Stress Reducing Habits You Can Start Today

Overwhelming stress has become part of the average daily life for so many individuals these days, mostly coming from a wide range of sources (e.g., work-related stressors, money worries, and too many of us spending our entire day in front of a computer screen). Many people are not aware of the severity of stress harm they are experiencing. Chronic stress is associated with increased risk for sleep-related issues, anxiety disorders, and long- term physical health issues, as per various organizations (e.g., The World Health Organization).

Creating small and practical habits that allow you to relax, naturally, and to develop them permanently will enable building upon one continuous framework to create a foundation for success. The good news is that there is no need to make large-scale lifestyle changes in order to produce a positive effect on how you feel each day.

Simple Daily Actions to Reduce Stress

• Drink Water Immediately After Waking Up
• Stretch or Move Your Body for 5-10 Minutes
• Do Not Check Your Phone for the First 20 Minutes of the Day
• Get Some Natural Light

Instead, find a way to develop an ongoing pattern of consistent, repeated actions (i.e. a very short routine of only 10 minutes each day is much more beneficial than doing one long routine once or twice per month). Research completed by Harvard Medical School state that developing & maintaining a daily habit can help to increase your emotional stability and lower anxiety due to those consistent actions.

The Mind-Body Connection

The connection between your mind and body isn’t limited to just physical fitness; it also has a large role in regulating the nervous system and reducing levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. This is one reason why a lot of individuals report feeling less stressed after taking even short walks.

As outlined in many studies conducted by organizations such as the American Psychological Association, routine physical activity is an important contributor to effectively reducing levels of stress. When you feel physically good, your mind will feel good; and as a result, you will have a positive feedback life’s most common forms of stress.

Breath Awareness Practices

Even just a couple of minutes of concentrating on your breath can have an impact. There are many simple and easy to understand apps, like Headspace, which provide guidance to those who are new to mindfully engaging only with their breath.

• 2–5 Minutes of Breath Awareness
• Awareness of your Environment with No Distractions
• Deep and Slow Breaths When You Are Feeling Stressed
• Take Small Pauses Between Each Task

These types of exercises will help decrease the amount of clutter in your brain therefore increasing your ability to be more focused when you are working. Depending on how often you perform these exercises, over time as well as the level of your growth or development from regularly practicing your energy should shift from responding to stress towards remaining calm in response to stresses.

Mindfulness and the Brain

Scientific evidence supports that there is an actual physical change in the brain as a result of practicing mindfulness; mindfulness practice increases the activation of the brain when exposed to a stressor or stressful event while decreasing the level of activation of the brain in relation to stressors and events.

Also, studies conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health found that the use of mindfulness reduces anxiety and improves overall wellbeing of individuals; this information indicates that practicing mindfulness on a regular basis is one of the simplest and most effective ways to positively change how you experience stress.

Use Controlled Digital Usage To Ease Cognitive Stress

The amount of time we spend on screens is one of the more common, yet least obvious sources of stress in our lives. Continuous exposure to digital notifications, updates via social media, and curated content represented by the action of scrolling creates such an increase in cognitive overload that it eventually leads to chronic mental exhaustion.

Digital media companies have developed their platforms to engage users for extended periods of time by the use of research and statistical information, resulting in devices that create prolonged periods of mental fatigue; thus, when we consume less through digital media, our cognitive load is lessened and we have a greater amount of attentional resources left over for future tasks.

By constantly moving from one app, to another app, to various sources of information and back again, our brains are unable to keep track of all these concurrent tasks; as a result, our ability to concentrate is reduced and our anxiety level increases.

Simple Digital Boundaries

You could benefit greatly from the creation of simple, basic digital rules in your life that can help you establish the amount of control you have over the way you spend your time and exert your attention. The establishment of these boundaries can also serve as a distraction minimization tool which could then lead to an increase in your mental clarity and emotional balance.

Begin by determining the amount of time you actually spend on your devices and begin making small alterations. You do not have to make drastic adjustments to your time spent on your devices, as small implemented changes will produce an outstanding result for both your cognitive function and anxiety levels.

• Disable Unused App Notifications
• Put a Limit on Social Media Time
• Don’t Use Electronics for 30 Minutes before Sleep

Sleep and Stress Connection

Many people do not realise how much their sleep habits affect their stress levels. It is important to follow through with this routine; your body will naturally learn the pattern over time.

Learn How to Connect the Two — Sleep & Stress

Take advantage of fully eating regularly.

Understanding The Gut-Brain Connection

Your mental state is greatly influenced by the health of your digestive system. The gut and brain are linked, thus what you put into your body will affect the way you feel. Obvious dysregulation from poor dietary choices cumulatively will cause extreme emotional response and exhaustion.

Harvard Health Publishing breaks down the fact that when you eat mindfully, you provide your body with nourishment and a foundation of positive experience, thus allowing for better emotional regulation.

Create and Maintain Social Connections

As too many individuals experience almost constant levels of stress during their daily lives, studies have shown that having social relationships can be a great way to reduce stress levels.

Community and Group Activities

• Joining group activities or community activities

Conclusion

After a while, those activities will become a part of your daily life and you will find that you are better able to manage your stress through more natural means. Research is available from WHO that points out that sustainable lifestyle choices produce long-term well-being, whereas “quick fixes” do not.

Making small changes today will create a healthier and calmer future; while stress will be a component of our lives until we die, our management of our stress will impact our responses to our stress.