How can we relieve our stress and anxiety?
We are living in societies which are full of competition. This competition becomes a common reason of stress and anxiety for most of the people. If you are suffering from stress and anxiety, so you are in the right place to manage it. This article provides you 12 ways to manage your stress.
Stress: the most common disorder
Stress and anxiety are among some common disorders that people are facing during their daily lives, activities and routines. Stress is not limited to any particular group of people or professions. A common man can be equally stressed as a PhD. scholar or a housewife can be equally disturbed with stress as a working woman. Now stress becomes the top most reason for depression.
Difference between stress, anxiety, and Depression
These three different terms are relatable but not synonymous with one another.
Anxiety
This term refers to the group of disorders in which one can feel:
- Constant tension
- Worrying
- Fear
- Danger
- Restlessness
- Disturbance
- Increased heartbeats
Stress
This term is related to the reaction of your body to any challenge or demand or situation. In general, it represents the load or tension that may be due to the following reasons:
- Financial issue
- Emotional disturbance
- Psychological discomfort
- Educational worries
- Relationships failure
Depression
It is the state of:
- Low mood
- Sadness
- Hopelessness
- Lack of interest in life
- Worthlessness
- Feeling guilty
- Agitation
- Sleep changes
A major difference between stress and anxiety
- The reaction of a body to any threat or troubling situation is called stress.
- The reaction of that stress to the body is called anxiety.
Can stress leads toward anxiety?
Yes. If the stress is not being handled with a positive attitude then it will cause anxiety.
How to give wings to your stress and let it fly away?
Mental health is as important as physical health. So one should learn to manage and reduce the stress by himself to lead a happy and healthy life. Some tips and guidelines are given for its relief and management.
1. Say NO to overthinking
Overthinking never helps you find a solution to problems. It usually ends up with a lot of doubts, regrets and hurting yourself. To reduce stress it is necessary to avoid overthinking about the past and future. One should learn to focus on the present situation, aims, and goals. It will lead toward hope and positivity.
2. Maintain positivity
A positive attitude is a key to success. It plays a very important role to diminish the stress within a few minutes. Here are some tips to maintain a positive lifestyle:
- By showing love and care for friends and family.
- By expressing your feelings, difficulties, and troubles.
- Stop expecting too much from people.
- By giving space to relations.
- By stop complaining about problems and start working to solve them.
- By keeping yourself away from disappointments.
3. Limit your addictions
You should limit your addictions to a certain limit and not let your body to depend on anyone or anything like:
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Smoking
- Sedative drugs
4. Eat and sleep well
Your eating and sleeping habits contribute a lot to your mental health as well as physical health. Giving your body a proper diet and sleep will help lower your stress level. Therefore, try to get a sleep of at least 8 hours. Proper sleep makes mind fresh and enables it to face the hardship and challenges of the next day.
You should add fruits and vegetables to have a well-balanced diet, stop skipping a meal and provide your body its nutrients in appropriate concentrations.
5. Exercise regularly
Exercise helps to relieve stress and anxiety by:
- Making the body physically active
- Stabilize mood
- Release natural chemicals from the brain to relief stress
- Improve sleep
- Improve ventilation and breathing
6. Socializing
Socializing Includes:
- Social contact
- Social support
- Social work
It helps an individual in diverting the mind from painful thoughts that cause stress. Socializing is also important to improve your relations with other people. It helps you to change your views about life and bring positive vibes. It makes you feel more confident and increase your ability to cope with your stress.
7. Meditation
It is one of the oldest methods to improve concentration and focus of mind. It may be or may not be connected with spiritual spirit. Meditation contributes to believing the stress by:
- Relaxing your body emotionally
- Calming your mental and emotional state
- Quitting the thoughts that produce stress
8. Make schedules
You should learn and practice to manage your time by making timetables and schedules. You can easily plan your working schedule by limiting specific time with a specific task. It will help those students and office workers who feel stress due to unaccomplished tasks until the deadline approached them.
9. Keep Yourself Busy
The empty mind is a house of the devil and hit hard by negativity and useless thoughts. To overcome it, try to keep yourself busy in some creative and productive activities. It will enable you to fight with stress as well as improve your skills.
10. Enjoy your hobby
Hobbies are activities that reflect your interest. Don’t hesitate to spend time with your hobbies. It will:
- Give you pleasure
- Keep you away from overthinking
- Improve your skills
11. Music therapy
A lot of research is still going on about the effects of music on the management of stress. Until now some positive role in the management of stress is revealed like:
- It helps in relaxing muscles
- Reduce anxiety
- Improve mood
- Helps in healing
Classical music shows some physiological effects on pulse rate and decrease the stress-producing hormone.
12. Massage therapy
This therapy works to relax the muscles and reduces stress. The areas where self-massage can be done are:
- Diaphragm
- Wrists
- Thumb
Before you leave!
This is an overview of management of the stress and to minimize its long-term effects like anxiety and depression. Practice these ideas in your daily life and watch some noticeable results.