Stress is an unavoidable part of every human's life. Today's technology-driven world has created many new challenges for us and stress is among one of them. While some amount of stress is reasonable, having too much of it can become a burden.
Fortunately, many techniques and practices can teach you to handle stress effectively. Let's take a look at the top 10 techniques that can help you manage stress.
1. What are your triggers?
First, you need to identify what are the most significant stressors in your life. These are the things that contribute the most to your exhaustion. Is it your job, a relationship, a work project, an upcoming exam, social situations, or even your bad habits?
Recognizing the problem is the first step of the solution. When you assess your life and see where your biggest problems come from, you can develop better approaches to minimize or even completely root out that cause of stress from your life.
2. Go out and Exercise
Staying indoors, without any physical activity for more extended periods can have adverse effects on both your physique and mental health. One of the best ways to relax both your body and mind is to exercise.
Exercise is an excellent way to relieve mental strain. Find a time in your day where you can go for a jog for even 15-20 minutes. If you can't go out, try getting a treadmill or skipping ropes. Over time exercise will start showing its benefits, and you will feel your stress fading away with more activity.
3. Get Proper Sleep
Sleep is a perfect counterbalance to reduce stress after a hard day. But some of us have lousy sleeping routines, and this only makes our stress much worse.
Work on your sleeping habits and make sure you get a proper good night's sleep every day. Put away your phone when going to bed and make sure your bedroom is tranquil and free from any hindrances that might cause sleep problems. Good sleep will always show its benefits, and you will see a significant reduction in your stress.
4. Try Relaxation Techniques
There are numerous tried and tested ways that you can use to reduce stress. Breathing focus, body scans, guided imagery, yoga, mindfulness meditation, repetitive prayers, etc. are examples of some easy yet effective relaxation techniques.
You can try out all of these and stick with the ones that benefit you the most. Some of these methods won't work instantly. They will take some time and effort to reap the full benefits. Like most things, these approaches require some practice, and with time, your situation will improve.
5. Avoid Caffeine, Alcohol and Nicotine
Nicotine, Caffeine, and Alcohol may reduce your stress for the short-term, but their continued use can have lasting damages. Nicotine and Caffeine are stimulants, and instead of making you less stressed, they will only increase your exhaustion even more.
Reduce these intakes as much as you can and try to replace them with herbal teas, natural fruit juices, herbal teas and water. Also, reduce foods high in sugars and maintain a well-balanced diet.
6. Make Time for Hobbies
Sometimes we get so indulged in work that we completely forget to spare some time for our hobbies and leisure time. Engaging in enjoyable activities like sports, playing videogames, listening to music, dancing, shopping etc. can have a soothing impact on both your mind and body.
Enjoying your hobbies will also help your mind freshen up a bit and avoid burnout due to constant working.
7. Take a break
Working too hard for too long can cause exhaustion and ultimately burnout. Having a packed schedule will only make stress worse with time. In order to avoid this burnout, you need to break free from your daily grind and get a break once in a while.
If possible, take a leave from your work and go on a trip with friends to blow off some steam. You can even share responsibilities with other people, such as colleagues or family members or even hire a virtual assistant online to take care of some of your hectic work.
8. Prioritize your health
In our pursuit of success, we often start burning both ends of the candle. Health is often the most ignored aspect of many people's lives. When you are working too hard for too long, the damages start appearing slowly and can often lead to more significant problems in the future. This neglect of health can lead to increased stress alongside other issues with your body.
Take care of your body as well as your mind by keeping a balance between work and personal life. Pay attention to the foods you eat and do adequate exercise each day to keep your body fit and stress-free in the long run.
9. Share and Socialize
Being social has shown many benefits in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. We are naturally social animals, and by being in social gatherings, we avoid many mental health issues in the long run. Talking about your problems with your friends can help lower stress and give you new perspectives on how to deal with your situation.
Keep in touch with your friend circle and hang out with your friends once in a while. You can also try going on trips or watching movies with your friends on weekends so you can go out, socialize, relax and have fun at the same time.
10. Consider Changing Careers
The leading stressor in many people's lives is often their jobs and professions they're associated with. Having an undesirable career or working for longer than necessary results in increased stress almost all the time. Learn to say no to overtime or unimportant requests and start prioritizing your self-care.
Be honest with yourself and consider even changing your career if it's making your life unnecessarily stressful. You will find other places where you might perform better with less stress. Be on the lookout for potential job positions that you can fill while living a relatively stress-free life.
Conclusion
Stress may be natural, but letting it go unmonitored can cause severe problems in your life. Going through these techniques will give you some insight into how stress can be managed and what lifestyle changes will benefit you the most. Using these techniques above will help you manage stress better and live healthier lives.