Stress is part of every day life, and it happens to everyone. This does not mean that you must deal with it the way you currently are. The only problem is that stress has to be dealt with if it’s causing you significant problems. Having severe stress can lead to chronic issues that will be hard to eliminate if the problem becomes second nature. It can lead to things such as anxiety and depression because of your inability to deal with it on the go. These are the 10 amazing ways to deal with stress.
—
Stress, be it physiological, biological, or psychological, is an organism’s response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body’s method of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge, or physical and psychological barrier. Stimuli that alter an organism’s environment are responded to by multiple systems in the body. In humans and most mammals, the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are the two major systems that respond to stress.
—
The sympathoadrenal medullary (SAM) axis may activate the fight-or-flight response through the sympathetic nervous system. This dedicates energy to more relevant bodily systems to acute adaptation to stress, while the parasympathetic nervous system returns the body to homeostasis. The second major physiological stress-response center, the HPA axis, regulates the release of cortisol. This influences many bodily functions such as metabolic, psychological and immunological functions. The SAM and HPA axes are regulated by several brain regions, including the limbic system, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, and stria terminalis.
—
Through these mechanisms, stress can alter memory functions, reward, immune function, metabolism and susceptibility to diseases. Disease risk is particularly pertinent to mental illnesses, whereby chronic or severe stress remains a common risk factor for several mental illnesses. One system suggests there are five types of stress labeled “acute time-limited stressors”, “brief naturalistic stressors”, “stressful event sequences”, “chronic stressors”, and “distant stressors”.
—
An acute time-limited stressor involves a short-term challenge, while a brief natural stressor involves an event that is normal but nevertheless challenging. A stressful event sequence is a stressor that occurs, and then continues to yield stress into the immediate future. A chronic stressor involves exposure to a long-term stressor, and a distant stressor is a stressor that is not immediate.
The 10 Amazing Ways to Deal With Chronic Stress
1. Diet
Your diet can highly influence how you feel and combat stressful situations. If you’re eating an unhealthy diet, it can be a sign of and contributor to your staggering stress levels. The more you consider your health with the right foods, the better you will feel. While it comes with time and patience, you will eventually see the results of a good diet. Fortunately, many of them happen almost immediately. Since the results of a healthy diet can reduce the effects of stress on your body, you have nothing to lose.
—
As long as you’re consuming a healthy amount of leafy greens and vegetables in general, you should be fine. A healthy balance of fruits and even protein will be of use as well. If you are avoiding highly processed and refined foods while also getting your micro and macro nutrients, you’re doing well. In addition, you should be sure to consider your vitamins and minerals in your diet. If you are eating healthy, this should come naturally. Just be aware that sugar is your enemy if you’re looking to gain a helping hand.
—
Along with this, you will gain discipline and the satisfaction of goal accomplishment. If you lack a steady goal in your life, eating healthy will help you lose weight and take additional stress away. This is because of a reduction of fat, which also comes with added benefits. If you eat healthy, you will find yourself more satisfied with less calories. This is why you should avoid eating excessive carbs unless you’re burning it through exercise. This is why sugar should be avoided, but if you cannot avoid it, be sure to exercise moderation.
2. Exercise
Exercise is a great way to reduce stress because of it’s ability to stifle the chemicals that cause it. If you exercise, not only will you be exhausted, you will also find yourself relieved of other worries. This is because exercise offers an escape that causes stress, but it’s stress with results that allows a cathartic release of other problems. You’ll release endorphins and strengthen your heart, giving you stress resilience and body protection. This is more reason to exercise for at least 150 minutes a week, where a brisk walk will do the trick.
—
You will lose weight, and thus, create less physical repercussion on the body as a whole. On top of that, resistance training exercise will give you some added benefits. You can gain muscle to help you keep the weight off, thus giving you more reason to avoid unwanted physical stress. You will feel good and accomplished afterwards, which gives you a boost along with a better looking mirror.
The 10 Amazing Ways to Deal With Chronic Stress
3. Mindfulness
Attempting to eliminate your problems through a means of ignoring them may seem strange, but it might just work. This is what mindfulness is seen as, but it’s not quite what it entails. While you may be finding ways to ignore your problems, you are actually trying to find ways to redirect your pain. I mean, what can you do if you are constantly stressed out? You can sit there and unproductively deal with your stress the hard way, or you can nip it in the bud with a little bit of practice.
—
You can do it while walking, talking, thinking, or taking a dump, but any excuse you can use to do it will help. It gives you more reason to kill two birds with one stone, as you can walk, get through your thoughts, and have time for mindfulness during it all. You are simply trying to live in the moment with no cost to productivity. At least that’s the way it should be if you are actually doing it correctly. You can even listen to some music along the way, which helps give you an outlet for your emotions. While our mind may not always be the source of stress, it always makes a difference to clear it.
—
Meditation is often associated with it and essentially means that you are clearing your mind. All you need to do is close your eyes, take a deep breathe, count to 5, and then breathe out. Carry the same mindset over to basic mindfulness and practice it every day for at least 15 minutes. Keep doing this while focusing on your breathing, and you will eventually allow your thoughts to affect you less. It’s not as hard as it seems, and it seems kind of easy to begin with it. While it may not always be possible or the most useful, it certainly helps when it all becomes too much.
4. Fasting
Fasting is another means of stress to test with results that keep you above the rest. This means that the more you fast, the easier it becomes. With time, it becomes easier, even if it means that you’re not eating when you want, at least to begin with. The process of fasting involves an abstinence from food for at least 16 hours. This will give your body time to recover without the process of digestion getting in the way. There are two types of fasting — intermittent and prolonged fasting. Intermittent fasting involves a fast between each day, while prolonged fasting involves skipping at least one day of eating.
—
The benefits of fasting involve mental stress relief via BDNF and growth hormone release. This means that your body will be relieved of it’s typical duties to keep your body in high function for repair. You will also gain an ability for your body to recycle old and damaged proteins that reduce inflammation. This process is called autophagy, and it’s great for protection against cancer and other harmful diseases. While it may be a little stressful to begin a fast if you are starting out, it becomes easier. With time, you will find yourself feeling better and finding the little bit of pain worth it.
The 10 Amazing Ways to Deal With Chronic Stress
5. Planning
Making sure that you have things in order is a great way to reduce stressors in your life. You will feel like you have things and order and will be able to execute plans better. This means that creating a routine through a schedule will help reduce the amount of stress you have. The less stress you have, the more the routine will become easier to handle as you go through your day to day tasks. The best way to plan is to make a list of things that you want to accomplish — preferable through a written list — throughout the day.
—
This plan is a part of your daily plan, and to begin with, you will find great satisfaction in accomplishing just that. Over time, you will probably begin to realize that writing stuff down helps you not forget and stay focused. At the end of the day, you will find that you have accomplished your tasks and feeling great about it. Without the hassle of trying to keep up getting in the way, a day will go by without the typical anxiety. Since most of our stress comes from too much to do with so little time, it’s a great way to keep yourself concentrated.
6. Creating
Putting your skills to the test has been known to give you a boost of stress relief and motivation. Creating something gives you an outlet to pour all of those negative emotions into. It can be making music, drawing a picture, or even fixing the car engine — there’s no end to it. As long as you are being or feeling productive in the act, you are doing the right thing. It does not have to be much, but the sense of accomplishment will do wonders for you. There is no better way than to do something that you like doing or are good at.
—
If you are good at something, it probably means that you practiced to get there. This also means that making a habit of doing something that you would not normally do worthwhile. At the very least, you will be doing something that will keep you busy and having a good time. At it’s best, you will be having the time of your life. While it may seem like something that you would do naturally, it still warrants a place on this list. To some, it may seem obvious, but the constructive energy of passion is not always so easily recognized.
The 10 Amazing Ways to Deal With Chronic Stress
7. Moderation
Tempering your expectations and giving yourself time to simply breathe is great for stress relief. Avoiding all that comes from a busy life is sometimes all a person needs. If you are not moderating yourself, you will find yourself becoming less patient. Without patience, you will continue to strive for overindulgence, giving you less time to retreat when the time is right. It’s about creating reasonable boundaries for yourself without taking things too far. You will more than likely find more satisfaction.
—
While it’s good to have a small amount of stress in moderation, it’s never good to have it all of the time. This means that keeping an eye on how you structure your day and seeing what makes you tick. If something is too much, change it around so that you have time for the important things. It does not mean that you shouldn’t work, but it should mean to make your work easier. If you struggle with your day, look at things you can cut out and restructure to keep yourself in good gear. Even if it’s chronic stress, you can make some simple changes that can make a huge difference.
8. Supplements
There are plenty of supplements on the market that can help your state of mind and reduce your stress. While they will not change everything, they can certainly work wonders for your psyche. Since stress is a chemical reaction that is caused by both physical and mental stimulus, it can be changed. This is where supplements can help, be it a probiotic or something that affects the brain. If your mind is affected first, it’s typically a visceral and learned response. If it’s your body that’s been damaged, it can lead to a chemical reaction that affects the mind.
—
This does not mean that you shouldn’t get your micro and macro nutrients through a diet. You should be in constant check to be sure that you get most of your vitamins and minerals through your eating plan. A supplement can only do so much to compensate for a bad diet. If you don’t take your eating seriously, you will do little in favor of getting the proper nutrition. This means that you should treat a supplement as a supplementation and not something more. It will come in handy in addition to a diet and as something that will give you that extra boost.
The 10 Amazing Ways to Deal With Chronic Stress
9. Therapy
Seeing a doctor or therapist will give you some greatly needed help. There’s no obligation to go out and conquer the world. While it may seem exciting, it’s not always worth it to be a risk rash. Sometimes taking your time and visiting a therapist or consulting with a doctor can help. It does not mean that you have to take a medication, but it can mean that some talk therapy could help you. You can even talk with someone on the phone or reach out to a hotline to speak of what ails you.
—
The point here is that there is no fear in speaking up, being sure to avoid carrying those balled up emotions. It does not mean that someone will judge you, but even if so, it’s worth it to speak with someone anyway. Whatever can help you from a therapist’s session or a psychologist’s appointment will breed success. While something like medication from a psychiatrist can help, it’s typically last resort, so do not go in expecting it. There’s typically no need for it, but it rare cases, there may be. Just know that there’s always someone out there willing to listen. If someone is listening, it’s therapy in and of itself.
10. Keeping Busy
Trying to stay busy can occasionally be a challenge, but some of us cannot avoid it. While we are always preoccupying our time to some degree, there are better ways to go about it. Even if we’re bored and sitting there, it’s time well spent, and these are little affirmations that can help us. Just because we’re not out and truly preoccupied or making money does not mean that it’s a waste. Also, what good does it do to be negative? If we allow one negative thought to penetrate us, it will interfere all day. This means that finding better ways to think about things to get things done is important.
—
Being sure to stay busy means that you aren’t just sitting there in your head. This can contribute to anxiety, but time alone or thinking is great, at least in moderation. While it can help us reflect on what bothers us, you can only take the thinking so far. If you find yourself depressed from all of the alone time, it’s probably time to make a change. This means finding productive things to do. Even if it’s something small, it does not matter. As long as the sense of adventure and gratification is there, that’s all you need. Just be sure to reinforce that it’s all worthwhile in your head, because you can’t take back time.
Final Thoughts: The 10 Amazing Ways to Deal With Chronic Stress
That’s about it! As long as you find yourself getting some relief from the necessary stress of day to day life, you are on the right path. Don’t give up, and as long as you take these things into consideration, you will succeed. On this journey, you will be making the progress you have always needed. Just be sure that you understand that when fighting stress, there’s is stress along the way. There’s no shame in accruing some battle scars along the way.
Blog Page: https://creatorconquer.com/bloggers-paradise/
Godspeed
