FIVE WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS IN YOUR LIFE

July 14, 2023

What is stress?

All people are accustomed to a life routine like they wake up, eating, engaging in something maybe studying or job, and sleeping, and when something goes beyond the system the human brain finds it a difficult situation which they call stress. Everyone has experienced stress to some degree as a natural human response that addresses challenges and threats in our lives. According to most health experts, stress can be defined as a state of worry and mental tension caused by a difficult situation.

How does stress affect us?

Many people identify stress as the only mental stress but there is body stress as well which causes by mental stress. Simply when stressed it will lead to headaches, acne on the face, and upset stomachaches for a few examples.  However, some experts in the health industry say that a little stress is quite fine for life because it helps humans to perform well in their daily activities. For example, the IELTS exam or the PTE exam accelerates a student to work within a limited time as a language testing exam to get qualified for going abroad while working at a university. Further to that, it is very natural that we feel stress when facing challenging situations like job interviews, school exams, unrealistic workloads, and conflicts in human affairs. Health experts emphasize that these tense stress situations help to improve coping with emotional feelings. 

 The two forms of stress

The way we react to stress forms mainly in two ways such as physical and mental. These two forms can be further explained as, physical symptoms leading to pains and aches within the body, and mental symptoms causing emotional damage like anxiety, depression, anger, panic situation, and being a recluse. However, someone’s meal situation can be lethal to some extent like mental trauma which likely ends with committing suicide. Therefore, managing stress in your life is really important.

Is there a stress management guide?

The simple and clear answer is NO. Not everyone can cope with stress as same as the other one and there is no exact way to define how to relieve stress. However, it is very likely that people are addicted to some bad practices to get rid of difficult situations like being addicted to alcohol and smoking, overreacting towards foods, and impulsive activities which can quickly become something far more problematic.

Five ways to reduce stress
If you are really interested in how to reduce stress, there are various methods that you can try out. But here are five very simple things that help to overcome stress which has been forgotten due to our hectic lifestyles. 

1.Exercise daily

Nowadays people are running to achieve invisible and gigantic life achievements and this rat race never ends until we die. In nature, all beings are made to survive by moving their body but this unending running has caused to sedentary stressful life. Therefore, doing some exercise that moves our body is one of the most effective ways to manage stress. we don’t need to be professional athletes but all we need is to adopt something that makes sweat our body. A simple activity like walking or jogging, doing some yoga, dancing to music, or going to the gym can really help to reduce stress and also stay fit and make the mind relax.

2.Digital detox

The use of social media and a torrent of updates have glued people to their mobile screens making them zombies. This bad practice is called nomophobia which they cannot live without gossip updates and lead to the stress of social media. For example, some people get stressed by comparing their lives to superficial social media stories to their living stature. For another example, some people get frustrated over political-related digital media news cycles and thereby get stressed. It is not a lie if the mobile phone is called the sixth sense of humans because it has been so much useful but very stressful thing to manage on the other hand. Therefore, leaving your smartphone aside or managing it well is a must and simple method.

3.Adopt a hobby

Embracing a new hobby like painting, reading, blogging, traveling, going for movie, or listening to music can help reduce stress and increase mental relaxation and thereby achieving mental peace. Hobbies can offer a sense of achievement and help you take your mind off worrisome. This happens when we fully concentrate on one specific thing which is beyond our control. For example, you can start collecting stamps and be a philatelic who collects only one theme of stamps like butterflies, and having a complete set of butterflies may bring you a state of achievement. Other than just a hobby if you can start learning something new online might benefit from the best of both worlds, achieving academic qualification online while staying at home. However, when we are doing whatever the hobby it brings us pleasure.  

4.Break the routine with something new

Have a plan on your monthly calendar to do something really new. This can be going out on Friday night, trying a new dish, or having a home party at a friend’s place. For example, spare your Friday night to go out to a new café where you can stay for hours. No matter how strict your work plan is make sure you however make it happen. This little break will surely improve your mental health level and let you open for different pleasurable topics the next day when you are at work over the stressors.

5.Associate with friends

Humans are social beings but due to some social factors, they are born built to be as social groups. However, due to the new world order, they have now caged in restricted life which resulted in isolation. Association of friends will be therapeutic healing such as distraction, advice, and sharing the same experience for and steps that were taken to stressful situations. This simple connection will lead to mental relaxation. 

Take home

People suffer from stress all over the world from various stressors. Stress causes many mental illnesses and sometimes these mental traumas can exacerbate more detrimental mental diseases. Stress in life is a completely natural thing but sometimes it goes beyond the controlling level. There are no such predefined methods to overcome stress because it depends on each human. Even though there are many methods that can be found on the internet people have no time to practice them. Compared to many that are given on the Internet, the above five methods are the easiest possible that can anyone practice with less effort. Therefore, practicing simple methods as discussed above or any other as you may feel comfortable would be quite sufficient. If it is impossible to practice any of discussed above at least make sure you don’t get trapped in bad practices as a solution for stress.