With 75% of adults in American alone reporting to have experienced an increase of stress levels in the past year, it’s clear to see that stress is now tainting the lives of millions. Whether it’s work-related stress or triggered by factors in your personal life, it’s likely you’ve experienced some form of stress before throughout your lifetime.
However, if stress is chronic, it can result in an array of severe symptoms if not safely reduced. Many people assume that conquering stress involves months of expensive treatment, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! Simply changing your mind-set and implementing stress-reducing techniques in your day-to-day life is far more effective than you may think – read on to discover how to feel refreshed and reduce your stress almost instantly.
Exercise
Exercise is often seen as just something people do to become healthier and lose weight, but it has many benefits in helping you feel less stressed too. Dependent on your fitness levels, doing just 20 minutes of exercise per day will not only distract you from stress-inducing environments, but will also provide an outlet for your frustration and improve your mood due to releasing endorphins.
Whether it’s just going for a walk in the park each day or going all-out in the gym, exercise will act as a heavy-duty stress reducer and will make you far less reactive to stressors – all whilst keeping you fit, slim and healthy!
Make time to relax
In today’s modern society, leading a busy life is seen as ‘normal’. Especially if you’re a parent working a full-time job, finding some free time to take for yourself can appear almost impossible to achieve.
But, if you plan ahead and put aside some ‘me’ time, you’ll be able to take on a new hobby, meet new people, or simply relax at home doing something you enjoy. Whether it’s spending half an hour meditating, reading your favorite book or using the therapeutic colouring book app by Apalon Apps, finding something you enjoy and making the effort to take time out to do it is a sure-fire way to reduce stress and eliminate negativity.
Cut out anything that’s making you stressed
Within reason, cutting stressors out of your life is almost guaranteed to reduce your feelings of stress. However, this is much easier said than done and can require planning if your prominent stressors involve your job or relationships.
Job satisfaction is key to increasing happiness at work and, if you’re unhappy and ensure you have another job lined up, leave if you can! And if you’re feeling anxious and unhappy regarding a romantic relationship, compare how your life would be if they weren’t in it. Happier? Then end it.
Stress can often take over if it’s not dealt with and kept under control. If you, at any point, feel that stress is dominating your life, it’s high-time you implement the above stress-reducers and get yourself on the road to eliminating unhappiness and stress for good!
Sophia Wallace is a busy Mom of two daughters who runs her own business from home whilst juggling the demands of young family life where ‘mommy’ is the most overused word!