Simple Ways of Dealing With Stress

With it being National Stress Awareness Month, I thought it was only fitting to give some helpful tips that I use every day to manage stress. Everybody deals with stress at work or at school on a daily basis but it is how you deal with it that can turn a bad day into a great day. Here are just a few ways that can help keep you calm when you feel the stress getting the better or you. Please leave some feedback if any of these tips have helped!

Listen to music

If you're feeling overwhelmed by a stressful situation, try taking a break and listening to relaxing music. I personally choose a song that takes me back to a summer holiday or a song that reminds me of friends and family!

Call a friend

When you’re feeling stressed, take a break to call a friend and talk about your problems. Good relationships with friends and loved ones are important to any healthy lifestyle, and they’re especially important when you're under a lot of stress! If it helps more, talk about your weekend or what you are going to do when you finish work for the day. Usually just talking to someone not in your school or office environment can make a massive difference to your overall mood.

Talk yourself through it

Sometimes calling a friend is not an option. If this is the case, talking calmly to yourself can be the next best thing. Don’t worry about looking crazy, just tell yourself why you're stressed out, what you have to do to complete the task at hand, and most importantly, that everything will be okay. We usually get stressed because it feels like we have 1 million tasks to do and no time to do them. Make a list of your jobs from important to least important and work your way through them. You will find that seeing each of them get crossed off of a list will help bring down your stress.

Eat right

Stress levels and a proper diet are closely related. When we’re overwhelmed, we often forget to eat well and resort to using sugary, fatty snack foods as a pick-me-up. Try to avoid sugary snacks and plan ahead as eating these types of foods will pick you up for a short period of time but then you will crash after a few hours and feel worse. Fruits and vegetables are always good alternative, and fish with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to reduce the symptoms of stress. A tuna sandwich really is brain food!

Try to laugh

Laughter releases endorphins that improve mood and decrease levels of the stress-causing hormones cortisol and adrenaline. Laughing tricks your nervous system into making you happy. This could be watching a funny video on your phone whilst on your break or thinking back to a time when you were having fun with friends or family.

Drink green tea

A large dose of caffeine causes a short-term spike in blood pressure. Instead of coffee or energy drinks, try green tea.

Be mindful

Most of the tips we’ve suggested provide immediate relief, but there are also many lifestyle changes that can be more effective in the long run. The concept of “mindfulness” is a large part of meditative and somatic approaches to mental health, and has become popular in modern psychotherapy. From yoga and tai chi to meditation and Pilates, these systems of mindfulness incorporate physical and mental exercises that prevent stress from becoming a problem. Try joining a class.

Try to rise above it

Stress is essentially adrenaline running through you as your mind tries to deal with all of the tasks that you have to do. Instead of letting that stress get your down, you should instead use that adrenaline to spur you on to complete all of your tasks.

Exercise (even for a minute)

Exercise doesn't necessarily mean power lifting at the gym or training for a marathon. A short walk around the office or simply standing up to stretch during a break at work can offer immediate relief in a stressful situation.

Sleep better

Everyone knows stress can cause you to lose sleep. Unfortunately, lack of sleep is also a key cause of stress. This vicious cycle causes the brain and body to get out of whack and only gets worse with time. Make sure to get the doctor-recommended seven to eight hours of sleep. Turn the TV off earlier, dim the lights, and give yourself time to relax before going to bed. It may be the most effective stress buster on this list.

Breathe easy

The advice “take a deep breath” may seem like a cliché, but it holds true when it comes to stress. For centuries, Buddhist monks have been conscious of deliberate breathing during meditation. For an easy three- to five-minute exercise, sit up in your chair with your feet flat on the floor and hands on top of your knees. Breathe in and out slowly and deeply, concentrating on your lungs as they expand fully in your chest. While shallow breathing causes stress, deep breathing oxygenates your blood, helps center your body, and clears your mind and all.

Tom Sharwood is a Secondary Recruitment Consultant at Class People.