Occasionally feeling stressed is a common experience you’ll deal with throughout your life. Many areas of your life, ranging from work to domestic life, are potentially stress-inducing for a wide range of reasons. As per Gallup data, 55% of Americans are stressed during the day, making them one of the world’s most stressed-out populations. As such, it is vital to know some useful stress relief tips to help you cope with life’s burdens as they arise. Take a look at these helpful points below.
Do something pleasurable
Several experts agree that one way to effectively de-stress is to engage in simple, everyday activities that please you. Stress is often cumulative, building up from multiple sources in your life. If left unattended, this cumulative stress can eventually overwhelm you both physically and mentally. Engaging in occasional acts of pleasure interrupts this stress accumulation by inhibiting your brain’s anxiety responses, preventing it from reaching overwhelming limits and making it easier for you to cope.
Consequently, try to engage in simple acts of pleasure to give you breaks from your stressful routine. Taking a warm bath, spending time on a favorite hobby, occasionally treating yourself to some “comfort food, etc., are significant steps you can take towards stress relief. Additionally, many experts recommend occasional vaping for stress relief because it helps you remain relaxed and happy. Therefore, feel free to order some Delta 8 THC carts for your vape pen to help you stay calm and happy despite your life’s many stressors.
Learning a new skill can also help inhibit the detrimental effects of stress and build your resistance to stress. That said, pick an interesting and enjoyable skill to learn (e.g., mastering various lock picking tools) or a relaxing craft (e.g., making cute needle felt animals). Acquiring a new skill or learning a new craft can help boost positive feelings and self-confidence and aid you in becoming more resilient in the face of stress.
Go outside more often
A Science Direct study proves that spending quality time outdoors benefits your mental health greatly by alleviating feelings of pressure and mental stress. Additionally, other research from an emerging scientific field called ecotherapy shows that spending time in nature can significantly reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Therefore, a simple and inexpensive stress relief tactic you can use is to spend more time in nature rather than being cooped up indoors all the time.
Indoor living, whether in the home or office, is full of stress inducers. Being outdoors substitutes these routine high-pressure environments with calmer surroundings that have an instant mood-boosting and recharging effect. Spending time outdoors can also help you gain a crucial perspective on life because you see a bigger picture of the world that transcends mere domestic and work life. So, integrate outdoor activities like biking, hiking, taking long walks, and camping into your routine to escape your usual stressors and boost your mental health.
Have a good laugh
Laughter, they say, is the best medicine. Indeed, several health experts and researchers agree that this saying’s authenticity has solid scientific backing. According to science, laughter stimulates your organs because you take in more oxygen anytime you laugh, which is good for your muscles, lungs, and heart. Stress typically causes tension in parts of your body, and the spasms of laughter unwind these tense areas by making them more relaxed. A good laugh can reportedly relieve your body’s physical tension for up to 45 minutes!
Laughter releases endorphins that give you the “feel-good factor,” counteracting the harmful effects of cortisol (stress hormone) and reducing your blood pressure as a result. Laughter also distracts you from worrying thoughts, improves your mood and even your immune system. Therefore, sneak in episodes of some widely acclaimed sitcoms like Modern Family and The Office or revisit some Dave Chappelle classics to have a good laugh that is sure to de-stress you.
Quit multitasking
Although multitasking seems like a more efficient way of getting things done, several experts advise that this could be a deadly stress inducer. Science explains that your brain can ideally focus on one task at a time, so juggling more than one task drains your brain beyond its natural capabilities. Your brain copes with these increased demands by pumping more adrenaline and other stress hormones that give you an energy boost. A steady supply of these stress hormones over time strains your physical and mental health, causing conditions like depression, heart disease, back pain, etc.
Aside from experiencing physical and mental health struggles when you multitask, you are also counterproductive; dividing your efforts and attention between tasks results in limited input for each of the tasks. Consequently, you may take more time to complete tasks while churning out substandard output. Therefore, try to cut out multitasking in your daily routine to reduce stress and increase your productivity.
Try the 4 A’s
Multiple experts recommend practicing the 4As of stress relief as a potent way to de-stress in your professional and private life. The 4A’s are avoiding, altering, adapting to, and accepting situations that cause stress in your life. Avoiding stressful situations may help to eliminate the stress sources that surround you. For example, by learning to say no to proposals that are more than you can handle, you avoid potential stressors. Avoidance also means limiting the amount of time or ending relationships with people who consistently stress you to control your mental health better.
Taking control of your environment is also an effective way to relieve stress. For example, if going to the market is a stressor, consider doing your grocery shopping online. Effectively altering situations can also be useful in reducing stress and anxiety. Communicate feelings that stress you instead of bottling them up because bottled emotions cause resentment build-up, facilitating a spike in your stress levels. Finding the right work-life balance is also key to altering situations, so keep this in mind to relieve stress. You may also wish to try a supplement like this potent kava root tincture in order to help restore some calm and balance in your mind. Once you understand what it is that makes you stressed, you can find the solutions that will help you to combat it so that it doesn’t become a big problem for you.
Adapting to conditions is the third “A” you should try to de-stress, mainly because there are situations you can’t change. Therefore, you can reframe problems to cope with difficulties better instead of allowing them to stress you out. For example, instead of fuming about being stuck in traffic, see it as an opportunity to enjoy some alone time or listen to your favorite podcasts. Finally, accepting situations you can’t change like other people’s behavior is also an effective stress reliever.
