31 Jan How To Stop Feeling So Stressed Out
To altogether avoid and overcome stress, is virtually impossible. Stress doesn’t have to be considered a and thing. Life with some stresses means you meet your deadlines, tick off your to-do list and reach your goals.
Forget everything you think you know about de-stressing. Refiner 29 explains how to MANAGE your stress so that it doesn’t take over your life or wreck your health.
Below are the best four science-backed strategies to roll with the stresses.
Why should you care about stress?
Not to stress you out or anything, but the mind and body effects of too much stress are very real. Chronic stress has been linked to the developments of a myriad of health issues, from minor stomach upset to substance abuse issues, depression, and even cardiovascular disease.
For every stressful demand, big or small, your brain initiates a complicated chain reaction. The short story is, it starts with a distress signal from your brain that tells your body to pump out hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones speed your heart rate, open your lungs, and sharpen your senses.
It’s a response designed to help you deal with threats, and it’s supposed to calm down once the threat has passed. But if you can’t give your body the help it needs to relax, being on alert all the time can eventually start to take a toll on your body.
Life will always be demanding and changing. Therefore the real keys to managing your stress depend on your ability to ride the stress wave, not stop it or slow it down. Thankfully, scientists take this seriously.
Four science-backed strategies to roll with it
Aromatherapy: The benefits of essential oils are vast and at the end, who doesn’t like the smell good!? We love to have essential oils burning in our yoga classes here at Power Living to create a zen-like zone.
Start a sleep routine: Those bedtime dreads of tossing and turning, counting sheep and blatantly staring up at the ceiling. Stress and insomnia look the same to our bodies and can turn into a vicious cycle. You can’t fall asleep because you’re feeling stressed. Hence you stress now because you can’t get your proper sleep. Therefore a nighttime routine can look anything like going to bed at the same time every night. Limiting screen time before bed or reading a few pages of your favourite book before turning off the lights.
Practice forgiveness: A study published in the Journal of Health Psychology found a link between forgiving and protection against the nasty side effects of stress on mental health. So, most importantly, in the words of ‘Frozen’, “let it go!”
Get a desk plant: For all those desk sitters, getting up in intervals and walking around outside is fundamental to a better workday. Therefore bring the outside in as the CO2 in plants increases your oxygen levels. You are creating a more calming and natural space for you in what may be a full air-conditioned or artificially lit workspace.
Give your mind some well-deserved time out.
If you are stressed out, don’t forget to give your mind some rest. There hasn’t been a better time than now to start your meditation journey. The mental and health benefits will turn your life around. Have you never done it before? All good. Don’t worry; we won’t leave you hanging here, trying to figure it out on your own. How about you have access to Australia’s best yoga teachers and all just a click away? Head over to Power Living‘s online yoga studio, yogaholics, and access hundreds of different guided meditations and yoga classes. Start your free 10- day here.
To get you started, we have selected a beginner’s guide to meditation for you. Perfect if you haven’t done it before and want to know all the basics. Let Eliza talk you through everything from how to set up, what meditation is and what it does to your brain and body. It will blow your mind. Then you are perfectly set up to dive into any of the many guided meditations on the site. You won’t regret it, promise. Just be warned, it can get addictive. You will be a yogaholic in no time.
Let’s de-stress together, yogis.
This article has been edited and re-published from Refinery 29.
Written by Refinery 29
