Free stress management tips: Make your life easier
There are literally hundreds of free stress management tips you can follow to make your life easier and more relaxed. The following will help nearly anyone relieve some of their stress, and you are sure to find several among them that will become your own personal favorite stress management tips or techniques.
Breathe. Simply setting an egg timer and deliberately breathing regularly and deeply for three minutes can increase blood flow to the brain and calm frazzled nerves.
Go natural. Try homeopathic tonics, switch to decaf coffee or tea, sample herbal brews and cut out sodas. You’ll be amazed at what eliminating chemicals from your body can do for you. If you are a caffeine addict, switch slowly over a period of two weeks to avoid nasty withdrawal symptoms such as irritability and headaches.
Snack. A low fat, low sugar, low salt but high carbohydrate snack can boost serotonin levels and make your mood brighter. Try a bagel or even a bowl of healthy cereal.
Add a vitamin pill to your daily routine. Vitamin B, calcium, magnesium, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and zinc can help normalize your system and help with fatigue or anxiety.
Stop taking your stress out on your body. Teeth grinding, hair pulling and ‘knee jigging’ are all signs of overstressed, hyperactive nerves. Stop what you are doing, apply firm pressure to the body part acting out, (press fingers to gums, palms top scalp, or feet firmly to floor) and breathe!
Quit the pity party. Whining about how awful everything is just makes it worse, start taking action to make things better, and you’ll feel better, too.
Schedule five minutes a day for worry. Anytime you feel like worrying through the day, identify the source and ask yourself if worrying about it right this minute will help. If not, shelve the issue until worry time – which should be NOT right before going to sleep.
Get a pet. Pets are proven stress reducers. If you can’t have a pet, find a friend who has one and schedule time for brushing it – it will make you feel better!
Be mindful. Focus on a single thing to the exclusion of all else for a bit – eat a handful of grapes with your eyes closed, stare at a cloud, or examine a object from your desk with minute care. You can even write down all your observations. This is calming as well as interesting.
Phone a pal. Share the burden instead of trying to carry it all yourself. A chat with a buddy can help you put everything in perspective. It can also garner you some caring advice, a shoulder to cry on, comfort and love.
Make a plan to do something special just for you – even if it is as mundane as reading a chapter in a book, or cooking a small treat. A spa appointment can make you feel pampered, or a new color of nail polish.
Play. It can be a video game for a few moments, game of solitaire or even a musical instrument.
Choose three stress management tips to make your own this week, and practice them daily!