Free and Easy Strategies for Effective Stress Management — Work out NOW
Stress is a natural part of life, ranging from minor difficulties to catastrophic emergencies. And, though you may not always be able to control your circumstances, you can always control how you react to them.
When stress becomes severe or chronic, it can have a negative impact on your health. That is why it is critical to have stress relievers that can soothe both your mind and body.
And what works for you at home may not work for you at work or in the community (dancing around your living room might be helpful but dancing in the grocery store might not be).
As a result, it’s critical to have a variety of stress-relief methods at your disposal. Then you’ll be able to choose the ideal plan for your current situation.
Chronic stress and worry endanger your health. Chronic stress has been connected to a variety of serious illnesses and has been found to impair immune function — neither of which we require.
We’ve compiled a list of 13 coping strategies for you. None of these things are expensive, and they can all be done at home (or at least in your neighborhood).
13 Ways to Manage Your Stress and Find Calm on Your Own
2. Try a Grounding Technique
Try one of these grounding exercises if stress and worry are threatening to overtake you. They work by bringing you back into the present now, away from your anxiety-producing thoughts, the majority of which either dwell on the past or worry on the future.
The “five senses” strategy is a simple one to remember. This is how you do it: Take a moment to consider what your five senses are experiencing. What do you think you hear? What do you smell? What sensations do you have on your skin? What do you notice? What do you think?
1. Take a Few Deep Breaths
If you’re like most people, you probably respond to feelings of emotional distress by taking shorter, shallower, more rapid breaths. This means your body gets less oxygen, which in turn affects your ability to think clearly and function — and that can exacerbate that tangle of emotions.
Taking a few deep breaths will replenish your body’s oxygen supply, and as a bonus, give you a few moments to pause, which can also help you calm down.
When you feel yourself getting stressed out, stop and breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose, then exhale through pursed lips. Do this several times until you feel yourself settle.
Several variations of this exercise exist, so play around until you find something that works best for you.
3. Limit Your Time Online
Many studies have identified a substantial link between excessive screen usage and an increased risk of anxiety and depression.
By the way, this is not an argument for complete abstinence from social media, smartphones, and the internet. These items can add a lot of worth to our lives.
However, even nice things may be terrible for us if we don’t limit our consumption, so if being online is causing you a lot of stress, set some limitations.
One alternative is to set aside an hour each morning and evening to check. Another alternative is to provide phone-free hours after a particular time. A third alternative is to disable your phone’s alerts.
5. Write Your Feelings Down
Journaling is one of the most popular coping mechanisms for mental health issues, and for good reason. According to researchers, writing down your sentiments can help you make sense of them. Feelings become intelligible, clearer, and easier to handle instead of racing about in a chaotic whirlwind of stimulation.
4. Spend Time in Nature
The remedy for what ails you may be right outside your front door.
Spending time in nature has been shown by studies to alleviate anxiety, tension, and sadness. It appears to reduce cortisol, which is released in reaction to stress, and is connected with decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex — the portion of the brain that is active while you are engaged in repeated, stressful activities.
City residents, there is still good news for you: Researchers discovered that listening to soothing outdoor noises or gazing at trees and other vegetation has the same effect as spending time in nature.
So put on a mix of ambient ocean sounds, look at some forest photographs, and let your worry melt away.
6. Meditate
Meditation has gotten a lot of press in recent years as a one-size-fits-all solution for everything from a lack of focus to anxiety to boosting your productivity.
What makes meditation so potent is that it helps you develop awareness of your own thoughts, which is the first step to being able to manage them more effectively. If you can catch yourself getting carried away by your anxiety-producing thoughts, then you’ll be better able to redirect them in ways that are more productive.
So you want to try meditation but you’re not sure where to begin? Try one of these seven cheap or free meditation apps. Make an effort to meditate at least once a day for a few days.
7. Drink Some Water
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Feeling anxious? Stop what you are doing, pour yourself a glass of water and drink it down.
Researchers have found that drinking water can lower a person’s stress and anxiety levels. Our bodies are primarily made of water, and when we’re dehydrated, we don’t function as well as we could.
8. Learn a New Skill
Learning a new skill can occupy your brain so thoroughly that it leaves little room for the rumination that can lead to anxiety and stress.
Researchers have found that learning a new skill can be a great buffer against workplace stress, and that holds true in our day-to-day life as well.
So by committing yourself to learning how to play a new instrument, do carpentry or knit, you’ll boost your mental health too. That’s a definite win-win!
9. Reach Out to Friends and Family
Tight social relationships — and the cooperation and resource-sharing that come with them — are how we’ve survived this long as a species.
The health risks of loneliness are well-known by this point: Isolation can suppress your immunity, lead to greater inflammation of your internal organs and leave you vulnerable should you face a crisis and need help.
Thanks to technology, we have a lot of ways to stay connected. Set up a group chat with a group of friends and exchange funny memes. Schedule video chats with friends and family members.
Or you could just pick up the phone.
10. Work Out
Exercise flushes your body with endorphins, which are the hormones that make you feel good.
You don’t have to go to a gym to work out. All you need is a bit of space, and you can do a full bodyweight workout. You can do yoga, or even go for a walk, which is probably the most underrated form of exercise.
Find something you like doing, and do it at least three or four times a week. What you end up doing doesn’t matter as much as being consistent.
Pro Tip
Here’s how to make weights and other workout gear at home.
11. Declutter Your House
It doesn’t matter whether you’re KonMari-ing or Swedish death cleaning — the mental health benefits of decluttering are well documented. It’s hard to feel restful and at ease in a house filled with clutter.
Start taking some time each day to deal with clutter. This can mean setting up a new organizational system or shoving a bunch of junk in a box in the garage until you feel like dealing with it.
As the clutter vanishes from sight, your home will become calmer and more restful.
12. Create a Schedule
Establishing a daily routine will help you prioritize the things you need to take care of yourself, while also removing the need to make decisions from scratch. (Decision fatigue is real.)
Take some time to create a schedule for yourself and your family, and then do your best to stick with it.
13. Get Enough Sleep
Sleep and stress are intimately connected. If you are stressed out, you can’t sleep. If you can’t sleep, you’re more prone to becoming stressed out because your ability to cope is depleted. It’s a nasty cycle that can be hard to break.
If you’re struggling to sleep at night, try these tricks:
- No screen time for an hour before bed.
- Limit your caffeine intake earlier in the day.
- Don’t drink alcohol before you go to bed.
- Exercise during the day.
- Write down what’s bothering you.
WHAT EVERYONE OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT THEDAMAGING EFFECTS OF STRESS AND THE POWERMINERAL EXPERTS SAY PROTECTS YOU
Do you feel stressed? Perhaps you’re feeling anxious, worried, or frazzled?
Day in and day out, is it hard to think clearly, do you struggle with brain fog, have trouble focusing, and feel as if you can’t get anything done?…If this sounds familiar, you’ll want to pay close attention to what I have to say next.
Because constant feelings of stress and anxiety could be signs that something else is seriously wrong…something lacking in your body that’s sabotaging your ability to effectively think, create, follow through, get things done, and more importantly…
Deal with stress.
The worst part?
Most people have NO IDEA what it is or why it’s happening.
I’m talking about the lack of a vital nutrient so critical, it’s used by your body in over 600 chemical reactions. It’s also one of seven essential macrominerals that must be consumed daily in large amounts.
Yet it’s estimated that more than 60% of Americans are deficient.
Why?
Because the soil levels of this health-boosting mineral are lower than they’ve ever been. Plus, chemicals in our water supply make what little amounts we do get less available. Add in the daily use of sugar and caffeine, which also depletes this mineral, and it’s no wonder most of us are lacking.
And if that wasn’t bad enough…
High levels of stress further deplete your supply.
Bottom line…
Low levels of this mineral can wipe you out.
And even if you do your best to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it can STILL happen to you.
It DOES NOT discriminate…
It can rob years of quality from your life and steal away your productivity.
Imagine, being stuck on a mental hamster wheel for the rest of your life…never really getting anything done. Always stressed, always feeling overwhelmed, and your best thinking clouded behind a sea of thick, dense fog.
Well, that’s exactly what can and will happen if you don’t get this deficiency under control.
So make sure you read this entire report all the way to the end.
Because, in the next few minutes I’ll reveal exactly what this mineral is, the 7 different forms this mineral comes in (you need all 7), and a simple solution that delivers the highest quality and the purest forms of each.