23 Ways To Combat Stress

Do you feel like with all those heavy responsibilities, office work and your boss stress you out? Do you feel like taking a long leave for a week or so and move somewhere no one disturbs you? You may be suffering from stress due to which your adrenaline starts pumping and your heart beats fast. Your blood pressure increases which isn’t a sign of good health. If you over expose yourself to stress hormones then lately you may have to suffer from serious health issues. So, what should you do now? Here are few things you should do to keep your stress levels minimum and few ideas that may help you relax. Make Them Your Habits.

1. Wake Up Early
We are asking you to wake up 15 to 20 minutes early. You might be thinking why we are asking you to deprive yourself from sleep but do you think waking up late and rushing out to your office can make you feel good? Take some time to get ready, relax and then go out in a good fresh mood. This will keep your mind fresh throughout the day. You can utilize this time by reading something inspirational to make your day better.

2. Make Your Room Soothing
Avoid using warm colors like red that excite you. Use cool and muted colors such as green, grey, blue, etc. which relax you. Are you getting doubt on how colors can really impact? Well the theory is simple. These colors enter your eyes and reach your brain where emotions are regulated. Colors can affect your moods a lot. So change those warm colors that surround you.

3. Clean Your Room
When you are stressed, chances are you clutter away things around your room but think once more. If you de-clutter instead, your mind may also do the same with thoughts and emotions. Clean your home weekly or monthly. Clean the drawers, cupboards and that messy table as well. Do not keep unnecessary things with you. You can donate them to the needy or just swap them with others.

4. No Caffeinated Drinks

Caffeine instead of relaxing you, it excites your mood. So if you want to relax, avoid caffeinated drinks and prefer herbal teas instead. Avoid everything that consists of caffeine such as coffee, colas, etc.

5. Eat More Mini Meals
It is important to maintain blood sugar levels properly which is possible through frequent mini meals. Make sure your meals are small and have protein.

6. Herbs
Herbs work greatly to reduce stress. Try taking oats, St. John’s wort, chamomile, green tea, licorice, rhodiola, Siberian ginseng, withania, etc.

7. Exercise
Exercising regularly can boost endorphin levels that boost your mood. Indulge in few activities like swimming, cycling, walking, jogging, dancing etc.

8. Eat Healthy

Eat healthy and balanced diet to keep your mind and body healthy. Take more vitamin C, omega-3-fatty acids, whole grains, nuts and vegetables. Even dark chocolate can help you relax.

9. Sleep Well
Get good sound sleep every night. You may be very busy or it can be any other reason, but it’s very important to get minimum 8 hours of sleep every day. Make a habit of sleeping and waking up at fixed timings. These Tricks May Help You.

10. Deep Breaths
No matter where you are, just take few deep breaths so that your body cells and brain cells can get more oxygen which in return provides relaxation response. This way breathing helps body to relax and relieve stress.

11. Thank Yourself
Next time when you think everything is going worse around you making you feel stressful, immediately stop thinking about it right there and find something pleasant around you such as a flower, a photo of beloved person, etc. Look at it and remind yourself of things that made you happy. Start thanking yourself for all those things. This should help you at that particular moment to combat stress.

12. Focus On the Pressure Points

If at a particular moment you feel stressed out and may explode anytime, try focusing on your stress points. This is known as pressure point therapy which is a type of acupuncture to practice on your own. Putting some pressure at certain points on your body actually improve blood circulation and release some tension. Start with your third eye position which is just in between your eye brows, i.e., where the bridge of your nose and your forehead meet. Place your index and middle fingers there and stay for a couple of minutes with slight pressure and then release.

13. Aromatherapy
It is proven that few scents help in calming down a stressed mind. If you like the scents of flowers, rain, sea water, etc. just inhale it for some time and this will enhance your mood. Choose the one that relaxes you. You can also add some essential oil to your bath tub for a relaxing bath.

14. Visualize
Visualization greatly helps in reducing stress. How? Think of all those unpleasant things happened today. Think that all those are clouds right above your head. Think each cloud is popping out of your mind with a specific incident that stresses you. Now watch it moving away from you. Think all these stressful thoughts as clouds those come and go away. This way you manage your stress to some extent.

15. Watch Videos

After your long stressful and hectic day, sit down and see few funny videos like a baby dancing like a pro, a cat riding a cycle or anything funny like that. Enjoy such silly things for some time since this can activate your brain’s specific part which delivers tranquility and calming psychological response. This reduces stress to a great extent.

16. Start Singing
Next time you feel stressed out again, start singing out and don’t drop till you feel relaxed and happy. It reduces the cortisol levels in the body and can reduce blood pressure. Do not bother about how you sing and what people will think about you; but if you do, then start being a bathroom singer first.

17. Start Scrapbooking
This may sound like kid’s thing but this can really help your stress levels come down by diverting your mind from those stressful things. No, we don’t mean online scrapbooking by this. We want you to be serious on this by shutting down the computer and start cutting the papers, color and sticking them. Get creative and do funny things.

18. How About A Physical Hobby?
If scrapbooking isn’t your thing to do then you can definitely involve in other things that can divert your mind and no, we are not talking about online things here as well. Do a physical thing that interests you. You can play games, knitting, gardening, etc. that gets your complete attention towards it.

19. Work With Your Muscles

Clench your muscles and then release it. This way it gets some relaxation to mind. First of all sit in a comfortable place in a comfortable position. Now tense each and every group of muscles one after the other for few seconds and then relax. Focus on your forehead, lips, hands, stomach, thigh, toes, etc.

20. Start The Madness Of Talking To Yourself
Whatever others may think this doesn’t matter you if you want to relax yourself and control your stress. Start talking to yourself positively. Avoid cursing yourself and negative talking. Start self-affirming, self-thanking, self-motivating, etc.

21. Talk To Others
You may have those few people who care for you and are close to your heart. Just talk to them about your problems and relieve it. Sometimes sharing and talking to others reduces the stress levels to great extent.

22. Meditate

There are plenty of ways to meditate. It helps greatly to reduce stress and is well known and practiced when one suffers from this condition. Sit in a comfortable place in comfortable clothes with your back straight and eyes closed.

Focus on anything like your breath, a particular object, a chant or mantra, etc. This is to avoid thinking and prevent all those random disturbances coming into your mind.

23. Laugh Out Loud
To relieve stress make a habit of laughing regularly at least for some time. When you think you are really stressed out, start watching a comedy video or read a funny book. You can read jokes or watch a comedy show daily.

So, what do you think of these tips? Implement them and observe how effective they are and let us know the result.