10 Ways To Manage Stress


What is stress?

Stress is normally felt at times when you feel under pressure or worried about something. Stress will then cause you to feel anxious, irritable and overwhelmed, also the fact you feel stressed will then make you feel even more stressed. Have you ever felt stressed? 85% of people in the UK experience stress regularly and the biggest reasons for stress are due to work, money or illness. Due to people being stuck indoors or in isolation as a result of the coronavirus it is likely people will be feeling stressed, irritable and worrying about loved ones, so it is extremely important to try and manage stress at these times.

5 Possible Consequences of Stress

1) Stress can lead to things like depression and anxiety.

2) It is common for causing high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.

3) It can cause things like hair loss and acne.

4) Obesity can be caused by prolonged stress.

5) Stress is known for causing headaches and migraines.

10 Ways to manage stress

1) Exercise is one of the best ways to fight against stress as the physical pain distracts you from your daily worries. Even just doing sit ups, burpee jumps or weights at home regularly can help reduce stress. If it’s a nice day you can always do it in the garden.

2) After a long day and the kids are in bed try having a relaxing bath with scented candles as it can relieve stress and anxiety.

3) Meditation and yoga can be great for battling stress and the practise helps you learn to spectate your thoughts rather than attach yourself to them. Some useful apps to use are Down Dog and Insight timer.

4) Due to not being able to work, working from home and just generally being at home more gives you a great chance to take your mind off things by spending time with your family playing board games, getting the Wii back out or other consoles, playing sport in the garden or just watching films and DVDs together.

5) Try to be aware when you are stressed or make a note of it so for the next time you can try and react differently or do something different to try and relax. Once you have found a pattern of what helped you relax or what you were getting stressed about you might be able to change it.

6) Don’t focus on every negative detail in your life, try to look at the whole picture and see the positives in your life. If you only look at the negatives the negatives become your whole life. There are many positives to look at the moment like being able to spend more time with your family, reading that book you have been trying to read for years or a tv series you have been meaning to watch and getting into an exercise routine at home 

7) Eat good food and have a balanced diet. Eating more fruit and vegetables helps blocks the stress hormone Cortisol as they contain vitamin C. Foods like oranges, broccoli, strawberries, red or yellow peppers contain lots of vitamin C.

8) When people are stressed, they may find it hard to sleep, but sleeping well is extremely important so try and go to bed and wake up the same time every day. Try to avoid caffeine or alcohol before bed.

9) Just talking about how you feel with a loved one or a trusted person can be therapeutic as it allows you to release what you have been bottling up which caused the stress to worsen.

10) Listening to music is known for having many benefits as it connects with people’s emotions, one being it can help to relieve stress as it lowers blood pressure and other hormones.

If you are not completely sure if you are stressed, you can do tests online. If you have a friend, family member or just anyone you are aware of that is stressed try to make their life easier and do not add any unnecessary stress on top. Try to be understanding if they are in a bad mood or snappy and encourage them to do things to relieve stress or seek help.

Exercise can be very effective for fighting stress but is also extremely important for your physical body and at times like this where you are stuck inside it is key to carry on exercising so here is Your Ultimate Guide To Working Out At Home.

Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/16-ways-relieve-stress-anxiety#section6

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/reduce-stress/

https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-symptoms-effects_of-stress-on-the-body#2


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