Stay Young the Natural Way 1: Practice Effective Stress Reduction Techniques (Part 2)

As a continuation to the previous post, here are more tried-and proven techniques to help control the surge of adrenaline and cortisol during stressful times.

 

• Unwind through playing.

 

Note: Playing is a necessary activity that stimulates creativity.

 

If you are working at home, spend a few minutes playing with your kid or pet. Or you can simply enjoy a good old-fashioned board game. The kind of play you engage in depends on your personal preference and available people or materials. Be imaginative and use what you have at the ready to create de-stressing games that appeal to the inner child in you. For creators—artists, writers, architects, inventors, etc. play is a necessary aspect in bringing out their natural creativity and inventiveness.

 

• Indulge in some chocolate.

 

Have you ever wondered why many people are addicted to marijuana? It induces a state of calm that pacifies nerves. However, being illegal, smoking pot when you only have five minutes left to beat a deadline could only further amplify your stress. Why? You may get sacked apart from facing possible charges for violating.

 

But who says you need to smoke pot in order to calm your jittery nerves? You can obtain the exact same benefits when you eat chocolate. Although considered by many as a fattening junk food, chocolate is not all that bad if taken in moderation. It comes with health benefits, one of which is mood alleviation. To up your great health advantages, opt for dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate and other varieties. Eat an ounce and a half when you feel stumped or anxious. Immediately, you will feel the pacifying effects as its components work to lower your stress needle. Besides this, the adverse effect of stress on your metabolism is also reduced.

 

• Pause for a few minutes of daydreaming.

 

Harried to the point of exploding? Distract yourself intentionally by losing yourself momentarily in a wonderful daydream. Put yourself in a most pleasurable situation and enjoy the image as they come parading in your head. Daydreaming works best during traffic. Instead of fretting and counting the minutes, get your mind off the congestion and allow yourself to be drifted away into your very own fantasy world. Daydreaming is an effective diversion that elicits cheerful emotions while inducing a state of calm.

 

• Find someone (or something to hug).

 

It pays to have a pillow in your workstation. A stressball or small stuffed pet also works. But to maximize the benefits get them in sizes big enough to be hugged. Hugging, even an inanimate object, is an instant de-stressor. It appeases your raging emotions and makes you feel good on the spot. Greater benefits are in store of you hug a friend or loved one or even a pet, as their warmth and the sense of security they provide can banish anxiety and other negative emotions.

Stay Young the Natural Way 1: Practice Effective Stress Reduction Techniques (Part 1)

There may be no turning back the clock, but there are proven ways to help your body stay young and functioning at its peak. These activities involve no hocus-pocus or drastic surgeries. Totally natural and very beneficial once turned into a habit, they are considered health musts. Not only do they benefit people who want to retard the aging process sans any fakeries, but they have always been included among the top prerequisites to great health.

 

• Reduce your stress.

 

Stress has become a by-word in the modern, fast-paced society we live in. Ironically, the more advanced we get, the more stressful our lives become. When you were at the peak of youth, you can burn the midnight oil and party until dawn without having to worry about the health consequences. But once you step into your 30’s, all the recklessness will pay off in the form of telltale signs of specific illnesses.

 

According to recent studies, stress prompts changes in the body that are capable of speeding up the aging process. Rushes of adrenaline and cortisol hormones raise blood pressure and accelerate heart rate. You will usually feel these surges when you are subjected to continuous, stressful situations, e.g. having to deal with one deadline at work after another, bumper-to-bumper traffic jam when you are in a rush, and many more.

 

Frequent surges of these two hormones experienced during stressful times adversely affect your physical and emotional health. To put the brakes on them, you need to practice these foolproof quick-fixes:

 

• Laugh it off.

 

When everything is on the verge of imploding due to extreme pressure, lighten up by humoring the situation. Be sarcastic or silly if you please. But the whole point is to tickle your funny bones so as to mitigate the rise of your hormones and other vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate, which are common during stressful moments. A good laugh works instantaneously and dramatically. What is more, after you have hurt your tummy from laughing so hard, your mind clears up miraculously. Thus, it becomes easier to focus on the best way to handle the situation at hand.

 

• Unwind through playing.

 

Forcing yourself to think during crunch time can literally give you a bad headache. Worse, it does not guarantee that the ideas will flow, and you are more prone to erring since you will no longer scrutinize whatever concept will sprout in your mind. You may find this especially true when you are pressed for time.

 

Times like these call for an abrupt halt in whatever you are doing. Unwind for a few minutes by distracting yourself through playing. Play computer games, tic-tac-toe, or just fool around with your pencil by doodling away. These temporary distractions work to relax your mind while keeping you calm.

 

Are You a Good Stress Manager? (Part 2)

Here are the other valuable traits that distinguish effective stress managers.

 

• You choose your crowd as much as possible.

 

Some people are fixtures in your life—parents, relatives, and siblings. When you were born into this world, no one asked you to choose them to fill in these roles. They were given to you, so you have no choice but to embrace them for everything they are—merits, idiosyncrasies, and all. Come to think of it, there is nothing really unusual about this as everybody has his/her quirks. It is only a matter of how much of these we can and are willing to put up with. But the thing here is, you do not have to endure every person that comes your way. Your family is a fixture you have to keep, but your friends and other people you hang out with (even lovers and partners) can be selected.  So choose them wisely. If they always burden you emotionally and mentally (and they choose to remain oblivious or could not care less about you), then you should keep distance or look for a more supportive group of people who are not as self-centered or selfish.

 

• Be in charge of your environment.

 

Cannot help but feel anxious every time you watch the news? Are you easily affected by the negative emotions of the characters in a TV drama? Then by all means stay away from them as much as possible. Do not watch the news and skip the headlines when perusing the newspaper (better yet do not read the newspaper at all). And if intense dramas cause your blood pressure to shoot up, opt for light comedies or more amusing film choices that delight rather than stress you.

 

Other environmental controls you can practice are as follows:

 

·         If daily traffic unnerves you, leave half an hour earlier than usual. Either this or you choose a better route.

 

·         You do not like the attitude of a coworker? Or having trouble with him or her? Stay out of his/her way. Avoid being in the same place at once as much as possible. If he/she is seated next to your station, request to be transferred. If this is not possible zone out as you plug in to relaxing music to keep your thoughts away from him/her.

 

·         To lift up your spirits, try redecorating your room. You can give it a fresh paint in your favorite relaxing color. Pressed for time? A simple decluttering will do the trick.

 

• Narrow down your list of “to-do” tasks.

 

If you are spreading yourself too thin by taking on tasks beyond your capacity to handle, then you are setting yourself up for a breakdown any time soon. The overwhelming stress can take its toll not only on your physical health, but also mental well-being. Be realistic. Do not bite off more than you can chew. Learn how to prioritize tasks, so you do not end up wasting your time and valuable energy.

Are You a Good Stress Manager? (Part 1)

Who does not dream of living a stress-free life? No worries. No bills to pay. No health concerns to rob you of sleep. No crazymakers who exasperate you and drive your round the bend to the point of breaking. And no unfulfilled dreams or ambitions to lament about.

 

But unfortunately, life will not be what it is in the absence of stress. It is a fact all of us need to acknowledge and embrace. On the upside, not all stress is bad. There are good types of stress that inspire you to put your best foot forward or live up to expectations. Although these can be associated with specific instances, like the need to improve your performance to get good work evaluation and the likes, truth be known that more often than not, it all depends on how you perceive it and manage it.

 

Yes, even the worst type of stress can be viewed as a good one if you will it. You can use it advantageously to develop yourself even more, rather than let it bury you in misery. But if you have to deal with these one after the other or worse, at the same time, you may weaken and buckle beneath the combined force later on.

 

To prevent the combined force of intense stress from weighing you down, you must manage it well. And herein is where the question lies: are you a good stress manager?

 

Even if you have had been battling and juggling stress all your life, you could never justify just how good a stress manager you are unless you possess these traits:

 

You know when to say “no.”

 

The only way you will know if you are taking on too much stress or not, is if you are aware of your limits. Given that some people are more resilient and tougher than others, still, limitations exist. It is part and parcel of human existence. As much as we want to go beyond our innate capabilities, truth be known that in failing to acknowledge this truth, we run the risk of spreading ourselves too thin. Once this occurs, expect everything to fall apart.

 

Therefore, you have to make it a point to know your personal limits. Then you should have the courage to put your foot down and either decline or pause for a while if matters threaten to overwhelm you. Whether in your personal or professional life, knowing when to say turn down and abiding by it is the first step to good stress management.

 

If you think that you are doing yourself and other people a favor when you overburden yourself, you are wrong. You are only wasting your effort and time needlessly. Why? Because once you are stressed out already, your efficiency, patience, and interest dips. In turn, this is bound to adversely affect your output.