Many individuals suffer from lots of anxiety and stress at present. As a matter of fact, numerous adults in the US have asserted that they feel anxious or stressed on a regular basis. Our family issues, work, financial obligations, and health concerns happen to be the main reasons for suffering from stress. Moreover, several factors like genetics, as well as the level of social support can impact the vulnerability of a person to stress to a great extent. This implies that some individuals become more stressed than others.
It is imperative to minimize stress in our daily lives for maintaining our overall health. The reason for this is that chronic stress can be detrimental to our health since it increases some health conditions such as anxiety disorders, depression, and cardiac ailments. In this article, we have mentioned some important guidelines on how to relieve stress in the best possible way.
1. Perform regular workouts
Exercise has proved to be an effective stress reliever besides being quite beneficial for enhancing your overall mental and physical health. It will be a good idea to consider non-competitive workouts, movement activities, or strengthening with weights while setting a reasonable goal for yourself. It has been shown by research that aerobic workouts can help to release endorphins which are natural substances for making you feel better and enhancing your disposition to a great extent.
2. Stick to a healthy and balanced diet
It is a fact that your health will be influenced by your diet to great extent. This will be applicable for both mental as well as physical health. Research has depicted that individuals following a diet rich in added sugar and ultra-processed food items will be more likely to experience higher stress levels.
When you are experiencing stress, you might be tempted to overeat some highly palatable food items that can be quite dangerous for your overall mood and health. Moreover, you can suffer from a lack of nutrients in case you do not consume adequate nutrient-dense foods.
It will be possible for your body to become properly nourished in case you reduce your consumption of beverages and highly processed food items. Moreover, you should make it a point to eat more whole foods like fruits, vegetables, fish, beans, seeds, and nuts which will make sure that your body is nourished properly. This, in turn, will help to enhance your resilience to anxiety and stress.
3. Reduce the usage of smartphones
It is not possible to avoid the usage of computers, smartphones, and other essential gadgets in our daily lives. However, using these gadgets too frequently might help to increase our stress levels to a great extent. It has been shown by research that excessive usage of smartphones can result in increased stress levels as well as mental health disorders.
Moreover, you should not spend a lot of time in front of your computer screen since it is related to your psychological well-being, as well as enhanced stress levels in kids and adults these days. Reducing your screen time can help in enhancing your slumber as well, which can lead to minimized stress levels.
4. Take a time out
Although you are not a kid, it does not imply that a time out will not be applicable to you once you become stressed. Stress has the ability to affect our emotions and behavior just like kids along with our mental and physical health. You can become short-tempered or irritable due to excess stress, and you can become easily upset as well.
While observing that stress is getting the better of you, it will be the best thing to take a break and spent several minutes focusing on yourself. Try to do something that you like, such as listening to your favorite music or going through a book. Otherwise, it will also be a good idea to talk about your feelings with your trusted colleague or friend.
5. Meditate
In case you have not tried meditation, mindfulness, or relaxation workouts yet, then you should do it right now. These tools have been proven to help in decreasing and managing stress to a great extent and they also promote the mental well-being of an individual. You can make use of these tools while you are experiencing some stressful conditions and also when you are not feeling well. You will come across lots of websites, programs, apps, and books that will help you to practice these workouts and many of them will be available free of cost.
6. Practice deep breathing
It is your sympathetic nervous system that controls the response of your body to a perceived threat. Deep breathing will be a fantastic way to minimize the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. In case you take deep breaths to a count of 5 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, and release it to a count of 5 seconds, it will help in activating the parasympathetic nervous system which will help to minimize your anxiety and overall stress that you might be experiencing.
7. Minimize the intake of caffeine
Caffeine, which is a compound present in tea, coffee, various energy drinks, and chocolate, is responsible for stimulating the central nervous system. In case you consume an excessive amount of caffeine, it can result in an increase in feelings of anxiety. Moreover, your slumber can also be harmed to a great extent by the overconsumption of caffeine. This, in turn, will lead to an increase in anxiety and stress symptoms.
If you observe that the consumption of caffeine is making you nervous or anxious, it will be a sensible idea to minimize its intake during the day. For this, it will be a good idea to replace your energy drinks or coffee with water or decaffeinated herbal tea.
Despite the fact that it has been shown by different studies that the consumption of coffee in moderation might be healthy, it is suggested to keep the intake of caffeine under 400 mg every day which is about 4 to 5 cups of coffee. However, this might vary from individual to individual, and therefore, you need to take into account your individual tolerance.
