Stress relief is available today!
When your muscles are rock tight, your heart is racing, you’re holding your breath, “ah,” you need to exhale. You need to relieve stress now! Most of the time, there is no monster chasing you. Take a breath, deep into your belly. Take several breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Make the “ah” sound as you exhale. As you do this, your body and mind will relax. Look around you and realize, right now you are safe. Then breathe again.
When a terrifying event occurs, in traffic, in life, in relationships, various systems go into a state of guard, alert, ready to run or fight. One is a part of your brain called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system, which releases a cascade of chemicals, including adrenaline, steroid hormones, and cortisol, that speed up your heart rate, help your brain make a quick decision to avoid pain, and increase glucose in your bloodstream to give you a burst of energy to react. You don’t even have to tell him what to do. This is your body’s natural reaction to stress.
That’s great when danger is lurking. But what is not natural is to continually face stressful situations and challenges day after day. This is known as chronic stress, and it can be detrimental to your health. Forty-three percent of adults say they suffer adverse health effects from stress, and three-quarters of all doctor visits are the result of stress-related complaints and complaints. Stress is also linked to various serious diseases and unhealthy situations, such as heart disease, cancer, lung disease, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide.
It’s important to understand how stress can affect your everyday life, as well as your long-term health. Even more important, we have to learn how to relieve stress.
Ongoing mental stress can hinder your clear thinking. You may find it more difficult to make simple decisions, such as what to eat for dinner or remember directions to a restaurant, than in a stress-free state. Completing your tasks and responsibilities can turn into procrastination.
Chronic emotional stress makes people easily frustrated and lose their temper more quickly. They may cry more often and spend a lot more time worrying about things and even feeling down.
Stress also affects teeth and gums. Strange as it may seem, stress can cause you to clench or grind your teeth, often unconsciously or while you sleep.
Your hair can be a victim of your stress. When a person is under a lot of stress, their hair can enter the shedding stage of the hair life cycle. It can occur up to three months after the stressful event, although hair often regrows within a year if the stressful situation subsides.
Stress can put pressure on your heart’s healthy function. Stress hormones speed up the heart rate, constrict blood vessels, and set up a pattern that makes the heart and blood vessels more likely to overreact when faced with future stressful events. Stress is also linked to high blood pressure, blood clots, and in some cases even a stroke.
Your immune system, responsible for fighting disease, is lowered under stress. The thymus gland, one of the key players, becomes small, constricted, and tense under stress, so it doesn’t work as well. If you always seem to get sick when you can least afford it, it may be because stress is suppressing your immune system, making you more susceptible to infection.
Stress inhibits proper breathing, so people with asthma and chronic lung problems often have symptoms that worsen during times of chronic stress.
In the stomach, stress affects digestion, so you may have a higher incidence of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, acid reflux, colitis, or ulcer breakouts when you’re under chronic stress.
Stress can make skin problems, rashes, eczema, rosacea, and acne worse. It is also known to cause cold sores and fever blisters.
Stress-related tension in the muscles of the back, neck, and shoulders can lead to pain and inflammation throughout the body.
So what can you do to relieve stress?
First, identify the source. Sometimes finding your stressors is easier said than done. In most cases, it will be quite obvious: a difficult relationship, a shortage of money, a need for friends, bodily pain, a poor work environment, or health problems, for example.
In other cases, finding the root causes of your anxiety and stress may be more difficult. When you are tired, it slows you down and makes you feel depressed, and you need to rest more. When there is a lack of positive and healthy communication between you and a friend or you are experiencing conflict in a relationship, he can talk about what each person needs to dissolve the stress. When we have financial burdens stalking our spending clothes now, and when you’re stressed about every bill and purchase, that worry, that conflict, that depressed feeling is stress in action. In that case, seeking acceptance for what is and finding a balance between being frugal and enjoying the little things in life, while your finances recover from previous mistakes, will eventually reduce feelings of stress around your situation.
One thing to keep in mind is: Oftentimes, underneath not feeling well physically, there is unresolved anxiety, anger, tension, or frustration that we haven’t been addressing in a healthy way.
It is helpful to gently ask ourselves, is there something that is troubling me? What healthy action can I take to create a certain amount of resolution?
Is there something I am afraid of in my life right now? What steps can I take to feel more secure?
Is there something I’m angry about in my life? What action can I take on my behalf today or this week?
Is there something that frustrates me in my life? What action steps can I start today to change that frustrating situation now or over time?
What can I do to relieve stress in my life?
- The answer is, each day focus a little time and attention on de-stressing in your life. Taking small steps that make you smile, or make you feel a little more relaxed, or help you get rid of burdens and clutter all contribute to your health and well-being.
- Choosing what you bring to your body, mind and life makes a difference: choosing healthy food, water, people, commitments, activities, everything helps to maintain your health, peace of mind and happiness.
- Set priorities each day and each week for your tasks. Delegate what you can. Many of us always feel behind, but we can be realistic about how quickly time flies in a day. We can be glad that we accomplished some tasks. Feeling happy for what we did instead of criticizing what we didn’t do, that’s enough.
- Enjoying and focusing your attention on small moments of loving our children, hearing birds, seeing flowers bloom, feeling the shadow of a tree, and thinking that I am grateful for this moment, will bring more and more of those pleasant and relaxing experiences for you to enjoy.
- Take a minute in your day to close your eyes, breathe deeply into your belly, and think that I am enough. Notice how you feel when you do that.
- Ask for help. Talk to your spouse, children, parents, friends, and co-workers. Let them know that you are working to reduce the amount of stress you are facing. Be willing to ask for help when you need it. Be open to help. Those around you may have faced similar situations and may have information that can benefit you. Don’t be afraid to share your feelings. Sometimes talking about a problem or conflict helps you better understand how you can avoid it in the future.
- Set limits on your commitments. While participating in activities such as volunteering and socializing can be rewarding and fulfilling, these constant demands, in addition to your other family responsibilities, may be more than you can handle without feeling stressed.
- Take a break. Mounting stress and pressure can begin to weigh on your shoulders like a load of bricks. Before you let it get the best of you, take a break. Bend your knees slightly, curl up toward your toes, letting your arms and head hang down. Exhale with the sound “ah”.
- Do you feel exhausted? Instead of reaching for caffeine to get low on energy, try taking a walk, getting outside, and getting some fresh air. Take a few deep breaths, focusing your attention on your back, and exhale with the “ah” sound.
- Build your support system among friends, family, and co-workers. This can be your best asset in the fight against overwhelming stress. They can help you identify stressful situations before they become more than you can handle. They can also help you organize your schedule or allow you to vent your frustrations about stressful situations.
- Make a list. Think you can multitask? Think again. When the ideas in our heads get out of hand, research suggests we’re not as capable of doing as many things at once as we’d like. But where do you start? First, make a list. This helps you see what’s on your plate so you can better recognize what to expect and what needs your attention now. Then prioritize the items and complete them one at a time. That is really enough. You don’t have to be a super mom all the time!
- Don’t neglect your health. When the pressures are building and you’re struggling to stay afloat, it’s all too easy to let your health get by. Get regular sleep and eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Drink lots of pure water. Choose more often to avoid caffeine, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco in favor of stress relievers outdoors, such as a visit to a mountain, park, pond, garden, stream, or right in your backyard.
- Moving the body is great for relieving stress. Physical activity of all kinds increases feel-good endorphins. Moving counteracts the damage stress is doing to your body and takes your mind off what’s stressing you out. If you can’t squeeze in 30 minutes each day, three short ten-minute sessions are also great. Go for a walk, ride a bike, jog, jump rope, jump on the children’s trampoline, play tag with your children, put on music and dance, let’s hear your ideas!
- Have a flexible plan for the future. It’s easy to get lost in the “what ifs” of the future, but if you have a backup plan for upcoming stressful events, you’ll face fewer surprises. Thinking about these scenarios allows you to return to the present moment. The ancient words of wisdom suggest: avoid the danger that has not yet come, that is, think a little about the future, but above all live in the present moment.
- Practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, yoga, stretching, visualization, and massage. These are all great ways to work out the physical and mental effects of chronic stress.
- Allow yourself some time to focus on what you like and want in your life. When you’re worried about what you don’t like, your stress level goes up and it seems like more of it shows up in your life. Whenever you can, flood yourself with positive thoughts and experiences. Listen to music, watch a funny video online, or call a friend who makes you laugh. Over time, you will learn to meet negativity with a positive reaction. A positive attitude will prevent you from falling back so easily and feeling overwhelmed. Over time, this is one of the best stress relief techniques for the mind and body.