Stress management is a key component of mental wellness. The burden stress brings can cause physiological changes like faster breathing and increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and an increase in muscle tension.
Check out these strategies for simple ways to generate a happier mindset and reduce moodiness and fatigue.
5 Tips for Managing Stress
Stay Active
One of the best gifts you can give the body is movement. Regular physical activity helps to naturally relieve tension and anxiety by stimulating endorphins in the brain. Stress hormones, as a result of significant events or day-to-day stress can have an impact on healthy cardiovascular performance.
Additional long-term benefits of exercise may include:
- Maintain a healthy resting blood pressure
- Support for a healthy resting heart rate
- May improve calories burned to aid weight loss
- Assist in the ability to draw deeper breaths
Exercises such as running, weightlifting, and yoga have been proven to help our bodies relax and relieve overall tension and stress. Try starting with a daily walk and/or completing your exercise routine outside to provide your body with a daily dose of natural vitamin D.
Magnesium
Particular brain receptors important for learning and memory depend on magnesium for their regulation. Magnesium plays a vital role in calming the brain and body. Studies show that lower serum magnesium levels are associated with depressive symptoms. Too little of this vital mineral can easily leave you feeling stressed, panicked, and fatigued.
Modern farming practices have removed many essential nutrients from the soil, leading to overall decreased food quality. Some food processing techniques can strip away up to 80% of the magnesium content! This means that even if you eat a healthy diet with nutrient-rich foods, you can still be magnesium deficient. Taking a superior quality magnesium supplement can fill in the gaps and make up a foundational part of restoring the body. Magnesium supplementation opens the door to feeling more energy, more well rested, and feeling relaxed, which can help fuel the motivation to take more steps to a healthier lifestyle.
Optimize Your Sleep Routine
A common side effect of stress is the inability or struggle to sleep restfully. Lack of sleep only continues to cause a cycle of stress. At night, the natural electrical and magnetic activity dancing between our cells slows down. Or at least, it wants to. If your body is still being bombarded by EMFs (electric and magnetic fields) it may not be able to find complete rest. To improve your sleep hygiene, you should develop a plan for a sleep schedule and stick to it.
- Try meditating before bedtime to relax and calm the mind
- Adjust your environment – opting for a dark, quiet, and cool place
- Remove all unnecessary electronic devices from your bedroom
- Turn off electronic devices at least 1 hour before bed
- Finish dinner three hours before going to bed, if you possibly can. Have dinner between 6 and 7pm if your bedtime is between 9 and 10pm.
Meditation
Mindful-based strategies teach the body coping skills and better ways to tackle stress. It’s no wonder why meditation and medication sound so similar. Meditation can help by quieting your internal dialogue and promoting calmness, increased energy, and mood. Find a comfortable, quiet place where you can self-reflect and quiet your mind. If you have trouble sitting still, you can even try a walking meditation!
You can apply the practice of meditation to any action. There is no right or wrong way, there is only you with your intent to meditate and the rest will take care of itself. Some mention they do their chores while practicing a form of meditation. The cleaning, folding, washing, tidying all gets done but in a relaxed state. It’s usually a quiet time too. You’re either alone or everyone avoids you so they won’t have to pitch in! Focus on tasks that are usually not so complex that you have to use much of your mind at all. A great added benefit is that you can look forward to this time rather than seeing everyday duties as mundane.
Reflect
The first step to finding your balance is knowing when you’ve lost it. Balance means that we can fully engage in the present moment without that nagging guilt that we should be doing something else. While it can seem impossible, maintaining balance throughout our lives is a cornerstone of health and wellness.
It’s common to make plans for meeting deadlines at work, but you can also plan other aspects of your time—like self-care. For example, try writing a reminder in your planner that you’re going to read for an hour before bed. Having a set schedule can help you accomplish what you set out to do and waste less time. Finding balance requires work, but the benefits are far worth it.
Mental health is essential at every life stage, from childhood and adolescence through to adulthood. Working toward work-life balance can be as simple as prioritizing your own wellness. Whatever self-care means to you, find a personal practice you can implement in your daily routine to support overall physical, mental, and emotional wellness.