We all want to reduce stress levels, right?
Well, in this article, we’ll look at three more ways you can improve the quality of your life by learning how to properly manage your stress levels and, more importantly, the causes of stress, and you’ll see that stress management doesn’t have to be complicated.
If you want to look at a previous article covering three other stress relief strategies, you will find it here.
Best of all, every method featured in these articles are based on 100% natural remedies and solutions.
Many adults are self-professed caffeine addicts, and studies now show that coffee does come with some health benefits. But as with everything in life, moderation is key.
For some people, caffeine may not be a good idea at all.
Everyone has a different caffeine threshold, right? Some people can handle a lot, some just a little, and some not at all.
It all comes down to your body’s overall chemistry.
Just as many of us need caffeine to function after waking up, too much can make us jittery and scatterbrained.
If you’d like to try cutting back on your caffeine intake, it’s important to do so in moderation. Caffeine can be addictive and going cold turkey can lead to withdrawal symptoms.
Try cutting back just one cup a day and see how you feel. Depending on the outcome, keep doing this until you find your threshold.
Who knows, you may find that you don’t need caffeine at all!
So many of us are afraid to say no when people reach out for help, advice and support, and by not considering whether saying “yes” is good for us, it can easily lead to the first signs of stress, including self-doubt which can lead to incredibly high stress levels.
Are you someone who often takes on more than you can handle?
Are you a “yes” person?
Are you finding yourself emotionally and mentally depleted because you give so much of yourself to others?
Are you struggling through toxic relationships that don’t add any value or happiness to your life?
And being a “yes” person doesn’t just apply to your personal life, but quite often “yes” people are the same way with their jobs or careers.
They don’t want to miss out on an opportunity so they sign on for as many tasks or projects as possible.
They’re worried that they’ll fall behind the competition, so they say yes to every marketing strategy or new course that pops up online claiming to help them enhance their business skills.
Sometimes managers will reward hard workers with a higher workload output, assuming they’ll be motivated by the bonus despite any consideration as to whether they will be able to perform consistently at the required level.
If you find yourself in this situation, take a step back and look over your workload. Ask yourself what you can get done within a reasonable amount of time, and then discuss this with your manager, business partner – or simply yourself!
Explain why taking on a heavier workload will cause your current one to suffer in quality. And if you work for yourself, consider restructuring your schedule and reducing your workload by getting rid of the tasks that you don’t personally need to do. Learn to delegate or outsource.
If you’re a student who is constantly stressed out about your course load, then consider taking on a lighter one next semester, or if it’s not too late, dropping one you’re currently enrolled in but that you may not need.
Or perhaps you’re going to school full-time while also working full-time. Look at the benefits of going part-time, see if you can rework your budget and make it work.
In the long run, these changes might require that you stay in school longer than you expected, or change your current living situation, but your mind and body will thank you.
Above all else, be selective with your overall workload and what favors you do for people. Prioritize what household chores need to be done, what bills must be paid right away, and know when to say no.
If someone else is asking you for help, then chances are good they understand what it means to have too much on your plate.
Putting tasks off until the last minute can add a tremendous amount of stress to your life, especially if they’re important tasks with a specific deadline. And while it’s often hard to get things done in a timely manner, it’s not impossible with a regular routine.
Whatever tasks you need to accomplish, it’s important to write them down on a To-Do list or use an online project manager to help you stay on track. This can be for your personal or work life, or you can even have separate lists for both.
Put the tasks that are most important at the very top of your list, paying close attention to whether they are actually of upmost importance or not (it’s easy for us to prioritize the tasks we actually enjoy doing over the ones that truly move the needle in our personal or business lives), and then make your way down the list. Be sure to include due dates, too.
And avoid scheduling tasks back to back, leaving chunks of time in between each one. You can use this time to reset, or to just do something that you enjoy doing.
It’s important to feed your soul throughout the day, as that’s an easy and natural way to relieve stress.
For example, if you are responsible for more than one project at your job, prioritize the one with the earliest deadline and put it at the top of your to-do list.
Break it down into segments throughout your day, allowing time for coffee breaks, and some social interaction.
By breaking up their processes so that while they are in a sprint they are laser-focused on the task at hand, while also knowing that a mental and physical break is coming up, they are able to stay focused while also ensuring they recharge and reset.
The same goes for household chores, too.
If you feel overwhelmed by everything that needs to be cleaned and organized around your home, then create a to-do list or download a household printable that makes it easy for you to keep track of your objectives.
This will help you keep track of the progress you’ve made so you aren’t feeling overwhelmed. Then work your way down the list to the very last chore that needs to be done.
Remember that when we’re stressed, it often affects how we think and that will reflect in our work.
Quite often, we realize far too late that pushing ourselves beyond our mental capabilities results in not only poor output and quality, but we end up taking longer to do simple tasks because we aren’t giving ourselves a chance to recharge.
Managing stress requires self discipline and if you want to know more about harnessing the power of self discipline, check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 🙂
Everyone deals with some form of stress in their life, and it’s not always easy to find relief. Family and work obligations, personal goals, financial issues; it can seem never-ending.
But here’s the good news: there are simple ways to effectively manage your stress levels so that they never get to a point where you find yourself crippled by it.
In this article, we’ll look at just three of the many ways you can improve the quality of your life by learning how to properly manage your stress levels and you’ll see that stress management doesn’t have to be complicated.
Best of all, every method featured in this article is based on 100% natural remedies and solutions.
Are you ready to finally learn how to identify the signs of stress and to quickly and efficiently manage your stress levels so you can live the life you deserve?
Let’s begin!
An easy, natural, yet incredibly powerful method of reducing stress is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other and increasing your day-to-day physical activity levels.
For those of us who spend a good amount of our time sitting behind a desk, getting in some exercise isn’t always something we make time for – but it’s an important component in resetting your mind and body, which will ultimately help you to minimize stress levels.
When you think of committing to a regular exercise routine, you might feel overwhelmed. After all, most of us live extremely busy lives and it’s not always easy to find that extra time to squeeze in a work out.
But in truth, all it takes is 15 to 30-minutes a day, most days of the week, to see an increase in your overall mood and stress levels. Plus, there are simple ways to incorporate exercise into your existing lifestyle, such as purchasing a work desk that allows for adjustable height so that you can spend a few minutes every hour standing while working.
Every time we exercise, our bodies naturally release endorphins. These endorphins are hormones that travel throughout our body, giving us a boost of energy, and actively ridding the body of stress and anxiety.
To get an idea of just how much exercise can improve your mood by releasing these powerful endorphins, take 10 minutes and either walk or jog lightly in place.
Exercise contributes to a healthier lifestyle, thereby fighting obesity and helping your body perform at the top of its game.
If you’re concerned about your weight, start by walking 20-minutes a day, and if necessary, break it up into 10 or even 5-minute sessions.
You’ll be surprised at how much stress you’ll relieve just with some basic exercise, and you may also lose some weight!
In addition to these benefits, exercise can also give you some much-needed alone time so that you can reset your mind and spirit.
Whether you’re a parent with a full-time job outside of the home, a college student who is constantly surrounded by roommates, or you simply live a hectic, pressure-ridden lifestyle, everyone needs some time by themselves.
Throw on some headphones and listen to your favorite podcast, or leave them at home and just workout in peace. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your stress will subside just by giving yourself the opportunity to recharge.
Between releasing endorphins and getting away from it all, plus making a healthy lifestyle change, you’ll find that exercise is a natural stress relief that everyone can benefit from. Give it a try!
Access to the Internet has brought a lot into our world: convenience, social networking, the ability to work from just about anywhere. But with it comes an extraordinary amount of stress.
Just think about the last time you sat down to watch your favorite television show. You were probably distracted by your mobile device, which means that you most likely didn’t absorb everything that you watched.
And it’s not your fault.
We’ve become almost numb to the sound of notifications going off on our phones and tablets, incoming emails, alerts and a myriad of other online signals that pull our attention in a hundred different directions.
If you work online, the constant incoming noise can leave you overwhelmed and stressed. You feel pressured to respond to customers quickly, or perhaps you’re trying to manage several different businesses at once and find yourself constantly having to refocus your attention because you have so many things happening at once.
Not only will this help you manage stress levels by giving yourself a mental “time out”, but ultimately, the downtime will boost creativity levels and help you run your business more efficiently!
The most important time to disconnect from the internet, however, is shortly before we go to bed.
Staring at a screen and scrolling has been linked to insomnia-related issues (which leads to high stress levels). For a good night’s sleep, turn off all mobile devices about an hour before your bedtime.
Try reading a magazine or physical book or watch some light TV. Do some type of activity that isn’t too engaging but still somewhat stimulating so that your mind is able to stay focused while still being able to wind down and relax.
If you’re concerned about someone not being able to get a hold of you in case of an emergency, then turn off your notifications in the settings section of your phone and tell people to only call you for emergencies beyond a certain time.
It’s important to focus on your own personal downtime every day, even if it’s just an extra hour away from the chaos of your business life. There’s only so long you can move at a rapid pace before getting burn out, so learning to set a schedule and sticking to it will ensure you’re always performing at your very best.
Another natural way to reduce stress is to make sure that you get enough, but not too much-sleep.
When we don’t rest enough at the end of our day, our body can tense up and it leads to irritability and depression. And when we’re irritable or depressed, we’re stressed.
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean you should sleep for an incredibly long time.
If you sleep longer than your body actually needs, then you can become sluggish and listless which can also lead to stress when you’re unable to meet deadlines, get through your personal to-do list or simply feel down that you aren’t being productive.
Oversleeping can make you just as irritable and stressed out as not getting enough sleep.
To determine just how much sleep your body needs, it’s important to establish a regular sleep schedule, even on your days off.
It will force your brain go into shutdown mode at the same time every night, regardless of what you have planned for the next day.
Once you make this change and catch up with your sleep, you’ll find that you’re less stressed, and overall, much happier.
First, you’ll want to avoid any exercise about 2-3 hours before your scheduled bedtime.
As mentioned earlier in this article, exercise creates endorphins that give us energy. And while that’s a good thing, you want to give your body adequate time every night to wind down.
You can take it a step further with a warm bath, too. Consider taking one with some essential oils an hour or so before bedtime.
Vanilla and lavender are naturally calming scents, plus they complement each other very well.
Another way to relax your body is with food. Try having a banana or two, or a handful of peanuts, or even a turkey sandwich about three hours before bedtime.
These foods contain tryptophan, which after being consumed, creates melatonin: a hormone that makes us sleepy.
But avoid eating too close to your bedtime, as doing so can cause heartburn and acid reflux.
Getting the perfect night’s sleep is an easy and natural way to keep stress at bay!
Managing stress requires self discipline and if you want to know more about harnessing the power of self discipline, check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 🙂
Stress has become an epidemic in peoples’ lives. They can’t cope. They’re turning to all kinds of helpful people and products in a desperate effort to get relief from what seems like a constant barrage of turmoil.
If stress has sent your cortisol levels soaring and you can’t seem to get a grip on what you can do to control things and turn chaos into calm, then you need to analyze how bad the problem is so you can pick and choose methods and strategies that will alleviate this pressure.
One way you can determine whether or not stress has catapulted out of control is to think about the times when you feel significantly stressed. Sometimes, people will start out feeling stressed only in certain situations.
This might be just while you’re stuck in traffic, or only when you’re at work. Maybe even specifically when one person comes around, like an in-law or intrusive neighbor. But then you start to notice that the stress never really goes away.
You start to realize that there’s no safe place for you to go to anymore. It used to be, a hard day at work was manageable – as long as you could escape at 5 o’clock and go to the comfort of your own home.
But if you wake up and go to bed filled with stress, and experience it throughout your entire work day, it means you’re under constant attack, and that’s not healthy for you emotionally or physically.
Your outlook may change to where you just want to escape it all – everyone and everything that’s causing you trouble. Just pack up your car and disappear – or at least get out of town where you’re not subjected to this chaos and commotion 24/7.
Everyone deserves to have space where they feel relaxed, protected and at ease. If you don’t have that in your life right now, running away isn’t the answer – you simply need to carve out some time and an area where you’re able to release the pressure of the day and enjoy a moment of peace and quiet or fun and entertainment.
You may need to get organized for that to happen, or change something big about your life, such as who’s in it or where you work. You’re not stuck in the situation – it’s just that you’ve been avoiding making those tough decisions.
When you’re dealing with a chronic stress situation that’s wreaking havoc on your life, you start to change. Your entire demeanor – the tone of your voice, the way you walk, the expression on your face – is all altered in a way that shows the world you’re under duress.
Or maybe you’re aware, but you feel helpless about changing your ways – especially when burdened with so much stress lately. You need to start thinking about how you’ve been treating others.
Start with your kids – have you noticed that you’re short with them lately? If they don’t do something on the first request, you lash out maybe more than you should? They won’t tell you, because it’s intimidating, and you don’t want to ruin your relationship with them.
How about your spouse? Does everything they do and say get on your nerves lately? Do you find yourself avoiding time with them or not reacting whenever they try to interact with you?
Maybe you’re feeling like every second you have to be at work is a nightmare – you can’t stand your coworkers, your boss or even your customers and clients. This is a sign that you’re not handling your stress load very well.
You may shut yourself off from the world, or worse – lash out at others with yelling and a very visible, irritated demeanor. And maybe they even did something to deserve your wrath, who knows?
But the fact is, you not being able to handle life around others is a detriment to you – no one else. It’s you who will suffer and you don’t want to go about your day feeling like this.
So the first thing you need to do is analyze your true nature of interaction with others. Then, learn how you can diffuse your anger or irritation before you react to whatever has annoyed you.
It may be something as simple as taking a deep breath before you speak, or you may have to dig down and do some introspective work on yourself and why you’re not handling stress very well.
Confusion is one of the many symptoms of stress overload. You may get brain fog, or simply feel so overwhelmed that you can’t cope and you can’t focus on how to get better – it’s all too much.
But you have to be proactive about this. You have to simmer down and get unfrazzled so that you can learn to exist in life without a negative reaction to everything and everyone.
The first thing you need to do is take inventory of what’s going on that has you feeling so undone. Is it relationships? Finances? Physical issues? It can be a combination of many things, but you need to stop, spend a few minutes and write it all down.
Something might annoy you, like the kids not picking up their toys at the end of the day, but it’s a minor irritant and not as stressful as a coworker who dumps their entire workload on you every day while they surf the ‘net.
Once you get everything rated, start from the minor irritations and work your way up. Smaller things will be easier for you to handle, and as each one lifts with a solutions, you’ll feel stronger in handling the major issues.
For example, it may be as simple as promising the kids that if they pick up their toys every night, they each get to choose one family meal per week – or maybe you give them each an allowance for doing it.
You also want to have a back up plan. Think about if things don’t go your way when you try to solve the problem. What then? You want to have a reaction ready so that you don’t fly off the handle and feel overwhelmed again.
You also want to have some scenarios in place so that you can find a backup solution. For example, you could approach your coworker to discuss the issue, or simply refuse to take on their additional work. Or, you may have to take the matter up with your supervisor, but being ready calms your nerves.
Whenever stress takes a toll over the course of weeks, months or years, your emotional state seeps into your physical health, and you begin to suffer the consequences of not handling stress in a better way.
You might suffer from pain. Pain is a direct result of feeling too much stress, so you might suddenly notice you’re getting more headaches. Maybe they even feel so strong, they resemble migraines.
You can suffer from other aches and pains, too. For example, most people who have stress at work end up experiencing pain in their neck or back from time to time. The stress is a result of tension in your muscles.
Hair loss is another common physical side effect from stress that both men and women endure. You may notice it a little at first, and suddenly your entire hair line has changed due to the extreme amount of stress that you’re under.
Insomnia, or a lack of ability to get and stay asleep, is yet another physical toll stress takes on your body. Sleep is crucial to helping you manage stress, and you may find it hard to sleep when stressed – but when you don’t get sleep, it stresses you out even more – it’s a horrible cycle.
Digestive issues often show up as physical symptoms from stress overload. This can range from constipation to irritable bowel syndrome. You might have an upset stomach, acid reflux or any sort of digestive problem when your stress levels are high.
So whenever you begin noticing physical ailments during particularly stressful times, make sure you implement a good health regiment. Start with sleep. You want to improve your sleep hygiene so that you’re easily able to fall asleep each night.
Next, work on nutrition. Eat foods that sustain your energy levels and don’t cause a crash in energy, like processed, sugary foods do. Add exercise to the mix once you master nutrition.
Movement will help boost endorphins. And then, start pampering yourself with emotional stress relief options that help you relax and take some of the load off of you each and every day.
It’s unfortunate when you accept the way life is – even if your stress levels are out of control. But that’s what many people do. They think this is just how life is, and maybe someday it’ll turn around for them.
Life doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to accept that overbearing stress is a normal way to live. You simply have to make a firm decision to change the way things are for you.
Once upon a time, you had dreams of how life would be. You knew you wanted relationships to be a certain way. You had an idea of what kind of career you wanted. But maybe things didn’t turn out that way.
Now is the time to start planning for a renovation of your life – one with far less stress. One where you’re surrounded by people you get along with and people you love and who love you.
This new life you create begins with new routines that make you feel satisfied each day – whether it’s how you wake up and start your day or how you end it each night. You might add exercise to the mix, or meal planning.
Shake things up with a new schedule. If you’ve been used to going to bed at 11 PM and waking up at 5, switch it to an earlier bedtime so you get one extra hour of sleep each night.
If certain things cause you daily stress, such as traffic jams, look for another route that’s less congested – and invest in an audiobook to listen to as you drive instead of depressing news talk radio to start your day.
