Quick Ways To Reduce Stress
Taking care of your long-term mental and physical health is an important part of stress management. However, there isnt always time to take a nap, hike a fourteener, or read a novel. Thus, here are 25 ways to reduce stress in five minutes or less. From eating chocolate to meditating, there is a quick stress-relieving tactic for everyone.
1. BreatheSlow, deep breaths can help lower blood pressure and heart rate. Try pranayama breathing, a yogic method that involves breathing through one nostril at a time to relieve anxiety. The technique is supposed to work the same way as acupuncture, balancing the mind and body.
2. Listen to Music No matter what the song, sometimes belting out the lyrics to a favorite tune makes everything seem all right. If youre in a public place, just listening to music can be a quick fix for a bad mood. Classical music can be especially relaxing right before bedtime.
3. Take a Quick Walk When youre feeling overwhelmed or having trouble concentrating, go for a quick stroll around the block. Youll get the benefits of alone time, physical activity, and a few minutes to gather your thoughts.
4. Find the Sun If its a sunny day, head outside for an easy way to lift your spirits. Bright light can be an effective treatment for people who suffer from depression, and can even cheer up otherwise healthy people.
8. Rub Your Feet Over a Golf Ball You can get an impromptu, relaxing foot massage by rubbing your feet back and forth over a golf ball.
12. Be Alone
Supplement With Hormone Balancing Herbs
An herbal hormone supplement can make a world of difference in your endocrine health and can help you regulate your hormones and restore hormonal balance. Our Happy Hormones Tonic is a unique womens hormone formula that contains several medicinal herbs renowned for their ability to facilitate hormonal balance and womens hormonal health:
Chasteberry a key ingredient in this formula, is a traditional remedy for various womens health issues and has been used to reduce symptoms of PMS and menopause, and may also help normalize estrogen and progesterone levels.
Evening Primrose has been studied extensively and various studies regard it as being highly effective in treating premenstrual syndrome symptoms.
Shatavari Root is a traditional Ayurvedic herb that has long been used for womens reproductive health throughout all stages of their life it is also a potent adaptogenic herb that helps to regulate the endocrine system, enhance immunity, and helps the body cope with physical and emotional stress.
Wild Yam is a plant native to North America, Mexico, and parts of Asia that has been used for centuries as an herbal remedy for treating menstrual cramps, PMS, rheumatism, and digestive problems.
Black Cohosh, a flowering plant native to North America, is an active ingredient in various womens health products and has long been used in Native American medicine to help with menopause symptoms, fertility, and hormonal balance.
Rule Out Other Conditions
First things first, are you absolutely 100% sure your headaches are caused by stress? Tension or stress headaches tend to cause neck and shoulder aches, as well as a feeling of pressure across the forehead, or down the sides and back of the head.
They can focus on one particular area, or feel more like a dull aching pain all over. Unlikely migraines, they dont typically cause changes to vision, nausea, or other symptoms.
If your eyesight has changed, the first thing to do is rule out problems with your vision. Get your eyes tests, and see if a trendy pair of Ted Baker glasses could solve the problem.
If you have other symptoms or your headaches are getting worse, consider a visit to your doctor to rule out other conditions.
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Avoid Hormone Disrupting Chemicals
The first step is to avoid exposure to any and all chemicals that are known hormone disruptors. Avoid using plastics whenever possible, stay away from junk foods that have chemical additives and other toxins in them, and buy organic produce exclusively, as many pesticides used to grow conventional crops contain hormone-disrupting chemicals. Take an honest look at what you consume on a daily basisboth in your mouth and on your skinand eliminate all unnatural products and foods that may contain hormone-disrupting toxins.
How Stress Affects The Body
Stress is the inability to adapt to changes in the environment. Dr. John Demartini
As Demartini accurately pointed out, we feel stress when we are unable to adapt appropriately to the environment. This stress can be caused by all kinds of issues or stimuli including physiological, social, psychological, or emotional situations.
For example, if its 120 degrees outside, youre likely to feel some physiological stress as your body tries to regulate its core temperature to cope with the change in environment. Without this stress response, you would die when exposed to hot temperatures because you would simply overheat instead of getting stress out enough to lower your body temperature.
If someone yells at you inappropriately, youre likely to feel some emotional and physiological stress as your body reacts to the threat. Identifying dangerous people and threatening situations helps you survive.
Stress forces your body to respond to the environment by fleeing, fighting, or freezing because those were the most successful behavioral responses to stress for our ancestors.
For us modern folks living with so much advanced technology, these old responses often fail to solve the root causes of whats actually causing stress.
Stress can be broken down into two categorieschronic or acute.
Acute stress is the type of stress that comes from a one-time situation, like someone almost driving their car into you while youre crossing the street.
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How Do You Treat An Itchy Stress Rash
Over-the-counter antihistamines are usually the best way to treat stress rashes. Cool compresses and hydrocortisone creams may help, too.
Top over the counter antihistamines for a stress rash are:
- Benadryl
- Allegra
- Claritin
If you arent getting enough relief from these methods, you may want to speak to a doctor about other options.
How To Get Rid Of Hormonal Belly
Did you know that your hormones play a big part in regulating your metabolism, hunger, fullness, and energy, and can even be the cause of unexpected weight gain? If youve been struggling to get rid of a bloated belly, it could be your hormones that are responsible.
Hormones are the chemical messengers of the body. They are chemicals produced in the endocrine glands that travel through your bloodstream to different tissues and organs, delivering messages that tell the organs what to do and when to do it. Hormones help to control many of your bodys major processes, including metabolism and appetite, sleep cycles, mood and stress levels, body temperature, heart rate, reproductive cycles, sexual function, and general growth and development.
As you can see, our hormones play a significant role in our health and wellness. Because of this, changes in our hormones can also create drastic changes in our bodies. Even small changes in our hormones can create serious effects, and may lead to a hormonal imbalance. A hormonal imbalance occurs when you have too much or too little of a certain hormone in the bloodstream.
These small chemical compounds affect every cell and system in the body. If you have a significant hormone imbalance it can be debilitating. Some of the symptoms caused by hormonal imbalance include:
- Infertility
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Your Weight Gain Is Only In Your Abdomen
Low estrogen levels caused by excessive exercise, disordered eating patterns, or pituitary gland issues can change the fat distribution of your body, causing you to gain more in the belly as opposed to the hips, thighs, and glutes. Estrogen deficiency can also impair the action of insulin making it harder to regulate blood sugar and leading to increased hormonal belly fat. Women experiencing menopause may also experience low levels of estrogen, as menopause puts your body through a whole host of changes, and during menopause production of estrogen, along with other hormones, takes a dip.
Types Of Relaxation Techniques
However, a whole range of relaxation practices can help you power down and de-stress.
There’s no one shoe that fits all, Smith says. He points to five or six approaches based on scientific observation and experience that really do work for stress reduction. There are other therapies, too, that you might find helpful. You can do one at a time or you can practice some together.
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What Is A Stress Headache
Stress headaches arent an official classification of headaches in the International Classification of Headache Disorders , but are more accurately known as tension-type or tension headaches, Ellen Drexler, MD, a board-certified neurologist based in New York, tells Health.
Tension-type headaches are defined by the absence of migraine features, so they tend to appear on both sides of the head, feeling like a pressure pain, without the usual migraine accompaniments of nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, and worsened by head movement, says Dr. Drexler. They’d be the sort of run-of-the-mill pressure in the front of your head kind of headache of mild to moderate severity.
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According to the US National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus database, tension headaches are the most common type of headache and are described as pain or discomfort in the head, scalp, or neck, often associated with muscle tightness. Tension headaches affect roughly 70% of people, and can last for 30 minutes to 72 hours, Susan Broner, MD, assistant professor of clinical neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College, tells Health, and in order to be properly diagnosed with tension headaches, you need to have a history of them. To make the diagnosis, you’ve had to have had at least 10 of these ,” Dr. Broner says.
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Tip : Bring Your Senses To The Rescue
To use your senses to quickly relieve stress, you first need to identify the sensory experiences that work best for you. This can require some experimentation. As you employ different senses, note how quickly your stress levels drop. And be as precise as possible. What is the specific kind of sound or type of movement that affects you the most? For example, if youre a music lover, listen to many different artists and types of music until you find the song that instantly lifts and relaxes you.
Explore a variety of sensory experiences so that no matter where you are, youll always have a tool to relieve stress.
The examples listed below are intended to be a jumping-off point. Let your imagination run free and come up with additional things to try. When you find the right sensory technique, youll know it!
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What Causes Muscle Knots
Muscle knots occur when a group of muscles have been in an awkward position for too long, or when they have been irritated by repetitive movements. Almost any muscle in the body may suffer from muscle knots, but they are most commonly seen in the neck, shoulders, back, calves, and gluteal muscles.
Muscle knots may be caused by:
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Poor posture while sitting or standing
- Overuse of the muscles, such as lifting heavy objects or repetitive movements
- Injury to the muscles, such as a break, strain, or twist
Tips To Manage Stressful Situations
It might surprise you to learn that biological stress is a fairly recent discovery. It wasnt until the late 1950s that endocrinologist Hans Selye first identified and documented stress.
Symptoms of stress existed long before Selye, but his discoveries led to new research that has helped millions cope with stress. Weve compiled a list of the top 10 ways to relieve stress.
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Accept The Things You Can’t Change
Changing a difficult situation isn’t always possible. Try to concentrate on the things you do have control over.
“If your company is going under and is making redundancies, for example, there’s nothing you can do about it,” says Professor Cooper.
“In a situation like that, you need to focus on the things that you can control, such as looking for a new job.”
Make Time For Leisure Activities
Leisure activities can be a wonderful way to relieve stress. Yet, many people feel as though their lives are too busy for hobbies, games, or extra fun.
But building time for leisure into your schedule could be key to helping you feel your best. And when you feel better, you’ll perform better, which means leisure time may make your work time more efficient.
Whether you find joy in caring for a garden or you like making quilts, hobbies and leisure are key to living your best life.
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Are Stress Rashes Common
Yes. Most people will experience stress at some point in their lives, and stress rashes are a common symptom of stress. Stress can cause a chemical response in the body which can cause a rash to occur. Some underlying conditions can also cause rashes that may be made worse with stress.
These conditions include:
- Eczema
How Can Sleep Reduce Stress
Sleep is a powerful stress reducer. Following a regular sleep routine calms and restores the body, improves concentration, regulates mood, and sharpens judgment and decision-making. You are a better problem solver and are better able to cope with stress when youre well-rested. Lack of sleep, on the other hand, reduces your energy and diminishes mental clarity.
You might find that you cant concentrate as easily without sleep. Research demonstrates that lack of sleep renders you more emotionally reactive, more impulsive, and more sensitive to negative stimuli. These sleep-driven cognitive impairments can give rise to stress in any number of ways, from creating difficulty in relationships to causing problems with job performance.
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Unplug Shut Down And Log Off
By 2015, scientists predict the average person will spend about 16 hours a day consuming media including TV, social media, and phone time. Still, researchers have found that smartphones actually increase stress. And another report showed that the , the more their happiness declined.
Lowering stress can be as easy as clicking a button or rather, turning off your digital devices. Make your media time as well-balanced as your diet with these tips:
- Track your media time. Keeping a media diary can help you realize how often youre plugged in. Simply write down the type of media you’re using , how often your use it, and for how long. Like writing down what you eat, writing down how often youre plugged in can help you curtail your habits.
- Try a media detox.If the thought of ditching your cell phone makes you break into a cold sweat, it might be time for a mini-media detox. You dont have to give up your cell phone, TV time, or Instagram habit forever either. Instead, start small with a cell phone-free weekend, skip social media for a day, or ditch the TV for an evening.
How Can You Avoid Stress
Stress is a fact of life for most people. You may not be able to get rid of stress, but you can look for ways to lower it.
You might try some of these ideas:
- Learn better ways to manage your time. You may get more done with less stress if you make a schedule. Think about which things are most important, and do those first.
- Find better ways to cope. Look at how you have been dealing with stress. Be honest about what works and what does not. Think about other things that might work better.
- Take good care of yourself. Get plenty of rest. Eat well. Don’t smoke. Limit how much alcohol you drink.
- Try out new ways of thinking. When you find yourself starting to worry, try to stop the thoughts. Or write down your worries and work on letting go of things you cannot change. Learn to say “no.”
- Speak up. Not being able to talk about your needs and concerns creates stress and can make negative feelings worse. Assertive communication can help you express how you feel in a thoughtful, tactful way.
- Ask for help. People who have a strong network of family and friends manage stress better.
Sometimes stress is just too much to handle alone. Talking to a friend or family member may help, but you may also want to see a counselor.
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Hey Guys How Do You Get Rid Of Work Stress
I have a lot of tasks due soon and I am really stressed about it so I’m asking for some advice. Please help.
Colouring books are a really good way of emptying your head from your worries
Try making a to-do list. Do one thing on the list, then do something calming that you enjoy or just take a break I have so much homework and getting upset really puts me back so if I’m getting really frustrated with something I’ll take a few deep breaths and set it aside and do a different assignment before approaching it again.
Sleep. Or playing games with family. I most prefer to sleep in after work even tho it erases all the news from others. They might have went somewhere without you
I drink a lot!! Way more than I should! But it helps me sleep
Could you please also share some good suggestions for this?
