Psychological stress is relatively high presently, considering all the issues going on in the world. Even without the burdens of a pandemic, life can get all so hectic. Family issues, financial strain, and work-related problems stack upon each other. In the workplace, there isn’t usually much time or support to destress.

Over time stress can lead to burnout, chronic disease, and mental health issues. Therefore I thought it would be great to provide you with nine ways you can naturally destress, and no taking a break using your phone isn’t one of them.

 

1. Exercise – in periods of high stress doing some low-intensity exercise will be beneficial to raising the happy hormones. For example, serotonin release after a nice brisk walk can help reduce cortisol and make us feel more relaxed.

2. Spending Time in Nature – the colours, sounds and feelings we get when nature is a great way to reduce stress. Light in your eyes, sunlight on the skin and scanning your vision across a broad horizon can bring levels of alertness down, aiding you in feeling calm and focused.

3. Relaxing Your Muscles – stress can get our muscles tight due to the overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system. Take time to actively relax your muscles by using a non-sleep deep rest protocol or a progressive muscle relaxation meditation.

4. Eat Foods That Relax You – White meat, fish, eggs, and fibrous carbohydrate are high in tryptophan which helps produce serotonin. This hormone relaxes you and creates a calm, connected feeling.

5. Take a Break – literally, how many people stop and pay attention to relaxing the activity of the mind and body. Taking a break does not mean gossip, social media or watch television. Instead, close your eyes and rest for five minutes.

6. Laugh (A lot) – Laughter is one of the easiest ways to let go of tension. Avoid taking things so seriously and give yourself space to enjoy the fun things in life.

7. Talk about your problem – bottling things up just repression the emotions into the unconscious mind. Guess what – that’s just putting it into the nervous system responsible for stress. Talking about your problems can dissolve the feelings attached and help ease the burden of stress.

8. Listen to your favourite music – music possesses the ability to put us into a transcendent state without having to meditate. It also floods your body with feel-good chemicals. Dancing to your favourite music is a great way to get rid of excess energy from stress, relaxing the mind and body.

9. Eliminate Your Triggers – Figure out what are the biggest causes of stress in your life. Is it your job, your commute, your schoolwork? If you can identify what they are, see if you can eliminate them from your life or at least reduce them.

 

 

Making a habit of implementing these into your daily life will only be beneficial for your overall health and wellbeing. Also, people will be significantly more attracted to the type of personality you bring to the table because spending time with grounded individuals creates a calmer and more relaxed state. There are no excuses because each and every one of these is an entirely natural and cost-effective way to manage stress.

Should you wish to know more about effective ways to destress, you can take a look at my highly recommended eight-week stress and anxiety program that sees more than 50% reduction in stress scores, promoting better health and wellbeing, as well as helping improve sleep issues such as insomnia.

Share this blog with someone you know who needs to read it.

 

Kind regards,

 

Martin