How To Relieve Stress ⋆ Holistic Lifestyle Guide

Are you feeling stressed? I’d be surprised if you weren’t.

Between the growing demands of our jobs, raising a family while working full-time, and the increasing need to stay connected all day every day, most of us feel stressed out more often than we like to admit. Add to it a chronic lack of sleep and exercise and you have a recipe for disaster. Stress kills, and that’s no joke.

Let’s look at some of the worst negative side effects of stress and what you can do to stress less and relax more.

Stress will cause your blood pressure to rise. You’ve experienced this when you found yourself hot and with a raging headache when you were in a particularly stressful situation.

Feeling that way from time to time is no big deal. The real danger is in the lower-level stress we all feel on a daily basis. It can lead to hypertension and a higher risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke.

Next, let’s look at sleep. When you’re stressed, you don’t sleep well (as everyone has experienced!) You may even find it hard to sleep at all. Insomnia is a common side effect of living a stress-full life. It doesn’t take long before you start to feel the negative side effects of not getting quality sleep.

You feel drained, unfocused, and things spiral downward from there quickly. Your body can’t function well and recover without at least a few good hours of sleep per night. For optimal health, shoot for seven or eight hours. If you struggle with sleep, learn how to get a good nights sleep here.

Since stress is so hard on the body and mind, what can you do to reduce it?

The most obvious solution is to go to the source of the stress and cut it out of your life. Obviously, that isn’t very practical when you’re having a few rough weeks at the job you rely on or your kids are driving you nuts.

Instead, try things to actively relax and destress when and where you can to counterbalance the unavoidable.

Go for a walk outside. Walking is one of the best exercises you can do.
Meditate. If you struggle with this, this article will give you some easy tips on how to meditate.
Learn some breathing exercises to help calm yourself down whenever you feel particularly stressed.
Eat a healthy diet such as the Mediterranean Diet and cut down on sugar and caffeine.

Being aware of the stress and how it is affecting you is a great first step. Now take a deep breath and go for a stroll around the block. Notice how much better you feel right away!

I have some printable products in my Etsy shop designed to help you relieve stress. These are budget-friendly (all under $10) and you can have them in your hands in just a few minutes if you have a printer at home!

This stress relief workbook will help with stress reduction by giving you a variety of activities that are good for your mental health.

These printable stress and anxiety journal prompts will help you manage and maintain your mental health, panic disorder, anxiety and stress. There are 200 unique journal prompts, 5 on each page, with room to fill in your answer.

Having a mindfulness practice will relieve stress and improve your mental health. This bundle includes three printable mindfulness-related items; save money when you buy this bundle!

If everything you have tried to relieve stress has not worked, one thing that works for most people is EMDR therapy. EMDR treats anxiety, depression, PTSD, and many more stress related mental issues. You don’t need to be going to see a therapist in order to do this. There is a virtual EMDR program that you can join online to do this in the comfort of your own home.