Stress relief techniques to balance your life

Stress Relief caused by change

Nothing is permanent in this world except change. Nowadays, it seems globally accepted that any sort of change causes stress! Really?  Should people not just accept that stress is a fact of life that we all have to live with?

What exactly is stress?

Stress is a psychological and physiological response to events that upset our personal balance in one way or another. But in fact, there is good stress and there is bad stress.

Good stress gives you the motivation to do your best when cramming for exams, or preparing for a job presentation. However, when things are perceived to get out of hand and life’s demands exceed your ability to cope, stress might become bad for your physical, emotional and psychological well-being.
Some people can feel the tension caused by stress in their shoulders and neck, as well as heart-pounding in their chest. They might lose sleep, feel depressed, and get tired. When stress becomes long-term, it actually increases the risk for heart disease, mental distress or even weight gain.

Stress relief techniques

There are some simple stress relief techniques you can implement in your daily life to reduce the mount of bad stress that builds up in your body. Allow me to give you some quick bullet points you can take way immediately.

• Having a regular fitness regimen is a good stress relief practice. Enjoying a walk in the park is one way to reduce stress.
• Meditation is a stress relief technique that helps train your body to relieve stress. Meditation is an ancient practice that has gained worldwide acceptance even in modern times. As a stress relief technique, meditation has the ability to produce relaxation response that helps reduce blood pressure, lift depression, and ease general stress symptoms.
• Another ancient practice that reduces stress and tension is yoga. It can lower blood pressure and levels of stress hormone called cortisol. You also boost flexibility, strength, endurance, and balance through yoga. As you work through the various poses, you must focus on inhaling and exhaling. Breath concentration is yoga’s key to stress relief management. With this focus, you let go of external thoughts and anxiety.
• Massages are a great method for stress relief too. Most people go for a full-body massage, not only for pleasure, but for its stress relief benefits. According to the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), over 40 million Americans had at least one massage in every year. That’s approximately one in six adults getting the health benefits of massage therapy for stress relief. Massage therapy can be effective for a variety of conditions, including arthritis, lower back pain, insomnia, headaches, anxiety, circulatory problems, and recovery from a sports injury.
• Sometimes, just learning to accept what you cannot change can help ease the burden of stress aswel. Good coping skills were associated with better levels of the so-called good cholesterol or high-density lipoprotein (HDL). The better a persons ability to cope with stress, the better chances there are of attaining a good cholesterol level. Stress and hostility affect a person’s cholesterol levels. Other research found that “avoidance” coping, such as blaming oneself, is unhealthy and related to hostility and anger. Both are related to blood pressure elevation and lower HDL. Hostility is also associated with higher blood glucose levels in healthy people and in diabetics, which raises the risk of heart disease. Hostile people use emotion-focused coping like anger and avoidance instead of problem solving.
• Self-hypnosis is a great way to relief stress. Likewise to meditation you can re-install patterns in your behavior to to produce the desired stress relief. If you would be interested in learning self hypnosis you could find information in this book I wrote: Therapeutic Hypnosis Demystified, whereby the technique of self-hypnosis is explained as well as some exersises to you can apply.

So, if your hectic lifestyle seems to take its toll in your physical, emotional and psychological well-being, stress relief techniques can bring you life back into balance, whichever one you choose to apply will benefit you.

Have a conscious day!

Filip