How to Reduce Stress in Your Life
As we head towards the end of the year, I’m sure that we can all honestly say that it has been a very challenging year, and one that many would like to see the back of. If we’re lucky enough to get one, we’ll be eagerly awaiting our December break before we head into a new year. Right now, most of us are tired on an emotional, psychological and physical level. We’ve had enough of 2020!
Many people are showing signs of burn-out, having pushed through the year without a break, juggling home and work while being cooped up in their homes. It’s taken a lot to readjust to working virtually, worry about job security, and providing encouraging words of hope and support to family, friends, and colleagues.
COVID-19 has increased our stress levels. The time has come for us to review our stress and what we can do to reduce it.
Assess your stress
We need to distinguish between positive (referred to as eustress) and negative stress (known as distress). The former is pleasant to experience because it motivates us to engage in positive activities that bring us closer to a goal that we value. We also feel more in control when we’re in a state of positive stress. By contrast, negative stress has a harmful impact on our body, our mind, and our behaviour. We are likely to feel overwhelmed, anxious, and as if it’s beyond our control.
Unfortunately, we’re more likely to experience negative stress in our daily lives, and a prolonged encounter can result in severe physical and mental illness. According to the Mayo Clinic, continuous stress causes muscle tension, breathing and heart problems (which can lead to a heart attack or stroke), blood sugar spikes, heartburn, acid reflux, digestive problems, and issues with female and male reproductive systems. Other symptoms of stress include fatigue, sleep problems, and headaches. On a mental level, constant stress can lead to anxiety, depression, issues with focusing, anger issues, drug, alcohol, or tobacco use (or abuse), and social withdrawal. Stress can cause depression too.
Tips to reduce your daily stress
Everyone has a different stress threshold. You need to know what yours is and use the tips that appeal to you. Remember that stress levels vary from day to day, and are influenced by many things including the amount of sleep you had the night before, your nutritional intake, the amount of rest you’ve had, and how much exercise you did.
These 6 tips will help you to manage and reduce your stress levels:
- Deep breathing or diaphragmatic breathing is very powerful because you can do it whenever and wherever you feel stressed. You can choose to keep your eyes open or closed during this activity. Consciously inhale and exhale from the diaphragm, as opposed to shallow chest breathing. You can do this once in only three deep breaths to notice the difference in your body, or you can do this many times in a day.
- Body Scan Meditation is a standard meditation, but with an additional layer of scanning your body for areas of tightness, pain, and tension. Focus on that particular area, and consciously breathe into the discomfort to release the pain. Start with a short two-minute meditation, and as you develop the skill, increase your meditation time to whatever works best for you.
- Going into nature is the most therapeutic activity we can engage in. It can be something as simple as sitting in your garden, going to a park or taking a short day-trip where you can walk or cycle. Having a picnic in a botanical garden or spending a couple of days away from the city, is very rejuvenating.
- Pamper yourself with a full body massage. It’s a quick feel-good technique, and very beneficial to have any muscle tension massaged away.
- Make a date with friends or your partner. Plan an outing that disrupts your daily routine. Play, laugh, and surround yourself with good company.
- Write a gratitude journal. To make this impactful and longer lasting, write your journal once a week. Reflect on what you’re thankful for over the past week. Think about people, situations, and opportunities. Acknowledge yourself for what you brought into the situation.
Stress will always be around, but it doesn’t have to rule your life. Start to accept the things that you cannot change and refocus your energy and attention onto the things that you do have control over. It is really important that we have enough recovery time into our day so that our bodies, minds, and emotions can reset at the end of every day.
Stress ebbs and flows in our lives, and not having any stress can make us lazy. Find the ideal level that motivates you and moves you forward to become the best possible version of yourself.
If you would like to speak to a counsellor for emotional support or to find out more information, please call us on 0861 GOLIFE (465433), or SMS 43281, or email golife@healthichoices.com.