Easy And Natural Ways Of Dealing With Stress

According to the Carnegie Mellon study, published in the 2012. edition of the Journal of Applied Psychology, Americans are year after year feeling increasingly stressed. Judging by data used in the study, self-reported stress levels had risen between 10 and 30 percent across all demographics in the last three decades. But what’s more worrisome is the fact that less than 38 percent of Americans feel that they are actually succeeding at managing their stress levels. This results in negative health effects such as skipping meals, irregular sleeping schedule or even insomnia, over-indulging in unhealthy food, antidepressant abuse etc. If you are among those who are in dire need of effective stress management without relying on pills or chemicals, read on to find some most effective ones.

Regular Daily Exercise

Getting up and about can lead to successfully regulating stress levels. It is a well-known fact that physical activity is highly beneficial for your physical health. But it is good for your mental health as well. During physical activities, our brains are stimulated to releases endorphins, also known as “feel good hormone”. Endorphins are well known for affecting mood in a positive way and could lead to improving your sleeping schedule. Your exercise plan does not have to be excessive as long as it is practiced regularly. Just a walking session or bicycle ride in nature could do more for you than you can imagine. No matter what type of exercise you chose, it pushes our body's physiological systems - all of which are involved in the stress response - to communicate better and more efficient than normal. This means that the more you exercise, the better your body becomes at communicating about and handling with day to day stress.

Turning To Healthy Balanced Diet

The food you eat determines how your mind and body handles anxiety and stress. It's easy to turn to unhealthy food when under a lot of stress. Instead, why don't just start a day off strategically by consuming a complex carbohydrate such as steel-cut oats? These are known to stimulate the brain to release serotonin, a neurotransmitter that produces a calming effect on the body. You can give your healthy breakfast a boost of crunch and sweetness by adding sunflower seeds and raisins. Both are rich in B vitamins, one of the key factors in reducing stress trough healthier food. But do not stop with breakfast, eating well throughout the day will keep your energy levels up, allowing you to handle stressful situations and make a decision with a clear head. Fresh fruits like banana, avocado and oranges will supply your body with necessary vitamins and ingredients for improvements of your mental functions.

Introduce Herbal Tea To Your Menu

If you are desperate to find your Zen but also need to stay on your game to get everything done, a cup of herbal tea may just be the stress buster you need. According to Elizabeth Trattner - an expert in integrative and traditional Chinese medicine - not only does herbal tea make you feel calm and alert, it is also loaded with antioxidants. Powder green tea is known to contain high levels of L-theanine, an amino acid with both physiological and psychological anti-stress qualities. Matcha tea, a type of herbal tea whose green tea plants for matcha are shade-grown for about three weeks before harvest has three times as much of a potent antioxidant called EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) compared to other types of green tea. To relieve stress, consume matcha cold, or even latte style with coconut milk.

Practice Massage Therapies

Massage is an ancient healing discipline that has been practiced and perfected for centuries all around the world. It is branched in many types and techniques and is known to be beneficial in treating a wide variety of conditions, and stress is one of them. Whether you decide to practice massage by yourself or find massage experts to do so, you need a therapy for relaxing tension in your muscles and to improve circulation all over your body. This will gradually increase your mental clarity while significantly reducing stress levels at the same time.

These methods are just a few natural ways of dealing with accumulated stress. The modern way of living sadly does not allow us to take better care of ourselves. We are faced with stressful situations each and every day, whether that might be at work, school or in our relationships. It is almost impossible to avoid stress entirely, but we must do our best to keep it under control and not allow it to overtake our physical and well being.