Reducing Stress: Top 5 Natural Remedies
Reducing stress is something many of us look to due to our daily lives. Sometimes we aren't aware we are stressed. If you take a few minutes to see how you've handled situations in your daily life, you may be looking back to see ways you handle things you could have handled better. This is why it is important to take time for ourselves each day for tactics that reduce stress. Otherwise, it may make us do or say things we can't take back. It also takes a toll on your health.
5 Natural Remedies For Reducing Stress
When things go wrong at work or at home, that's the time you're most likely to feel your stress levels rising. If you have no coping mechanisms in place or don't have a way of dealing with the punches in life, then stress can quite literally ruin your life. Here are five natural remedies for reducing the effect that stress has on your body.
Reducing Stress by Getting Quality Sleep
Sleep isn't only necessary for our bodies to rest physically; it's also the time when both body and mind switch to repair and rejuvenate mode. You can counteract the effects of stress by getting 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep each night. To achieve this, it’s essential to have a proper bedtime routine, so your body knows it’s time to switch off and sleep.
Go to bed at the same time each night. Do something relaxing to wind down properly beforehand. Have a warm shower, sip a cup of green tea or read a book. Establishing a proper routine will work wonders for your sleep patterns and stress levels.
Reducing Stress by Getting a Massage
Massage is an age-old practice that promotes relaxation and works wonders for reducing stress levels. It’s not just tensed up muscles that get loosened up either. Massage helps to raise levels of the feel-good hormones oxytocin and serotonin, and reduce stress cortisol levels at the same time.
Try a professional masseuse, or ask a friend or loved one to give you a massage at home using an Essential Oil such as calming Lavender. Have a midday stress-busting massage in a coin-operated Massage Chair in the nearest shopping center. Or buy a Self Massager you can carry around with you and use anywhere.
Reducing Stress by Going for a walk
If you can remove yourself from the situation that’s causing you to stress you will feel much calmer after a walk. It’s not just the fresh air and exercises you’ll benefit from. Being outside, watching the trees sway or the clouds roll gently by has been proven to reduce stress thanks to the fractal patterns that can be found in abundance in the natural world around us.
Fractals are our evolutionary comfort zone and looking at them is known to have an almost immediate calming effect.
Reducing Stress with Deep Breathing
If you can’t get outside for a walk, you can quickly reduce stress and calm yourself down with a few minutes of deep breathing. Breathing deeply from the diaphragm rather than the upper chest will slow your heart rate and signal to your brain that there is no need to kick into “fight or flight”, the body’s natural response to stress.
Deep breathing can also help strengthen your immune system by flooding your body with rich oxygen from deep in your lungs. If you can find a quiet place to meditate at the same time, you will soon feel your stress melting away.
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Reducing Stress With a Snack
You don’t need to feel guilty about snacking, especially when you snack wisely for stress relief. Don’t turn to processed or junk food though. The right snack can lower your stress levels by releasing the feel-good hormone “Serotonin” into your system, so it makes sense to plan ahead and keep something healthy on hand.
High-carbohydrate content snacks like Cereal or Muesli Bars are ideal for keeping in your bag or your drawer at work. Bananas have the added benefit of being sweet and contain Potassium and Vitamin B6, which are known to fight stress. Walnuts are another fantastic stress buster thanks to the Omega 3 fatty acids and the serotonin-boosting tryptophan they contain.
It’s almost impossible to eradicate stress entirely from your life, but there’s no need just to accept the damage that stress can do to your body either. You now have five natural remedies you can use next time life or work throws a curve ball at you.