Reduce Stress: 5 Natural Ways
Often people suffering from anxiety want a natural way to reduce stress. They don’t want to use pharmaceutical drugs for treatment due to their considerable side effects.
Here are five natural ways to relieve stress.
1. Reduce Stress:
Relaxation Techniques
- Deep breathing or breathing exercises. With this method you consciously pay attention to your breathing. Begin by slowing your breathing and focusing on taking regular, deep breaths.
- Guided imagery method. With this method, you focus on pleasant images in place of the stressful or negative feelings.
- Progressive relaxation or Jacobson’s progressive relaxation method. Here you focus on tightening and relaxing each muscle group.
- Aromatherapy, which is a process where you use essential oils to promote relaxation.
- Meditation, which is a technique where the mind stops the focusing on stress and instead focuses inward towards calmness.
- Emotional freedom technique. With this form of therapy you locate and tap pressure points located on your body.
- Hypnosis. Harness the power of your mind to inculcate positive messages. (Goodness knows we get enough negative messages throughout the day!)
2. Reduce Stress:
Stretches & Exercise
Cardio
exercises, helping you release good endorphins to relieve stress.
- Strength training with weights or body weight.
- Walking. A 20- or 30-minute walk around the block can help you get your emotions in control.
- Yoga, an exercise that is also a relaxation technique. It gives you the coping skills you need to combat stress.
- Tai chi, which is a form of low-impact, weight-bearing, and aerobic exercise that began as a martial art.
3. Reduce Stress:
Nutrition Changes
- Eat a healthy, balanced diet to help build up the immune system and lowering blood pressure.
- Eliminate processed foods, especially fast food.
- Choose foods that give you energy like raw foods such as oranges or spinach.
- Eat Omega 3 fatty acid foods such as fish.
- Drink soothing herbal teas.
- Use natural herbs.
- Don’t skip meals.
- Eliminate mindless eating.
- Steer clear of simple carbs like candy and sweets.
4. Reduce Stress:
Activities to Enrich Your Life
- Attend comedy shows or watching comic movies. Laughter is a tremendous stress reliever.
- Listen to your favorite music. Classical music has been shown to soothe emotions. Dance, sing and have fun.
- Volunteer. Give your time helping others. Just don’t fill your calendar to overflowing.
- Take a day at the spa. Give yourself permission to get a spa treatment to help relax your muscles.
- Read a good book. Not a book you need to read but one that is purely for enjoyment.
- Express yourself with art. Take up a new hobby such as painting, ceramics or crafts. Find hobbies you enjoy and that keep your hands and mind busy.
- Take up gardening. Plant flowers or vegetables. Tending plants can be a peaceful way to put your mind at ease.
- Take a soothing bath. Light candles. Add a calming bath beads like lavender or chamomile. Put on an eye mask and just relax.
- Watch the sunset or sunrise.
- Play like a kid or play with your kids. Let go. Run. Giggle. Just be silly.
- Say “no.” You don’t have to do everything for everyone all the time. Your family can take care of themselves occasionally.
5. Reduce Stress:
Socialize to Shrink Stress
- Be around friends (the right friends). Call or spend time with them when you feel stress overwhelming you.
- Get out of the house if the stress is there. Go to a movie or a new restaurant.
- Spend time doing things you enjoy like taking a walk in nature or visiting a museum.
Take a break every now and then. Spend time alone when you need to. Find other ways that help you diminish stress. You can fight stress in natural ways without the use of pharmaceutical remedies that may have harmful or unwanted side effects.