Ah, stress. Who isn’t stressed out these days? It seems like we’reall suffering time starvation, stretched between too many obligations. There’s work, family, school, dentist appointments…and all those pesky bills that keep arriving.
So. How bad is stress for us, exactly?
Bad.
Thing is, short term stress isn’t inherently harmful. It’s important for our bodies and brains to have the ability to ramp-up and deal with things thrown our way, after all. It’s unrelenting stress that’s a problem. Chronic stress does all sorts of nasty things to our health: from increasing blood sugar and cholesterol to causing headaches and depression, messing with our sleep, and even aging us faster.
Not cool.
So what’s a person to do? To get you started, I’ve compiled a list of stress-busting tips. Some of them are short-term quick fixes; others are more long-term strategies. A combo of both is the best approach to coping with stress.
- Practice saying no (resist taking on more responsibilities)
- Get back to basics: make sure you’re getting sufficient sleep
- Have a spinach salad (the magnesium in spinach helps regulate cortisol)
- Simplify and prioritize
- Practice yoga (ideally on a regular basis)
- Eat salmon (omega-3 helps with stress hormone surges)
- Spoil yourself with a manicure
- Focus on breathing
- Don’t skip breakfast (missing meals tells your body it’s starving, so it releases stress hormones)
- Nurture your spirit with nature (go for a hike in the woods)
- Listen to classical music
- Treat yourself to a massage
- Meditate
- Restructure your work schedule
- Make a habit of having a light bedtime snack of complex carbs
- Sing
- Drink tea, green or black (shown to decrease cortisol levels)
- Clean the clutter around you
- Lean on your support network
- Talk to your doctor
- Eat walnuts regularly (shown to decrease blood pressure during stressful events)
- Laugh (watch a comedy, or go out with friends)
- Eat small, frequent meals (prevent sugar/insulin/cortisol surges)
- Prioritize: make a list of things to do, and color-code it
- Mow the lawn (the smell of fresh-cut grass helps block stress hormones)
- Cultivate a supportive social network
- Walk daily
- Drink milk before bed
- Consciously think positive & optimistic thoughts
- Play a musical instrument (just for fun…don’t burden yourself with performance stress/anxiety)
- Volunteer with a charity
- Engage in “dreamscape” (peaceful visualization)
- Soak in a bubble bath
- Eat oatmeal (complex carbs help lower stress)
- Pet your dog
- Get to bed early
- Drink orange juice (vitamin C has been shown to decrease cortisol levels)
- Write in a journal
- Practice progressive muscle relaxation
- Go for a walk by a lake, a river, or the ocean
- Chew gum (a study showed this decreases stress, anxiety, and improves mental performance)
- Have sex
- Get some sunlight
- Cut back on caffeine
- Savor an avocado (potassium helps to lower your blood pressure)
- Explore your creative self: paint, draw, take photographs
- Take a “time out”
- Surround yourself with the scents of lavender or rosemary
- Focus on your immediate surroundings (practice mindfulness)
- Breathe
Stress? Bring it on.
A footnote: This is a big topic, and this list is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ll be revisiting the issue of stress repeatedly, so check back.
In the meantime, here’s some more reading on stress solutions:
