sleeping habits to lessen stress.
The Takeaway: Manage stress in order to manage your life
In the end, it all depends on how each person handles stress. Not everyone can handle the same stress. Some people may find things stressful while others may see it as easy. These tips can help you with your stress management so that you can focus on more important things in life.
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