8 Healing tips to reduce psychological stress and anxiety
When was the last time you smiled? When was the last time you slept peacefully? Can’t remember? If so, you are probably under a lot of stress. Stress can make your life hell. It can make you feel angry and irritated. It can ruin your sleep and peace of mind.
What is psychological stress?
Psychological stress is mental stress. It can significantly impact mental health. When you are under stress, your body releases stress hormones, like cortisol, into your circulatory system. These hormones may interfere with your mood and energy and could directly impact your mental health. Long-term psychological stress may lead to a continued state of anxiety, sadness, and other forms of mental health problems.
How to Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Stress will make you miserable. Stress remedies will help to bring peace back into your hectic life. They will only take up a little of your time or thought. In case you are spiraling out of control with stress and need relief now, read on for one of the following suggestions.
Meditate to heal your mind and soul.
It will help you to concentrate your attention and pacify those jumbled thoughts ringing in your head that form the basis of your tension. Meditation helps people feel quiet, serene, and balanced, which can be a great boon to one’s emotional well-being and health in general. Through meditation, we can be aided in improving our welfare. You can practice guided meditation, guided imagery, mindfulness, visualization, and other meditation techniques anywhere and at any time. This might include meditating as you walk, on your way to work on the bus, or while waiting at your doctor’s office. You can try an app that teaches you how to do these workouts. You can also practice deep breathing anywhere.
Call your friends
Worried or angry, one may want to go off on their own, but instead, one must reach out to family and friends to develop social connections. Even one good listener among friends makes a difference. Social contact is an excellent stress buster as it distracts, supports, and creates coping ability for ups and downs in life. Do something simple like taking a coffee break with a friend, writing an email to your relative, or visiting your place of worship.
Get enough sleep
You will not be sleeping as well if you are overwhelmed with work and have thoughts racing through your head. But sleep is when your brain and body are restored. Most adults need to have approximately 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. However, the quality and duration of your sleep may have affected your mood, energy level, concentration, and day-to-day functioning. If you sleep poorly, establish a calm and soothing pre-sleep routine. Examples include soft music, cool and dark rooms, minimal noise, phones and tablets off, and a routine.
Consult therapists
If self-care does not work, it is time to help from a therapist. They can advise you on the right therapy to help you manage stress. Either talk therapy or cognitive behavioral treatment might benefit you. Therapy can also benefit people who feel overwhelmed or trapped. You can also want to consider therapy if you have constant worries or are stuck performing daily routines or meeting responsibilities at home, job, or school. Professional counselors or therapists can help you recognize sources of stress and find new ways of coping.
Ease your mind with music or gardening
Whether you listen to music or play it, it has the magic to reduce stress. The reason for this includes distraction – the mental break, relaxation of muscles, and reduction of stress hormones. Put on the music and let your mind be invaded by the sound. If music isn’t your thing, try another pastime. For instance, take up gardening, sewing, reading, or sketching. Or do anything that requires you to pay attention to what you’re doing rather than what you think you should be doing.
Hit the gym
Just about any form of physical activity can help relieve stress. Even if you’re not an athlete or if you’re out of shape, exercise can be a great way to relieve stress. Exercise can stimulate the release of feel-good endorphins and other natural brain chemicals that enhance your mood. Exercise may also help you shift your attention to your bodily actions. This shift in attention can help raise your mood and move the irritations of the day away. So walk, jog, garden, clean the house, bike, swim, weight train, vacuum, or do anything else that gets you moving.
Maintain a healthy lifestyle
Some people cope with stress by practicing very unhealthy habits. These include excessive coffee or alcohol consumption, smoking, binge eating, or the use of illegal substances. These practices hurt your health and raise your stress levels. Avoid foods that trigger stress. Avoid junk food.
Some examples of junk foods are processed meat and cold drinks. Shun caffeine and alcohol.
Including a healthy diet in your lifestyle can create a huge difference. Eat lots of fruits and veggies. Some foods can help in fighting stress by bringing down the levels of certain hormones that create this feeling. Comfort foods increase the levels of serotonin in the brain. Other meals lower cortisol and adrenaline, which are stress hormones; if accumulated over time, the body can store them. A good diet can, therefore, be imperative in dealing with the effects of stress by improving the immune system and bringing blood pressure down.
Keep a journal.
Journaling can help you relax and let go of tension and anxiety. It can also provide an outlet that’s constructive for your thoughts and feelings. As this credible resource points out, journaling or expressive writing has even been used to help people cope with chronic health disorders like depression. In their results, they discovered that frequent journaling could be linked to a higher quality of life during more active self-care with other healthy behaviors, like taking prescribed medications. If you’re looking for more condensed, expressive writing, you may instead prefer a guided journal.
Conclusion
Too much stress is not good for your mental health. It can make you feel depressed. The aforementioned suggestions can help you overcome stress and feel calm and happy.
Author Bio:
Shebna N. Osanmoh, PMHNP-BC, is a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner associated with Savant Care, Los Altos, CA, mental health clinic. He has extensive experience and a Master’s from Walden University. He provides compassionate, holistic care for diverse mental health conditions.