Do you feel frustrated and confused? Do you want to get everything done but feel like your efforts are useless? You spread your energy between different tasks and thus get stuck between your work, family, and personal duties. You may try too hard and don’t set boundaries for various tasks. Or you may be facing many challenges, and you have been trying to overcome them for some time, but these challenges continue. As a result, you feel that your problems are more significant than you can solve. All these experiences cause stress and affect our body and mind. You must have heard about the harmful effects of stress on the body and mind. Stay with us to learn some ways to manage stress.
It is impossible to eliminate all factors that cause stress and disturb your comfort and comfort, but you can control your reactions to them and achieve sufficient mastery in this skill. The secret to success in stress management is a simple principle; You must take a proactive approach.
In the following, to manage stress, we describe completely scientific methods that you can use to experience more peace and easily overcome the challenges that arise in life.
Start the day with positive energy.
Do you feel like the days of your life have become repetitive, and you don’t enjoy starting a new day?
You have to change this feeling. If you start your day with positive thoughts and energy, you will feel the effects of this positive start at all hours and moments of the day. If you take the time every morning to cultivate positive thoughts and create peace, you can manage stress better.
Focus on the good feelings first.
Instead of feeling like a failure when you open your eyes, plan to do something that makes you happy. To choose the best option, don’t think about what you have to do; Choose an option from among the things you are interested in doing.
For example, you may have read about the benefits of morning exercise and know that it can increase the release of serotonin in the body and thus reduce stress. Serotonin is a fantastic hormone, the release of which is associated with mood enhancement. This scientific article is correct, but if morning exercise makes you energetic, continue. If waking up at a particular time to exercise worries you, it’s time to start your day with another activity. If you push yourself to do something you cannot, you will lose motivation and increase your stress.
Solution: Let go of what you have to do and do your favorite activity.
If you have yet to gain unique experience in this field, try the following options.
- Prepare breakfast
- Walking, watching the sunrise, and listening to the birds
- Listening to uplifting music
- Writing good experiences and feelings
Such activities promote mindfulness and help you tune into your senses and notice your thoughts and feelings without interruption. These activities make stress management easier by building flexibility, improving coping skills, and reducing the tendency to accept negative emotions from others. These abilities can provide conditions where stressful factors less impact your physical and mental health.
Pay attention to what thoughts and desires enter your mental space.
“You are the top five people you spend the most time with.”
This famous quote from “Jim Rohn” was published when new technologies such as the Internet and social networks were not available to everyone. Thanks to the development of these technologies, this group of five has become much wider.
If we want to act wisely, we should not ignore this fact; How effective can a quick look at our cell phone immediately after waking up be? Our mood and the amount of stress we experience during the day are usually related to this issue.
An efficient way to control these influences is to set a firm boundary. You have precious mental space, and you must decide which thoughts and desires deserve to enter this precious space. Don’t let other people’s emergencies become your emergencies.
Solution: Avoid checking email, news, and social media until you’ve done an invigorating morning activity.
During the day, limit the time you devote to these pursuits to minimize stress. Identify people, conversations, and situations that trigger stress reactions. Avoid dealing with these people, participating in these conversations, and being in these situations as much as possible. Any activity that disturbs your peace must be stopped.
Avoid mid-day crises and take control of your life.
Have you noticed this article? Many strategies that help relieve and manage stress are linked to increased success and improved quality of life and focus on scheduling people’s mornings and evenings.
Darren Hardy, the author of the book “Compound Effect,” considers morning and evening habits as the defining beginning and end that can be a sign of success or failure of people. A good start and a decent end can eliminate stress and help people to have enough energy and motivation to do different activities throughout the day.
Plan for fun.
Let’s face it; adulthood can be a real challenge. Adults focus on shoulds and requirements and therefore face a lot of tension. This busyness and the resulting worries make people forget their desires and needs. They forget to let go of expectations and take time for themselves.
Solution: If you tend to blame yourself for being lazy, selfish, or not meeting expectations, you must resist this urge.
Having an inner critic is normal but weakens your morale and increases stress. Managing these inner critics can be difficult, but it is convenient and the key to stress management.
The thoughts that cause this destructive self-criticism result from one of the mental processes that make up the unconscious mind. These thoughts protect you from judging yourself or others. The first step to overcoming these thoughts is to pay attention to them. Ask yourself; Is this true, or is my mind warning out of fear? You would never tell a young child that he is lazy or selfish to encourage him to play, have fun, or relax. Imagine you are a young child. This visualization is a simple way to practice self-compassion.
If you tend to spend a little bit of time on your hobby after completing all the required activities and meeting all the expectations, you are probably at a disadvantage. Avoid skimping in your leisure time. You don’t get more points by having less fun. We all have learnings and desires, but we must remember that happiness and satisfaction are not about getting the most.
Our brains and bodies respond positively to pleasurable, relaxing, and fun experiences. The effects of these reactions are evident. Studies have shown that engaging in enjoyable activities lowers cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that is released in response to stress. High levels of this hormone in the blood for a long time endanger health and are related to chronic stress.
Eat something to deal with stress.
Our brain gets stressed after feeling extreme hunger. When the stomach is empty, and the blood sugar level is low, we face a lack of energy and a decrease in patience.
Maybe you have experienced that your child, spouse, or colleague is exploding with stress, and someone close says that it is because of hunger and it is better to eat something. People experience sudden anger or fear when they are at this level of desire. In this situation, the part of the brain that supports our conscious, calculated, and logical decisions is inactive. It is usually when we realize we are hungry or decide to eat something that our tolerance has reached its lowest limit. This problem is related to the weakening of decision-making skills during hunger.
In this situation, we get anything that prevents the continuation of hunger and assures our brain that there is no need to endure hunger anymore. Glucose is one of the primary sources of energy for the brain. For this reason, we naturally choose to eat simple carbohydrates and sweets to increase blood sugar levels quickly. After two hours, the energy from eating these foods is lost, and our stress increases. This wrong choice makes us experience more stress, our brain faces more lack of energy, and in the end, we regret and blame ourselves.
Solution: Planning is necessary for life, but there is no need for a complicated plan.
Prepare homemade meals ahead of time for meals or snacks. Make sure to use grains, vegetables, and fruits in these ready meals. To have quick and easy access to nutritious and healthy food when you are hungry, always keep some ready-made food or snacks in your refrigerator, desk, and car.
Foods containing magnesium are the best option. Research has shown that this mineral effectively relieves stress and improves mood. Oatmeal and brown rice are rich in magnesium and can be easily prepared in advance. Sandwiches and salads with leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach are beneficial for ready meals. For a snack, eat bananas or nuts; You will absorb some of this mineral quickly and easily.
Make the right decisions to get rid of tension and stress.
At the end of a busy and tiring day, it is natural to want to put our problems aside, relax and unwind. But our nighttime efforts to create peace usually do not reach the desired result. At best, they only provide temporary relief; at worst, they exacerbate the stress we want to escape.
Get rid of lousy night habits.
Many people use wrong methods, such as arbitrarily consuming some drugs or alcoholic beverages to have a comfortable sleep. Although adequate and quality sleep effectively reduces stress, restoring sleep with these methods has many negative consequences; Usually, they do not have permanent effects, and after a few hours, their influence disappears altogether; they are addictive and cause stress by causing mental disorders.
Solution: Change your stress reduction methods and achieve relaxation using healthy methods.
We suggest some healthy ideas to restore sleep;
- Reading an informative or entertaining book
- Listen to relaxing music or podcasts
- Walking or doing yoga exercises
- Consuming natural and sleep-inducing teas such as chamomile tea.
If you want to use stress relievers, consult your doctor to recommend the amount and type of medication that is right for you.
With these five ways to manage stress, you can say goodbye to dull mornings and tedious days and consciously live in a way that doesn’t feel challenging but that you can keep going and enjoy.
With a change in your thoughts and behavior, you can live a better life and significantly improve stress management. Learn the skill of self-awareness and try to be consistent. You may have habits that support having unchanged conditions, and you are satisfied with these conditions. But you must live purposefully, so create patterns leading to a specific goal. It is usually possible to achieve a goal with change.
What is the secret to success in stress management according to the article?
The secret to success in stress management, as per the article, is to take a proactive approach. It’s about controlling your reactions to stressors rather than trying to eliminate all factors that cause stress.
How can starting the day with positive energy help manage stress?
Starting the day with positive energy can help manage stress by setting a positive tone for the rest of the day. Engaging in activities that promote mindfulness and positive thoughts in the morning can help manage stress better.
What is the role of diet in stress management?
Diet plays a significant role in stress management. When we’re hungry, our brain gets stressed. Consuming nutritious and healthy food, especially those rich in magnesium, can effectively relieve stress and improve mood.
What are some healthy ways to reduce stress at the end of the day?
Some healthy ways to reduce stress at the end of the day include reading an informative or entertaining book, listening to relaxing music or podcasts, walking or doing yoga exercises, and consuming natural and sleep-inducing teas such as chamomile tea.
How can planning for fun help in stress management?
Planning for fun can help in stress management by providing a break from the usual routine and reducing tension. Engaging in enjoyable activities lowers cortisol levels, a hormone that is released in response to stress.
What is the impact of checking emails, news, and social media first thing in the morning on stress levels?
Checking emails, news, and social media first thing in the morning can increase stress levels. The article suggests avoiding these activities until after you’ve done an invigorating morning activity.
How can one manage the inner critic that increases stress?
Managing the inner critic involves recognizing and questioning the thoughts that cause self-criticism. It’s about practicing self-compassion and resisting the urge to blame oneself for being lazy, selfish, or not meeting expectations.
What are the negative consequences of using drugs or alcoholic beverages to restore sleep?
Using drugs or alcoholic beverages to restore sleep can have many negative consequences. They usually do not have permanent effects, their influence disappears after a few hours, they can be addictive, and they can cause stress by causing mental disorders.