How to Reduce Stress?

Stress is a feeling of being under abnormal pressure. The pressure can come from different aspects of your daily life such as increased workload, new & existing financial crisis, or problems with your family members or nearest one.

During this situation, you may feel upset & your body might create a response that indicates you're under stress. Stress can affect you both mentally & physically. 

Sing of stress:

Everyone has experienced stress. A research found that seven out of ten people in the USA say they experience stress or anxiety daily. So it's very much important to know the common sign that indicates you are in stress condition : 

•  Feeling constant worry
• Difficulty in concentrations
• Changes in your mood 
• Depression
• Lowering self-estimation
• Eating more or less    
• Changes in your sleeping style
• Diarrhea & constipation
• Feeling nausea

Photo: A stress women

If you're experiencing these symptoms for a long time, you become to ensure that you're suffering from stress.

To relieve from this situation, In today's content, I'll show you some easy ways that really to reduce your stress levels.

Way to reduce stress

• Take a deep breath:

This is called the magic practice that helps to decrease your stress immediately without any trouble. You can practice it anywhere. A question must be, how does deep breathing help to reduce your stress level? Deep breathing help to increase the supply of oxygen to your brain & stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. Thus brain gets more oxygenated blood and which ultimately help to relax your brain & reduce stress level.

To practice this, some indications & contraindications must be followed: Don't practice when you're in a sleepy mood or after eating a heavy meal. To get the most benefit try to practice when you're fully alert & aware. Don't if skip a few days, just get started again & try to continue. 

Photo: Taking deep breath

•  Laugh more & more:

To reduce stress, laughter is the best natural remedy the doctor may recommend to you. Try to laugh more frequently because laughing can control the stress & make your life better. There are some mechanisms behind it, that help to reduce your stress;

Laughter provides full-body relaxation & emotional release which positively helps to reduce stress.

It also helps to encourage your body's muscle relaxation & lowering stress & anxiety. 

Laughter helps to reduce the level of stress hormones.

The research found that laughter helps to lower the level of cortisol, dopamine, epinephrine, growth hormones & increase endorphins. All these together work to relieve stress.

It also helps to improve your social interactions & make your relationship stronger.

So if you laugh every day, you can easily get rid of stress.

• Reduce unrealistic  expectations:

We often become stressed because of our high expectations. It arises from the difference between what we expect to happen & what does happen. There are two ways to reduce stress, one is changing reality & another one is changing your expectations. It's too much difficult to change the reality but it's quite easier to change your expectations. So try to reduce your high expectation, which ultimately reduces your stress level

•  Try to get regular exercise :

Exercising is considered vital for maintaining mental fitness & reducing stress. Exercise & other physical activities are endorphins-chemical in the brains that act as natural painkillers & also help to increase the ability to sleep. Scientists have found that regular participation in aerobic exercise has been shown to decrease overall tension, improve sleep, improve self-esteem & also help to the antianxiety effect.

• Try to get more sleep:

Lack of sleep is a significant cause of sleep & unfortunately, stress is also the cause of less sleep. People who work the night shift are especially prone to stress. It also creates stress-related problems such as depression, heart disease, increases blood pressure, creates stomach problems & weakened immune system. So if you try to reduce your stress level, you should ensure proper sleep every night.                 

• Learn to say no: 

Saying no isn't easy for many of us. But all time saying "yes" to every request can result in an unmanageable to-do list that creates stress & anxiety. Your stress level is increased when you fail to keep your promise & finally leads to more stress & anxiety. So when someone asks you, just think & consider some fact & take your decision. Don't think such kind of negative aspect like someone rejects you or you miss the opportunity if you say "no". But before saying " no"- try to add some phrases & refuse gently. 

Say-"I'm sorry, I would love to do this but...."

"Now it's not a good time as I'm in the middle of another work".

If you can do this properly, I ensure you half of your stress will decrease.

Photo: Learn to say NO!

• Listen soothing music:

Listening to music has a great effect on the mind & body, especially slow & classical music. It works as powerful stress management in our daily life. It helps us in many ways such as doing physiological function properly, slowing the pulse & heart rate, lowering blood pressure & decreasing the level of stress hormones. So when you feel stressed, try to play CDs in the car or put the radio on when you're in the bath or shower. Singing along can also be a great release of tension.

Research studies have found that listening to music on headphone reduce stress & anxiety in-hospital patient after surgery. 

Another research has found that music therapy significantly reduces emotional distress & boosts the quality of life among cancer patients. 

• Chew gum:

Chewing gum is associated with reducing anxiety & lowering cortisol levels. Chewing gum has a lot of superpowers. The research found that those who chewed gum twice a day for fourteen days rated their anxiety as significantly less than the nonchewers.

The possible explanation is that chewing gum promotes blood flow to your brain. It also helps to wave your brain. Thus the stress level decreased. 

• Quit smoking:

Quitting smoking is associated with reducing depression & anxiety. When you smoke, nicotine releases the chemical dopamine in the brain within eight seconds. Nicotine act as a psychoactive. Smoking increase blood pressure & heart rate, muscle become tense, less oxygen is available in the body & brain. finally, it induces stress conditions. So try to avoid smoking.

Finally, I'd like to say, it's impossible to remove your stress level completely but you can learn to manage this. I think these tips help you to get your mind away from the source of stress. Just be patient and keep continue.