Stress is a feeling that everyone experiences in their lives. People of every age deal with stress: children may be stressed about exams, while adults may be stressed about finances or difficult situations.
Exposure to stress for a long duration can lead to many health issues. Hence, managing stress healthily is a must. You must learn to manage stress as it will help you develop positive thinking, and allow you to feel happier.
Why Should You Work On Managing Stress?
Often, we assume that the feeling of stress will go away with time, this may be true in some situations, however, in others, it may not. When you suppress the feelings that make you feel stressed, it leads to anger outbursts, and frustration, and may even cause burnout. To avoid this, there are steps you must take to reduce stress and relax your mind.
When your mind is healthy, so is your body. Hence, it is important that you regularly maintain a balanced lifestyle, and develop habits such as meditating, working out, having a healthy diet, maintaining a proper sleep schedule, etc.
Different Ways Of Managing Stress
1. Meditating
The first step to managing stress is knowing what causes you to feel it. Sometimes, we may overthink and feel stressed without even knowing the reason. However, some signs indicate that you are overthinking or feeling stressed. For example, fidgeting, lip pulling, quivering of legs, etc.
You must practise meditation to overcome this and understand what causes stress. Meditation allows you to relax and reflect on your thoughts. Meditation is highly recommended by professionals as it is a powerful tool that helps you acquire self-realisation and helps with managing stress, anxiety, and overthinking.
Also read The Art Of Mindful Meditation And The Practice Of Letting Go Of Anger
2. Exercising
Exercising regularly is a great way to release stress. Working out releases endorphins, which are hormones responsible for enhancing your mood, and well-being and reducing stress levels. Moreover, it also helps to elevate pain.
When you work out, you not only work on your physical health but also your mental health. Regularly exercising makes your body release muscle tension, improves sleep quality, increases oxygen circulation in your body, and works as a great distraction from your daily life worries.
Exercising is a healthy way to cope with stress. Hence, you must add exercise to your routine. Often, people believe that they do not have the time to work out. However, taking care of your mind and body should be a priority. You can start by going for a walk or a jog for 10 minutes daily. If you do not like cardio, you can choose to practise yoga.
3. Journaling
If you ever feel stressed, and just want to release your emotions and feelings in a safe space, journaling is for you. In a journal, you can write down about your day, and openly express your feelings, thoughts, etc.
Journaling has great benefits such as improving mindfulness, reducing stress, achieving self-discovery, and much more.
Read more: Maintaining A Self-Care Journal: A Step Towards Taking Care Of Yourself
4. Art & Creativity
Arts and crafts is a great way to express yourself freely. Some people do not enjoy writing, or feel stuck while writing. For them, working on arts and crafts is recommended.
If you are more of a creative person, practise your art to relieve stress. For example, if you like to draw, you can do mandala art, if you enjoy singing, you can sing your favourite songs, or if you enjoy dancing you can choreograph a dance for yourself to practise, etc.
Similar to exercising, art and creativity are healthy coping mechanisms for stress and help distract you. Moreover, with the help of art, you can freely express yourself and healthily release your emotions .
5. Social Connections
A simple yet effective way of releasing stress is to spend time with friends. When you keep things to yourself, you are bottling up your emotions which is very unhealthy. However, you can share them with trusted friends and family.
Sharing your feelings with close ones helps you to remove the burden of negative emotions thus freeing yourself of the built-up pressure and tension.
Sometimes, people have difficulty being vulnerable around others. Which makes it difficult for them to share their feelings and emotions. In such instances, one can spend some quality time with friends and share laughter as this helps reduce the feeling of stress, and allows for emotional regulation.
Additional read: Social Support for Stress Relief & Getting Rid Of Bad Habits And Implementing Healthy Ones
6. Positive Thinking
In a situation that causes stress to arise, try to take a deep breath and find something positive in the situation. Many studies show that practising positive thinking can help you feel gratitude and reduce stress. A person who thinks positively is often resilient. This allows them to tackle difficult situations without feeling burdened.
7. Sleep Schedule
Just like our body, our mind needs rest. It is often advised by doctors to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep. When you have sufficient sleep, your cortisol levels are maintained which is responsible for stress hormones in the body.
Lack of sleep can cause irritability, mood swings, stress, and also reduces concentration. Whereas, when you have sufficient sleep, you can concentrate and manage your emotions better. Moreover, having enough sleep is also important to maintain a healthy immunity.
Conclusion
Managing stress is extremely important as failing to do so causes one to have anger outbursts, causes frustration, and may even cause burnout.
To manage stress, you must use some healthy coping mechanisms such as meditating, exercising, journaling, thinking positively, practising gratitude, having a healthy sleep
schedule, creativity, and engaging with social connections.