Some of the most successful stress management techniques include:
Reduce triggers
Minimising stress triggers is essential for maintaining a healthy and balanced environment. Start by identifying the sources of stress in your life, such as work pressure, personal relationships, or financial concerns. Once you've pinpointed these triggers, take proactive steps to manage them more effectively. This may involve setting boundaries, improving time management skills, seeking professional advice, or finding a different place to live. By actively addressing your stress triggers, you can better navigate life's challenges with resilience and ease.
Holistic therapy
This focuses on improving the mind and body through practices like exercise and nutrition. No matter your age, you can still make exercising a priority. If you’re a senior, you can get regular exercise through walking, stretching, and balance exercises. Proper diet is another form of holistic therapy, which can help the gut improve mood levels. Because, as The Washington Post points out, most of the serotonin (a natural mood-booster) is secreted in the gut. It's important to eat foods that contain good strains of bacteria, such as yoghourt, to help the gut remain healthy and create more of the hormone.
Cut caffeine
Reducing your caffeine intake can play a crucial role in alleviating anxiety. Consuming too much espresso or other caffeinated beverages may heighten feelings of restlessness and nervousness, ultimately exacerbating anxiety symptoms. To combat this, consider gradually cutting back on your caffeine consumption, opting for decaffeinated alternatives, or swapping out coffee for calming herbal teas. Making mindful choices about your caffeine intake can contribute to improved mental wellbeing and a more balanced emotional state.
Art therapy
Creating art can help work through feelings as well as helping to relax tense muscles and unwind anxious minds. Verywell Mind notes that art therapy not only helps people unearth and acknowledge deep-rooted emotions, but can also empower them to build self-esteem and social skills, as well.
Therapy
Traditional therapy can be incredibly helpful in helping you understand your responses to common stressors and find healthy ways to deal with them. You can now find therapy options that are via phone, video chat, and even text in addition to face-to-face appointments.
Meditation
Most experts agree that even just 10 minutes of meditation a day can lower stress, reduce anxiety, manage blood pressure and improve mood. Meditation is especially helpful for people who are prone to substance abuse. With meditation, you are tapping into healthy, natural ways of regulating brain chemistry and mood, as opposed to using a substance. Meditation can also help alleviate chronic pain, an all-too-common reason people become addicted to opioids and other pain medications.
The great thing about meditation is that you can literally practise it anywhere, although it helps when noise and distractions are kept to a minimum. When you practise mindful meditation at home, which is where you spend most of your time, it’s important to create an environment that is conducive to relaxation. This means decluttering, cleaning, and organising your home, all of which will help alleviate undue stress associated with an unkempt home.
Herbal therapy
Herbal therapy can help with soothing sore muscles as well as frazzled emotions, insomnia, and anxiety, while also purifying the body’s various systems. For example, the herbs ginseng, kava and valerian have been known to ease anxiety and promote sleep.
