Are you experiencing a lot of stress
in your life? Try these 10 tips to relieve stress will make your life more
relaxing.
If you experience stress often, it
can cause major upsets in your life if you don't developing coping mechanisms
to help relieve it. While some stress can be motivating, such as deadlines for
projects, too much stress can make your life miserable as you wonder whether
you'll be able to handle it. Although, some stress is unavoidable, such as that
produced by other people or unexpected situations, developing ways to deal with
it can help you feel less anxious and learn to make decisions in a calmer
manner. Here are 10 ways you can relieve the stress in your life.
1.
Identify stressors.
Many people feel totally stressed;
some of the emotional symptoms of stress are anxiety, fear, mental pain,
frustration, anger, and hopelessness. Focusing on the sources of stress can
help you develop ways to better cope with it. Writing down a list of the things
that cause you stress is a good first step to reducing stressors. The act of
writing down a stressor forces you to acknowledge it as a problem; while some
problems cannot be easily resolved, others can be easily removed by focusing on
solutions. For instance, if your 6-year old child constantly makes you late
several mornings a week because she can't decide what to wear, spending 30
minutes each Sunday afternoon with her selecting outfits for the coming week
will help you to start off the morning with much less stress.
2. Set priorities.
Some people feel stressed because
they have just too many things going on in their lives. Since, everyone has a limit
of only 24 hours in a day sometimes you will have to say "no" to some
of the demands on your time. Deciding what is most important to you and your
family, and then making those things your priorities, will help you to decide
which stressful things can be eliminated. For instance, if you want your family
to eat healthy meals but find that cooking every night after work is becoming
stressful, find some healthy takeout food or see if your spouse or older
children want to share the cooking duties. Doing everything for yourself can
often inhibit creativity in others who would be happy to share in new household
or workplace duties. Deciding in advance what you can and cannot do in a time
period allows you to delegate responsibilities to others and feel more in
control of your time.
3. Learn
to control reactions.
People differ in how they react to
stress in their lives. Reactions are really the key to dealing with stress; if
you are constantly overreacting to small stressors; your body is already taxed
when more serious problems come along. Learning to deal with minor irritations
at work and at home in a more relaxed manner can help you save your energy for
major troubles. Visualize different problems that you face and think of various
reactions you could have and what the results would be. For instance, if a
co-worker is not doing his part of the project you're both working on to your
satisfaction, visualize yourself screaming and telling him how incompetent he
is, ignoring his incompetence, showing him an easier and more efficient way to
accomplish his goal, and pretending his work is okay and then redoing it
yourself at the last minute. As you visualize the different results, you will
probably find that some solutions would lead to continued stress, or even make
new problems. Learning to deal with other people in a more relaxed manner is
essential to controlling stress in your life.
4. Learn
to let go.
Some problems that cause endless
stress are often not really that important. By identifying problems that cause
you stress, you will be able to let go of the minor irritations that are
bothering you. If you feel you always have to be in total control of your life,
you are bound to experience stress as things happen that you can't control. If
your life has become tied to a strict timetable try letting go of just 5 or 10
minutes of each day to do nothing. Step outside and look at the trees and
flowers, feel the sun on your face, listen to the sounds around you, and just
relax
5.
Exercise.
Stress can cause serious physical
problems in your body. Often people who don't show strong reactions internalize
stress, which can lead to hypertension, indigestion, insomnia, headaches, or
other ailments. Keeping your body in good physical shape is important even if
you're not under stress, and in stressful situations it's even more important
to be healthy. Exercising can be a great stress reliever; running on a
treadmill, joining a yoga class, swimming laps, or cycling with friends are all
good for your body and can take your mind off stress.
6.
Watch your diet.
In stressful situations it's often
easy to skip breakfast, grab whatever's most available for lunch and keep going
with coffee and sugary snacks. This wrecks havoc on your body, as your blood
sugar and energy go up and down all day. Plan your diet in advance to allow for
small meals frequently, such as cheese, fruit, veggies, and whole grains, and
try to avoid excessive caffeine, sugar, and alcohol. Eat breakfast, keep
healthy snacks in your desk drawer at work, and eat frequently. When your blood
sugar is low, your attention span suffers, so don't go all day without eating;
that just adds to your stress and when you're starving it's easy to make
unhealthy choices.
7.
Laugh.
If you don't see anything funny about
your life, you need a good laugh. Laughing is good for the body and the soul,
and humor can help relieve stress. Watch funny movies, read comic strips, or
look up some jokes on the internet. Some hospitals have now included
"laugh rooms" where patients with serious illnesses can relieve some
of the tension by watching funny films and laughing, which actually causes a
chemical reaction to occur in the brain. Humor is a good way to relieve stress.
8.
Pet your pet.
Dogs, cats, and other animals can be
great stress relievers. Petting a purring cat, throwing a ball for your dog to
retrieve, or going on a jaunt atop your favorite horse can make you feel calm
and peaceful. Pets can be comforts to those who have stressful lives; coming
home and finding a loyal pet waiting for you is reassuring and allows you to
unwind in the company of a totally non-judgmental friend. If your building
doesn't allow pets, walk a friend's dog or volunteer at an animal shelter, or
just go watch the fish swim around at the pet store.
9.
Get a hobby.
Many people who have stressful lives
find hobbies relaxing. Having a hobby allows you to change focus and forget
about problems that are causing stress in your life. Whether you like fishing,
knitting, photography, or woodworking, a hobby can relieve stress and let you
have something to which you can look forward If you're facing a lot of stress,
taking up a hobby that you enjoy can help you unwind at the end of the day.
10.
Sleep.
Not
getting enough sleep can lead to stress, as you will feel groggy and unfocused
the next day after tossing and turning all night. As insomnia can be a symptom
of too much stress in your life, getting enough sleep is very important if you
want to relieve it. Most people need at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep each night
to function properly the next day; if you get more or less your performance can
suffer. Deep sleep is especially important, and if you wake up frequently this
can be impaired; if you can't seem to get to sleep on your own, your doctor may
be able to help you with this problem.
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