Health x Wellness
8 Effective Tips for Relieving Stress and Anxiety
Deal with negative emotions appropriately with these tips
Anxiety kicks in when you’re too stressed out and exhausted. Not only does it affect your confidence levels and nerves, it can also have an impact on your well-being. Illnesses such as diabetes, stroke or even heart attack could develop under overwhelming stress levels.
Here are 8 tips to help you combat stress and anxiety effectively:
Overcome negative feelings
Stress is inevitable in daily activities but avoid creating unnecessary stress on yourself. Excessive worrying leads to nervousness, dread, an upsetting stomach and even difficulty in breathing.
Make positive interactions with people around you and sustain positive thoughts as well. Avoid keeping your feelings to yourself as it will create unhappiness within yourself, and increasing your stress levels. Voice out if needed so that you would be able to lift the weight off your shoulders.
Exercise
Regular workouts help to combat both stress and anxiety. Call friends along to run or swim with and reduce stress hormones through endorphins released during exercise. These chemicals help to trigger a positive feeling, helping to improve your mood.
Regular exercise also helps to improve your sleep quality, a contributing factor to your stress levels. Your self-confidence will also be boosted, allowing you to be more competent and confident in yourself.
Meditate
Meditation relieves chronic pain and stress, allowing you to take control of your emotions and thoughts better. You can also use essential oils or scented candles to calm your nerves and reduce stress and anxiety.
Aromatherapy is also another effective and effortless solution to positively influence your mood and hormone production.
Minimise alcohol
Drinking lots of alcohol is an unhealthy and ineffective way of handling stress. It only acts as a temporary relief but would actually cause more problems in the long run, especially when you develop an alcohol addiction.
Learn to reject people who offer you a drink when you’re stressed. Be in control of your behavior and go for healthy options such as teas.
Spend time with family and friends
Social engagement is the most efficient method of relieving stress when you have the support from your friends and family. Assurance from them helps to boost your confidence and make you feel safe. This positively calms your nervous system, relieving you from stress.
Opening up to people is not a sign of weakness, but enhances your relationship with others. Having close friends give you a sense of belonging and self-worth whereas isolating yourself will only make you more vulnerable to stress.
Listen to soothing music
Listening to slow-paced instrumental music lowers your blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones. Sounds of nature also help to calm your body and mind.
You can also add relaxation time in your schedule for you to take a break from your daily activities. This helps you to clear your thoughts and regain composure before starting on your work again.
Avoid procrastination
Always keep track of your priorities. Procrastination will cause you a great deal of stress when you have to rush your work or to places. This affects both your health and sleep quality as well.
It’s best to stick to your daily to-do list so that not only can you improve your organising skills, you can also stay productive through the day.
Take a deep breath
If you are unable to vent your stress anywhere, just take deep breaths. It helps you slow your heart rate and regain control of your mind, allowing you to process your thoughts clearer.
To be effective in dealing with your stress, you could identify habits or behaviours that add on to your stress. Practice thinking positively every day and aim to have sufficient sleep.
