Stress is a very common experience.
All of us, every day, experience stress and it's important to have the right tools for managing your levels so they don't get out-of hand!
There are many different exercises that can help you relieve these feelings.
Relaxation
One of the best ways to manage stress is through relaxation.
Relaxation can be achieved in many different ways, from guided meditation and visualization exercises all the way down your choice of activity or hobby.
When we are relaxed there is more space between ourselves and what may have caused anxiety.
There are many meditations and visualisations that you can find online.
But even just taking 5 minutes out a few times a day and sitting quietly can be beneficial.
Close your eyes and count down from 10.
Count slowly and imagine your body relaxing with each lower number.
Feel your body melting into the chair.
When you get down to 1 imagine you are in your ‘happy place’.
This can be somewhere you have been happy in your past, maybe from your childhood.
Or it could be a beautiful garden or a beach. Take yourself there for a few minutes.
Sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep is also a great stress-buster.
When you wake from 7-9 hours of restorative sleep you are well equipped to face the day, stress-free!
If you haven’t slept well, you are running on empty from the get-go.
Feeling tired can cause us to make mistakes which can lead to stress.
Procrastination
We often put things off to the last minute and then have the stress of trying to squeeze too much into too little time.
Knowing that a deadline is coming up can cause stress.
But instead of fretting about it, sit down and plan your work and time so that the deadline can be met easily and stress free.
Once that deadline is met, if we have left it to the last minute we then often get stressed that we didn’t do our best and that the work wasn’t up to standard.
Again planning beforehand would prevent this.
Physical exercise
A great way to deal with stress is to do some exercise.
When you are stressed, cortisol levels are high.
Your body is in the fight/flight state and instinctively is ready to run.
So doing exercise uses up this excess energy produced by the stress response.
Unfortunately, stress makes us feel less inclined to get up and do that exercise especially if it is not something that we usually do.
So rather than doing it when you feel stressed, try making exercise a habit.
That way you are more likely to exercise if you feel stressed.
There are no rules.
We are all different. Just do what makes you feel better.