Natural Stress Relief
Yes, I want to talk about stress in January. While it’s the beginning of a new year, and usually things take a while to ramp up, and most people are feeling the happiest, and most relaxed, I want to talk about stress (and stress relief) so you’ll be more than prepared when the inevitable strikes.
What is Stress?
Some people claim that the ultimate goal is to live stress-free. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m afraid that’s too idealistic. We can of course strive to live authentically, and live in a way that is aligned to our body, mind and soul, but sometimes stress comes externally, and is out of our control.
Stress is simply our body’s response to a challenge or demand. Everyone experiences stress, which can be triggered by a range of events. We can collect stress from small daily hassles to major changes like a divorce or job loss.
Quite often, the most obvious manifestations of stress are physical, such as an elevated heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, even nausea; stress can also wreak havoc on our emotions and our mental health, causing us to develop feelings of anxiety, fear, and even anger.
However, drumroll please, stress isn’t always the big bad wolf. Back when we were cave-dwellers and had to go around hunting and gathering food, the stress response is what got our heart rates up, our blood pumping, so we could run the hell away from the roaring tiger. Positive life events like getting a promotion can also make us feel stressed!
How do we deal with Stress?
Now that we’ve established that stress is sometimes unavoidable, let’s take a look at how we can deal with stress in a healthy way:
Make your health your best friend. Ever heard of people saying they want to eat, drink or smoke their stress away? While these may alleviate stress in the moment, they may actually add to stress in the long run. Eat and live healthily so that your body bounces back from stressful events quicker and more easily.
Move regularly. Exercise has been shown to release endorphins, which are hormones in your body that help you feel better. In addition to improving your overall physical health, regular movement can help you feel better!
Prioritise rest. Taking the time to relax every day helps to manage stress and to protect the body from the effects of stress. Something as simple as taking a warm bath, enjoying a cup of tea can help; you can even engage in wellness practices such as meditation, yoga and pilates.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of ways to relieve stress, but these are all natural ways that don’t involve any medication or substances, and are certainly things you can try any time, anywhere.
Gaining a better understanding of your own stress triggers and how you tend to respond, will help you build a better relationship with stress (and your health) over time.
