Stress is a natural part of life—in fact, we need some stress to survive—but when it persists for an extended period, it can lead to health issues. If you regularly experience headaches, upset stomachs, high blood pressure, chest pain occasionally, difficulty sleeping, or weight gain without really changing your lifestyle, you may be suffering from the effects of chronic stress.
These symptoms are primarily caused by the hormone cortisol, which is released when we are stressed. While this hormone's evolutionary purpose was to help our ancient ancestors escape occasional "fight-or-flight" situations, modern humans are frequently exposed to it and need to manage stress to maintain good health.
Activities For Stress Relief:
They say that exercise is one of the best activities for stress relief that you can do. And of all the exercises you can do, walking tops the list.
Taking a nice walk after dinner with your spouse, a friend, or even your kids, is a great way to relax and have some fun, too.
Make sure you have some good walking shoes with good support and wear some non-restricting clothing like sweatpants and a T-shirt. Throw a light jacket over everything if the weather is a little cool. You can always take it off if you get too warm.
Start slowly, if you are not accustomed to walking or exercising, just make the first walk around the block in your neighborhood. Do this for a week or two until your body gets used to it then branch out and go two or three blocks.
Keep doing this every day or mix things up a bit and go to a local park or forest preserve and walk the trails.
Maybe you live in an area that has a bike path or walking trail that the city or county keeps up for those who want to use it. Sometimes they can go for miles and let you see some of the area where you live.
Just being out in nature has a calming effect on the body so walking through a nature preserve is one of the best activities for stress relief you can do for yourself.
Relieving the tension in your life is as important as eating and drinking. If you let it all build up it can have some detrimental effects on your body and overall health.
Headaches, heartburn, depression, anger, and increased anxiety are all symptoms of increased tension. If all of these go unchecked for an extended period it can lead to more serious things like high blood pressure.
High blood pressure can lead to any number of even more serious conditions like stroke and heart attack. It can have a domino effect where one thing leads to another and another.
Any form of exercise will help reduce the amount of tension you feel especially after the first few times you do it and the soreness or stiffness all goes away. After a workout, you will feel energized and able to take on the world again with confidence.
I chose to tell you about walking because research has shown walking to be the best and it is easy to do. All you have to do is get up and start doing it. You do not have to join a gym to do your walking but you can if you want to.
You can walk anywhere. If you live in a place that has winter and it is too cold to walk outside for some of the year, a lot of people choose to walk at a local mall when the weather is bad.
Do yourself a favor, take care of yourself, get up, and do one of the best activities for stress relief there is, take a walk.
10 Ways To Relieve Stress:
Stress is not a very pleasant experience but unfortunately, life throws situations full of incongruence at us that challenge our ability to remain calm. The reasons are endless from the noisy neighbor to the pizza boy who keeps delivering a pepperoni pizza when I asked for a Hawaiian pizza with extra cheese and…..well, you get my drift.
The solution centers on focus and relaxation. These 10 ways to relieve stress will help you maintain a balance between keeping your blood pressure down and blowing a gasket at work, at home, or during other social times.
1. Don’t focus on the problem, focus on the solution. Replace a negative thought with something positive like a funny moment recently or something personally enlightening e.g. birth of a baby.
2. If at work, change your seating position or go for a stroll around the office if stress is hitting you.
3. Try some yoga as this teaches you through exercise to focus on being calm.
4. Go for a walk in the park or go for a swim, activities like these help to relieve stress.
5. Get a head massage or do it yourself. Gentle rubbing of the scalp is a very effective way to put you at ease. Meditation and massage techniques offer great therapy. A great way to meditate is to close your eyes and focus on one thing such as your controlled breathing.
6. Play a game (if allowed while at work) or do a crossword. Activities like these allow you to easily find at least 10 ways to relieve stress so shift your focus away from whatever is stressing you. It’s a known fact that computer game lovers enjoy obliterating aliens or whatever as a means to alleviate stress.
7. This is an issue at work though if you can, play some music. Perhaps your employer will allow headphones. Sound that invokes feelings of serenity such as sea waves or forests can act as an excellent reliever.
8. Perhaps, you have heard the song ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ from The Verve and it’s all true. Being lethargic or stressed should not mean reaching for the pharmaceutical cupboard. Stimulants cannot remove the problem or help to forget it. Grab a huge drink of water instead and enjoy the feeling of refreshment.
9. Try Humor! As part of this list explaining 10 ways to relieve stress, this is probably the most effective method. Laughing brings you to the brighter side of your daily life. Read some jokes, or tell them to colleagues.
10. Try to sleep for at least 7 or 8 hours every night. More early nights and a proper sleep pattern will allow you to feel more relaxed each day and less prone to procrastination and lethargic behavior.
Follow these 10 ways to relieve stress to start leading a healthy life and improve your ways of tackling daily stress to feel better each day.
