What is stress? According to the Mental Health Foundation, stress is the feeling of being overwhelmed or unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure.
Although, too much stress can affect our mood, body and relationships; especially when the stress feels out of our control. It also can make us feel feelings of anxiousness, irritability, and it can also affect our self-esteem. If you experience a large amount of stress over a long period of time, and it can also make us feel physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, which is also known as burnout.
To avoid burnout from happening, you need to effectively combat your stress, which means that you need to activate your body’s natural relaxation response. Stress relief techniques include deep breathing, meditation, and yoga.
For a lot of us, relaxation means getting home from work and sitting in front of the television, or scrolling through social media. Although we may feel relaxed, this does very little to reduce the effects of stress which can be damaging. It’s better to activate your body’s natural relaxation response, which is a state of deep rest that pauses stress, slows down your breathing and heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and brings your mind and body to a stable balance. This can be done by practicing relaxation techniques. It’s important to know that there is no single relaxation technique that works for everyone. Everyone is different. The right technique is the one that works with you, fits into your lifestyle, and gives you the ability to focus your mind for the relaxation response. This means you may need to go through some trial and error to find the right technique for you. Once you’ve found your technique, practicing on a regular basis can help daily stress and anxiety, improve your sleep, boost your energy and mood, and improve your overall health and wellbeing.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is the stepping stone of a lot of relaxation techniques, and it can be combined with other relaxing elements such as aromatherapy and music. It’s really easy to learn, it can be practiced absolutely anywhere, and it can provide a quick way to balance your stress levels with its focus on full, cleansing breaths. There are also many apps and audios you can download to help guide you through the process, all you need is a few minutes to yourself.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness helps to change your focus to the present, which enables you to fully engage with the present moment. Meditations that include mindfulness have been used for years to reduce anxiety, stress, depression, and other negative emotions. Mindfulness can also be included in activities such as walking, exercising or eating. Using mindfulness to stay focused on the present might seem pretty easy to start with, but it takes daily practice to reap all the benefits.
Yoga
Yoga is a spiritual discipline which is based on really subtle science, which focuses on bringing harmony between the mind and body. It involves a series of moving and stationary poses, also combined with deep breathing. Yoga can help to reduce anxiety and stress, but it can also improve flexibility, strength, balance and stamina.
