Set Reasonable Expectations In Your Daily Life
Being busy is sometimes inevitable, but regularly taking on more than you can manage can cause unwanted and unwelcome stress. Tell yourself that it’s okay to say no to activities at your child’s school or to extra projects at work you are not obligated to accept every request made of you. Additionally, don’t take on more financial responsibilities such as a new car or a bigger house if you think they’ll be a stretch. Being realistic about your finances is an important strategy for managing stress.
How To Reduce Stress
There is many techniques you can use when learning how to reduce stress quickly and naturally. The sooner you can make it your own, the quicker youll be able to reduce your mental stress.
A technique is applied successfully when its essence is really understood and absorbed. If a technique is to be applied quickly, there must be extensive knowledge of the situation in which the technique is required.
In the context of mental stress, for example, we get scared and anxious in situations because we dont know what is happening or what is going to happen. The uncertainty of the result causes tension and mental stress. The longer we move in that uncertainty, the greater and heavier our mental stress becomes.
The accomplishment of being able to deal with challenges and stressful life situations boosts our self-confidence and makes life meaningful and successful. However, this requires a certain expertise, and that expertise starts with self-inquiry and the development of a technique. To own a technique, we must develop activities into tools and apply them.
Activities + Tools + Practice = Technique.
Chronically Elevated Stress Hormones From Being Lost In Thought
Being lost in thought is terrible for your health.
Studies show that rumination having repetitive, intrusive thoughts and going through problems over and over again in your mind without actually solving anything is associated with both anxiety and depressive disorders.
In my estimation, the stress from worrying and rumination is the biggest contributor to the general adaptation syndrome.
Heres why:
Your body mounts a stress response to any perceived threat, both real threatsas well as threatening thoughts.
This means that just thinking about upsetting things can set in motion a full-blown stress response release of stress hormones by the adrenal glands and all the associated unpleasant symptoms.
Now the BIG problem with worrying is that theres typically no OFF switch.
How Stress is Supposed to Work
Getting chased by a big angry buffalo is highly stressful.
With the help of your sympathetic nervous system and a heaping dose of adrenaline you have a better chance of outrunning it and getting to safety.
Threat is gone, the stress response is terminated and you can start to calm down.
Great!
How Stress Is Not Supposed to Work
Chronic low-grade stress from worrying or rumination is no bueno!
As youre probably well aware of, negative thought patterns tend to hang around 24/7, often fromthe moment we wake up until we go to bed.
Your brain perceives this as being under constant threat like being chased by a pack of buffalos all day long!
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Some Practical Tips On How To Set Up Your Anti
These recommendations are in no particular order of importance:
- Eat foods that are easy to digest and produce little to no digestive upset, bloating and gas.
- A good starting place is 3 cooked meals per day with protein, carbs and fats + 1-2 snacks between meals if you want. This helps stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent bouts of hypoglycemia .
- Get enough macronutrients and calories proteins, carbohydrates, fats.
- Get enough micronutrients vitamin K, vitamin E, vitamin A, calcium, iron, copper, zinc, iodine, selenium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, B12, etc.
- Salt your food to taste.
- Make your meals tasty. Digestion improves when food looks and tastes delicious.
- Avoid harmful things in your diet such as refined seed oils, foods fortified with iron, irritating food additives, binders, gums, fillers etc. No pre-packaged foods.
- Ideally keep transit time short = poop 1-2 x per day. This reduces the risk of bacterial toxins leaking into your bloodstream.
- Your gut and mind is always chatting with each other through the gut-brain axis. If youre feeling cranky, irritable, agitated or anxious for seemingly no reason, the reason might very well be a problem with your gut . Ive written an article on how to improve gut health here.
I dont think you can go wrong with basing your diet mostly on these safe staple foods listed below as they are nutritious and overall supportive of good thyroid health .
Safe Staple Foods:
Not-So-Great Foods
Ways To Get Rid Of Stress #6 Make Sure Your Career Is Providing Personal Satisfaction
Many people simply give up and accept that jobs might not be enjoyable. But you dont have to live like that. Understand that you spend a large portion of your life working at your career.
If its not providing personal satisfaction for you, then you may need to switch things up. You should look forward to your work day not dread every second of it. Your career tweaking for less stress might be something major or a minor tweak.
A minor tweak could be making a lateral move to another company in the same job. Or, it could be moving up the ladder of your company into a different position.
If its a major change that needs to be made, then it might be something where you have to switch careers completely. That might require a rough patch of training or getting more education. You may need to start on teh bottom level but think of the satisfaction youll when you pursue something you truly love.
If its an issue with coworkers, then you have a few options for that. Consider whether you can distance yourself from them, and if you can, start there. If you cant, then you might want to address the problems directly and professionally.
If that doesnt seem to work, then approach upper management to see what kind of resolution can be found. It may be a simple matter of who the employee will listen to.
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Ways To Get Rid Of Stress #7 Find Things That Distract You And Soothe Your Soul
Stress can be alleviated with distractions of all kinds. Every person is different, but sometimes it helps to get a few ideas of ways that you can get your mid to stop focusing on whats eating at you and allow it to achieve calm instead.
TV shows, movies, or even online videos can provide comic relief and that battles the cortisol stress hormones that flood your system and make you feel down. Spending even ten minutes watching something enjoyable can help you destress.
Playing with physical items such as Play-Dough, kinetic sand, fidget toys or even that silly slime kids are making today all help you release stress and relax when youre all riled up.
Music has a way of sending stress on its way. You can crank up the tunes that bring you back to your youth, or listen to music thats calming and serene and allow it to put you in a better mood.
A nice, hot bubble bath with a good book, candles and aromatherapy products can ease the stress of the day easily. Its a nice way to end your day and let the worries melt right off your mind.
Best Stress Relief Bath ProductsHelp your body relax & unwind with these soothing products.
Offer Yourself Forgiveness And Compassion
Forgiving yourself for procrastinating in the past may help reduce the chances youll procrastinate again in the future.
Just like the forgiveness you might offer someone who wronged you, self-forgiveness allows you to let go of past events and move forward.
So, instead of giving yourself a hard time, tell yourself its all right:
Waiting to do that project didnt turn out so well, but its OK to make mistakes. Now I know what not to do next time.
Self-compassion can also go a long way toward easing the harsh criticism and self-blame that tend to trail in procrastinations wake.
Instead of focusing on how you messed up , offer yourself some words of comfort.
If it helps, consider what you might say to a friend:
- It sounds like youre struggling right now, but I can tell youre doing your best.
- That assignment sounds really stressful. I know you want to do the best work possible, but its just a first draft, right? You can always improve on it later if your team has any suggestions.
Dont you deserve that same kindness?
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How To Practice Focused Meditation
Here are six tips to help you practice focused meditation. Based on your availability and interest, these tips may change and evolve. Thats the point: to create a structured practice that caters to your needs.
1. Find a Comfortable Seat
As with any meditation practice, comfort is truly key. The physical body responds to meditation practice by alerting you to whether it is comfortable and supported or stressed out and in pain. This is best observed in practitioners who tend to slouch and lose the tall, supported spine that is essential to meditation practice.
A simple rule in meditative sitting is to ensure that your hips are higher than your knees. Therefore, choosing to sit in a chair instead of on the floor may be a smart decision or perhaps propping yourself up on a cushion. For meditation techniques overall, it does not matter how you sit. All that matters is that you are supported and comfortable sitting for some time.
2. Choose Your Object of Focus
Every meditation training session is going to be different because no single day is the same for any one person. Therefore, experienced meditators know that choosing an object is more about listening to what you need at this time versus following any doctrine or rule.
3. Set Your Desired Time or Go With the Flow
Likewise, if you have the time, you can also listen to your body and come out of your meditation when you feel its right to do so. This is often a beautiful practice of listening and tuning in.
Get Stress Rash Treatment
If over-the-counter antihistamines and hydrocortisone cream arent giving you enough relief from your stress rash, you might want to talk to a doctor about other treatment options. With PlushCare, you can have an online video appointment and save yourself a trip to a doctors office.
After talking with one of our licensed doctors and telling them about your symptoms, medical history, and medications, the doctor will discuss potential treatment options with you. If necessary, they can refer you to a dermatologist specializing in rashes. If you have chronic stress hives, therapy may help you learn how to better handle your stress, which may help eliminate or prevent stress rashes.
PlushCare now provides online therapy our licensed therapists can help teach you ways to manage your stress more successfully. To make an online appointment with a therapist, . You can also get a free consultation by calling 1-800-221-5140 or emailing
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Go Ahead And Stress Bake
Baking checks so many stress-reduction boxes: It can be a sensory experience it is a project that requires planning, concentration, and mindfulness, which activates your brain and if you enjoy it, its fun. Kate Merker, Good Housekeepings Chief Food Director, loves this amazing blueberry sweet roll recipe, but if youve had enough sugar, move on to a healthy pizza recipe. It feels comforting and you can literally put anything on top of pizza dough, she says. My kids help shape the dough, which is just fun, and they get a kick out of me twirling it in the air. And if youre stressed by the fact that no eats the same thing in your house? Everyone can pick and choose their own topping, Merker adds.
Guided Imagery Or Visualization
Imagine yourself lying on a sandy beach with a soft breeze gently stirring the warm air. Use your senses to smell the saltwater and feel the sun as you transport yourself there. Thats guided imagery or visualization.
It uses the power of your mind to change your focus to a peaceful time or event.
If were in a stressful situation, you know, just shifting our mind and focusing on a time when we were really, really relaxed is an effective way to calm down, Brown says.
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Adaptive Energy Your Natural Stress Buffer
According to Hans Selye, your body has something called adaptive energy:
The pool of energy and resources used to cope with stress.
In other terms you could think of it as yourstress buffer the more you have, the greater your resilience to stress.
Anytime there is a demand made upon the body, the body taps into its adaptive energy.
Meeting Your Energetic Demands
Dealing with stress requires energy, and lots of it.
Hence why you want to set up your diet and your overall lifestyle so that it meets your bodys demands for energy.
So, basically:
Providing the body with a steady supply of energy and resources so that you can deal with stress and lower stress hormones/anxiety.
In other words, filling the resources to cope with stress-bucket and tipping this scale to the right side:
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Ways To Get Rid Of Stress #8 Get Involved In Activities That Make You Feel Good About Yourself
Serving others is a good way to take the stress out of your life. When youre focused on other people, its hard for you to wallow in your own stress. You can achieve this goal by volunteering in your local community.
Some volunteer programs have you working with men and women, such as elderly individuals or children while others have you working with pets that have been rescued.
There are also options for you to just spend the day contributing to your community doing things like volunteering at the library, picking up trash to beautify a scenic hot spot, or other things that get your mind off of stress.
You might want to start attending a group event such as a spiritual meeting or a book club. Both of these are effective ways to get rid of stress. Both allow you to meet with others and focus on a topic thats different from the stress you face each day.
You might want to get involved in a workout routine to make you feel better about yourself. Join a gym and attend a group fitness class where you get to know other like-minded people who also enjoy releasing endorphins .
How To Get Started With Positive Lifestyle Changes
Below Ive created a comprehensive list of what I believe to be the most helpful anti-stress tools/stress management strategies.
All of these can be helpful for snapping out of the state of learned helplessness and the vicious stress cycle where excessive stress anxiety more stress from having anxiety, etc.
I would not recommend trying to go all-in and changing your lifestyle around completely.
Any change you make should be:
Just start with something.
For instance if youve been staying up until 3 AM every morning, or just getting unrestful sleep and waking up all the time, then fixing your sleep is going to be super important for recovery.
Do your best to get 8 hours of quality sleep every night and stick with it for a couple weeks
Then evaluate your current situation and whether your symptoms improved or not
chances are, you will feel a LOT better.
When sleeping well has become an ingrained habit, you might want to start tinkering with your diet and make sure you are getting adequate nutrition, spend time out in the sun for 20 minutes every day, introducing a magnesium supplement, etc.
Remember:
Small positive effects compound over time just doing something seemingly insignificant everyday can do A LOT to improve your health and reduce anxiety.
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Setting A Goal In Three Steps
If you’re ready to reduce stress in your life, setting a goal may help. Try following these three steps:
Examples of how to set goals
How To Get Rid Of Stress
If you want to fight effectively in the modern world, you have to master these skills. And mastery only comes from practice.
These practices, combined with regular meditation and focused breathing, can help solve your problems, and get rid of that stressful situation once and for all!
How do you deal with stress? Share your tips in the comments below!
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