Remember the last time you were so stressed that you couldn't sleep? Stress is one of the biggest sleep stealers there is. Even if you fall asleep, stress can prevent you from entering deep sleep for physical recovery or REM sleep for mental recovery. Experiment with different ways to relieve and release your stress, each day, so that your nightly slumber becomes more peaceful. Try these tips and see how they work for you.
One way to reduce your high levels of stress is to read a book. When you read, your mind wanders into a fantasy land, where you are not troubled by the different pressures that will cause you tension. Purchase a mystery or science fiction novel to help how you feel.
A great tip that can help you keep your stress in check is to listen to soothing music. There are many different genres of music that can have a calming effect when you listen to them. Enjoying a little bit of this music from time to time can help a lot. It is a great alternative to the unending bad news you hear on most radio shows.
If you are under pressure, one of the things that you can do is lift weights. When you contract your muscles, you will reduce the tension on your body and feel good about yourself. Do this in the comfort of your own home or at the gym to reduce stress levels.
Shake your stress away. Try this quick exercise. Sit or stand, stretch your arms out to your side, and shake your hands for around ten seconds. Shake them vigorously. While you are shaking, do some deep breathing. Just this short little exercise will help to relieve any tension in your back and neck and help to relieve some stress as well.
Eat food that will make you feel positive about yourself and build your body. Eating lifeless and fatty fast food will stress you out. Don't think that the food that you eat has nothing to do with the way you feel and why you are stressed. Even if you crave the sugar or fat, these kinds of foods only lead to making you feel worse.
Learn how to breath fully using your diaphragm. As practice, breath through your nose, and watch your belly increase in size. Hold the breath for a few seconds before releasing. These deep breaths fully oxygenate your blood, relaxing you quite quickly! In fact, it's been found that the opposite, short breathes, can speed up your heart beat, tighten your muscles and increase your stress!
Try writing about your stress to relax. Recording your thoughts about the situation that is causing you stress can actually help to relieve that stress, especially if the problem is one that you're hesitant to discuss with other people. Keep a journal of these writings, and in the future you can look back on them and see what you did to solve them or relieve the stress.
Now you should have a few new ideas to add to your “stress management” tool kit. Everyone needs to know different techniques to manage stress, because stress is tricky because the same techniques don't always work all of the time. Try the above tips and see if they can become part of your stress-fighting arsenal, to help you to better manage daily stress levels.