In our everyday life, we faced stress from our jobs, family, school and our community in general. The consequence of stress, if not appropriately managed, can lead to frustration, anxiety, hypertension, depression, and even death. In this article, I offer eight simple tips on how to manage stress.
1. Listen To Music
When in stress, listening to soothing music is a good way to manage it. Music is therapeutic and can change your mood in a matter of seconds. It’s medically advised to spend time listening to music, especially calm music because it has the ability to calm your nerves, lower your blood pressure, and reduce cortisol, a hormone responsible for managing and triggering the stressors in your body.
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2. Eat Right
Eating the right foods have a way of managing stress appropriately. Avoid taking sugary foods, junk foods, and fatty snack foods as they increase the risk of stress in your body. It’s medically advisable to opt for fruits and veggies, and fish containing omega-3 fatty acids as they help reduce stress risk. Food like a tuna sandwich is good food to add to your diet.
3. Creat Moments of Laughter
In order to manage stress, you must deliberately create moments of laughter. Laughter releases endorphins to the brain and helps to decrease stress caused by hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Laughing have a way of sending tickling signals to the nervous system that makes you happy and improve your mood. It’s advisable to spend time with people that make you happy, watch comedy videos on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
4. Engage In Conversational Therapy
Engaging in a good, sometimes, long, conversation with friends and family members can improve your mental health. When you feel stressed, take a break to call a friend or a relative and talk about your problems. This is how to offload the burdens responsible for your stress. A good conversation can lighten your burden, especially when words of comfort, advice and solutions come up from them.
5. Drink Herbal Tea
In ancient China and in the Middle East, tea drinking was prevalent because the people believed that the herbs had stress-relieving potencies in them. This culture has continued to this day and has spread across the Western World and even Africa. Rather than consuming caffeine or energy drinks, which causes a short-term spike in blood pressure, it’s advisable to take herbal tea instead. Green tea contains antioxidants, as well as amino acids and theanine, which has a calming effect on the nerves.
6. Have A Good Sleep
Lack of quality sleeping time is one of the major factors responsible for stress. Lack of sleep also known as insomnia is very dangerous to your health, and a high risk for stress and anxiety. Ensure you get the medically recommended 7-9 hours of sleep. To do this, stop work an hour before sleeping, keep off your phones, you could read a book or simply relax, and ensure you sleep in a dimly lighted room.
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7. Engage In Self-Talk
Sometimes you might be faced with an issue that doesn’t need the conversation of a second party. Talking to yourself has an effect on your confidence level, and can flip your emotion to a bright side. Sometimes, this self-talk could be personal advice on how best you can deal with the problem or avoid situations that trigger stress, it could also be in form of self-encouragement, affirmation of positive words, and so on.
8. Exercise Daily
Exercising daily eliminates cholesterol in the body and decreases the risk of heart failure. It helps in stimulating your heartbeat and aid the free flow of the blood around your body, which is good for metabolism. Exercise mustn’t be tedious and long, but sometimes, you can take a short walk in your office or home, do a few push-ups in your room, and so on. Avoid sitting for too long as it bears the risk of stress-related problems.
Featured Image Source: Medical News TodayGot a suggestion? Contact us: editor@connectnigeria.com