Simple Stress-Beating Tips for People with Chronic Stress and Anxiety
Living with chronic stress and anxiety can impact every facet of your life. While professional treatment and medications can help, it’s also a good idea to arm yourself with effective coping strategies that can help you beat the symptoms of stress and anxiety when they rear their ugly heads. Because everyone is different, there’s no universally effective set of tactics that combat stress equally for every individual. That said, there are some strategies that have been proven to reduce anxious symptoms in many people.
Get Enough Sleep
The importance of getting adequate sleep can’t be overstressed. Sleep is so crucial for both physical and emotional health, giving your body the critical time it needs to rejuvenate and repair. When you’re not getting enough sleep, you might find yourself more easily angered, frequently stressed out, and experiencing increased anxiety simply because your body hasn’t had an opportunity to rebuild those essential stress-fighting reserves.
De-Clutter Your Environment
If you find yourself feeling anxious and stressed at work, take a look around your office or workspace. Is it messy and cluttered, with sticky notes attached to every available surface? Your physical environment has a big impact on your emotional state.
Clean up the clutter and aim for a minimalist, organized space, and you’ll eliminate any stress associated with locating that important memo plus benefit from the general calming atmosphere that a neat, clutter-free space cultivates. The same holds true for your living spaces, such as your living room, home office, and bedroom.
Practice Conscious Breathing
Pay attention to how you’re breathing. If your breaths are short and rapid, it’s a good sign that you’re stressed and anxious (as if you didn’t already know). However, by consciously breathing and intentionally taking slow, deep breaths, you’ll immediately feel more relaxed.
Deep, conscious breathing requires focus, distracting your mind from the fears and thoughts that are stressing you out. There are several relaxation techniques utilizing various approaches to intentional breathing that can help you feel more relaxed in just 10 minutes or less.
Exercise Regularly
Exercise is good for so much more than weight loss and strengthening. In fact, it’s as good for your mind as it is for your body, causing the release of endorphins in the brain that give you feel-good vibes and help the body combat stress. That’s why you’ve probably heard several people say that they go for a jog or run when they’re feeling particularly stressed out; high-intensity aerobic exercise is the best way to elicit the release of endorphins that will provide both immediate and lasting stress-fighting benefits.
Alternatively, you might turn to a more relaxing, meditative form of exercise such as yoga or Pilates. The lower intensity of these exercises combined with the stretching and toning benefits make them highly effective at fighting stress and building strength and flexibility. A combination of both aerobic and lower-intensity exercises is the ultimate mix for overall health and well-being.
Eat Right for Optimal Balance
Much like exercise, the foods that you fuel your body with have as much of an impact on your emotional well-being as they do your waistline. In fact, researchers have found that the right balance of bacteria in the gut is essential for sound mental health. While the right balance can often be achieved with a healthy diet, a daily dose of probiotics restores the healthy bacteria in your gut to ward off the effects of the unhealthy critters that regularly populate your digestive tract.
In addition to a daily probiotic supplement, aim for consuming a diet consisting of nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, proteins and whole-grain, complex carbohydrates (if you can tolerate gluten) for the right balance of energy and essential vitamins and minerals.
Identifying coping strategies that help ward off the symptoms of stress and anxiety is crucial. Not only will you feel better, but you’ll reduce your risk of self-medicating by turning to drugs or alcohol in order to drown out these unpleasant feelings. If you’ve already turned to substances as a coping mechanism, seek a dual diagnosis treatment program that can effectively address both your anxiety and your addiction. In recovery, these stress-reducing strategies will become an important part of your arsenal.
Image via Pixabay by skeeze
Jennifer Scott knows how difficult it can be to live with anxiety and depression. She has experienced both since she was in her teens. Today, she writes about the ups and downs of her mental illness on SpiritFinder.org. The blog serves as both a source of information for people with mental illness and a forum where those living with anxiety and depression can come together to discuss their experiences.
Jennifer came across my website and contacted me with a list of resources to help others. You may find them on my website link – resources. She enjoys helping others and wrote this post about Simple Stress-Beating Tips. I hope you find this information helpful. Please leave your comments.
Author Christine J. Gilbert
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