We all experience stress in one form or another. Some use this pressure to motivate us temporarily, while others get overwhelmed by it. When temporary pressure becomes the stress that takes over our lives, it can harm our productivity, relationships, and even our bodies. Stress is how our body communicates demands, triggers, or threats. When these demands are wanted, they can motivate or inspire us, but when they cause us to feel threatened or overwhelmingly bothered, they become detrimental.
Stress affects the body in various ways: disrupted sleep, digestive issues, headaches, pain or tension in the muscles or the body, elevated heart rate, or weakened immune system. Stress can also affect your skin by triggering eczema or psoriasis, and it can negatively impact your fertility and health. In addition to changes in your mood, memory, and concentration, unmanaged and prolonged stress could lead to death. Sadly, in the United Kingdom, 1 in 14 people say that they feel stress every day. 79% of Britons say work-related stress is the most common form. Approximately 91% of women and 80% of men in the UK feel stressed approximately once a month, while 18-24-year-olds report feeling stress at higher levels than older age groups do.
Since 1998, the International Stress Management Association (ISMA) has implemented National Stress Awareness Day to illuminate the reality of stress and the importance of stress management. Observed on the first Wednesday in November, this year’s National Stress Awareness Day takes place on November 6th. Recognizing the harm that stress can do to individuals is why a day to bring attention and promote awareness of this silent killer is so important.
Controlling and managing stress is vital to living a well-balanced and healthy life, but not everyone knows how to identify when they are under stress and how to combat it. In honor of National Stress Awareness Day, here are a few tips to help you live stress-free every day.
Stress-Free Tip #1: Identify whether you’re experiencing good or bad stress
Not all stress is bad. There is good stress and bad stress. The difference between the two is how you see it. If you feel challenged healthily or have increased excitement and focus, you’re experiencing EUSTRESS, which is positive or good stress. On the other hand, if you’re feeling uneasy, anxious, or so overwhelmed that it is negatively impacting your mental or physical well-being, you are under DISTRESS. Understanding the difference between the two forms of stress and knowing what to do is the first step to managing and controlling stressful situations so that they remain situations instead of physical or mental symptoms.
Stress-Free Tip #2: Check your diet
Did you know that when you’re experiencing stress, the foods you eat can worsen it? Eating foods that lead to inflammation in the body or disrupt your digestive system can add more stress to your current stressful situation. Eating a whole-food diet rich in fruits, vegetables, water, and unprocessed foods helps keep your body balanced and strong during challenging and stressful times. It’s important to avoid alcohol and any foods that may contribute to the stress your body is dealing with. This approach is essential for restoring your positive state of mind, body, and spirit.
Stress-Free Tip #3: Get some fresh air
Being in nature is medicinal, but it’s also about having a change of scenery that could make all the difference when you’re experiencing or dealing with stress. In addition to being in nature, leaving your current environment for a break, getting fresh air is about regulating your breathing. Breathwork can play a huge role in resetting your energy levels when they are elevated due to stress. This includes meditating or simply sitting outside, allowing the sunlight to recalibrate your thoughts and energy so that you can release the negative energy before returning to the situation with a renewed and refreshed perspective.
Stress-Free Tip #4: Start over
Sometimes, our days start on a sour note. When that happens, everything that follows is wrong or off—waking up late, having car problems, having an argument with your spouse, or something as simple as your favorite coffee spot handing you the wrong order. These seemingly minor occurrences could really set your day off on a bad start. And when you feel things are going your way, sometimes starting the day over is the remedy. When you decide this day is not your day, it’s okay to take the day to reset, rest, and reflect instead of powering through and encountering more stress. When there is too much stress, consider that your sign to rest and start a new tomorrow.
Stress-Free Tip #5: Consider therapy
Seeking help when you’re stressed is the best way to de-stress. Instead of bottling your feelings up, talk with someone who can help you process your feelings or alleviate some of the stress in your life. Consider speaking with your manager or team lead if it’s work-related stress. Maybe the stress is a matter of extending a deadline or a miscommunication that could be resolved with a conversation. Or perhaps it’s a trigger from old wounds that need a professional to help you heal and navigate your way through it so that you can have the tools for future situations. Either way, seeking help is a form of self-care and advocating for yourself. Remember, you don’t have to face stress alone.
Stress-Free Tip #6: Play
Yes, play! Playing is the biggest stress reliever and the healthiest. Having fun or playing releases endorphins, the happy feeling your body naturally produces. When you’re feeling good, it sends signals to your brain and body that counteract cortisol, the stress hormone. When you’re stressed, the best way to rid your body of stress is to do what makes you so happy that you forget why you were stressed. Do a passion project that lets you get lost in a creative flow, or play fetch with your dog. Whatever you can do to get your mind and body from feeling stressed to bliss is a natural remedy for combating stress.
Stress doesn’t have to take over your life. Remember that you can prevent stress from taking over when stressful situations occur. If we think of stress as an unwelcome house guest who plans to arrive hours before our dream vacation, we can find ways to keep it at a distance and prevent it from affecting our plans for a harmonious, balanced, and well-lived life.