Stress Relieving Tips
In honor of National Stress Awareness Day, we're sharing some tips to cope with and manage stress.
Stress relievers can help bring calm and peace when life feels overwhelming. If your stress is getting out of control and you need quick relief, try one of these tips. And remember, help is always available. If these tips don't help bring you ease or you need more support, contact your Inspired Health Group care team.
Get Active
Almost any form of physical activity can act as a stress reliever. No matter your physical ability, exercise can still be a good stress reliever.
Physical activity can pump up your feel-good endorphins and other natural neural chemicals that boost your sense of well-being. Exercise also can shift your mind to your body's movements. This refocus can improve your mood and help the day's irritations fade away. Try going on a walk, take a jog, work in your garden, clean your house, bike, swim, weight train, dance, vacuum or do anything else that gets you moving.
Eat a healthy diet
Eating a healthy diet is an important part of taking care of yourself. Aim to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Avoid unhealthy habits
Recognize and try to avoid the unhealthy habits you may use to manage stress. These may include drinking too much caffeine or alcohol, smoking, eating too much, or using illegal substances. These habits can harm your health and increase your stress levels.
Talk to your healthcare provider about habits you are trying to avoid. They can connect you to helpful resources as you work on building healthier habits.
Meditate
Try a mindfulness practice such as meditation. During meditation, you can focus your attention on things like your breath, bodily sensations, noises around you, or an uplifting phrase or mantra. This practice can quiet the stream of thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress, bringing you a sense of calm, peace and balance. Meditation can help both your emotional well-being and your overall health.
New to meditation? Try a mediation app or find guided meditations online for support. There may even be meditation groups that meet together physically in your community.
Laugh More
A good sense of humor can't cure everything but it can help you feel lighter. When you laugh, it lightens your mental load. It also causes positive physical changes in the body. Laughter fires up and then cools down your stress response. Read some jokes, tell some jokes, watch a comedy or hang out with your funny friends.
Connect with others
Instead of isolating yourself when you're stressed, reach out to family and friends and make social connections. Even one good friend who listens can make a difference.
Social contact is a good stress reliever because it can offer distraction, give support, and help you ride the waves of life. Take a coffee break with a friend, FaceTime a relative, visit your place of worship, volunteer, or explore a hobby in class with others.
Get enough sleep
Stress can cause you to have trouble falling asleep. How well and how long you sleep can affect your mood, energy level, focus and overall functioning. If you have sleep troubles, make sure that you have a quiet, relaxing bedtime routine. For example, listen to soothing music, make sure the area you sleep in is cool, dark and quiet, put phones and tablets away, and stick to a regular schedule.
Keep a journal
Writing down your thoughts and feelings can be a good release for otherwise pent-up feelings. Don't think about what to write — let it happen. Write anything that comes to mind. No one else needs to read it. So don't aim for perfect grammar or spelling.
Let your thoughts flow on paper, or on the computer screen. Once you're done, you can toss out what you wrote or save it to think about later.
Unplug from Social Media
Is social media adding to your stress? Take time to unplug and gift yourself more time to unwind by doing things you love. Endlessly scrolling on social media can heighten our sense of stress, rather than focusing on the things we can control and change in our day-to-day lives.
Listen to Music
Turn on your favorite playlist or play some music yourself! Music can provide a mental distraction, lessen muscle tension and lower stress hormones. Turn up the volume and let your mind be absorbed by the music.
Get Creative
Make time for a creative hobby. For example, try gardening, sewing, reading or sketching. Creative hobbies can make you focus on what you're doing rather than what you are thinking, helping to bring you some ease.
Seek counseling
If self-care measures aren't relieving your stress, you may want to think about therapy or counseling. Therapy also may be a good idea if you feel overwhelmed, trapped or are having a hard time coping with stress. If you worry a great deal, or if you have trouble carrying out daily routines or meeting duties at work, home or school, therapy may be a good option to consider.
Professional counselors or therapists can help you find the sources of your stress and learn new coping tools. Your Inspired Health Group care team can help connect you to helpful resources if you need support in seeking counseling.
Learn more stress relief tips from the Mayo Clinic