Stress has become an important part of a modern lifestyle and is regarded as a normal thing in day-to-day life. But it can take a toll on your health.
It can be due to your work, personal life situations, health concerns, financial challenges, setting wrong expectations, etc.
It can even lead to further health issues such as depression, anxiety, weight issues, heart disease, etc.
Let’s understand this with what is happening in the body and then we’ll look at some practical ways to fix it.
When you’re stressed, the body enters survival mode and changes the internal environment by increasing your heart rate, rising blood pressure, fastening your breath. sharpening your senses. Basically, prepares you to handle the situation – either fight or flight. Along with it, it releases a bunch of stress hormones – Cortisol, Vasopressin, growth hormone, etc.
But if your stress is occurring repeatedly, how you respond to the stressor is all that’s of major significance. Here are a few practical ways that’ll help you win over stress every time.
1. Physical activity
Physical activity in any form is a major stress buster. It is not just about doing when you’re stressed but exercising regularly can have several benefits apart from managing your stress such as healthy weight, improved body composition, improving mood, etc.
Even yoga has proven benefits to reduce stress.
2. Make healthy food choices
Some people turn to high sugar high-fat foods, smoking, alcohol, drugs, etc., and become even more stressed and the vicious cycle continues.
Develop a healthier response to stress by consuming whole and minimally processed foods, such as whole grains, whole grain flakes, nuts and seeds, nut butter, fruits, vegetables, beans & lentils, chicken, fish, etc.
3. Minimize the usage of phone
In so many studies, stress has found links with excessive screen time or phone usage. Excessive phone usage is also linked to disrupted sleep. Minimizing the usage of phone is surely a better way to handle stress.
Instead of looking inside the screen, look outside the screen & just walk in the garden by your side, maybe enjoy listening to your favorite music, pursue your hobby, spend time with friends. A lot of better things you can end up doing if you minimized usage of your phone.
4. Find your stressor and try to eliminate it permanently
Whether it is your work life, personal life, financial obligation, or any other, always work toward finding a permanent solution to the problem so that it stops bothering you over and over again.
Sources –
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/16-ways-relieve-stress-anxiety
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7264390/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33109502/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29673047/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_hormone