4 ways to relax and reduce stress

With the prevalence of burnout and the tendency to neglect personal needs, it is crucial to create moments for self-care. Mental Health UK reports that around 1 in 5 adults had to take time off work in the past year due to stress-related poor mental health. This underlines the importance of valuing your mental wellbeing and taking proactive steps to manage stress.

Stress can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to rule your life. By implementing these proven strategies, you can regain control, regain calm, and restore balance. These stress reduction tips are not only helpful, they are also effective tools in your arsenal to manage stress and improve your mental health.

Excercise

If the word exercise makes you internally groan and roll your eyes, you’re not alone. However, Exercise is a powerful stress buster, and the endorphins released after a good workout can bring a wave of relief and relaxation. This is crucial for improving your mental health, and the activity itself is excellent for both mental and physical well-being. Remember, it doesn’t have to be strenuous; it can be as simple as going for a walk or a swim, or even dancing in the kitchen while you clean up. The key is to get moving, get your heart rate up and let yourself feel a little breathless. Start with small amounts of exercise each day, even just 60 seconds, and you will start to feel the benefits.

To take a bath

Run the water, buy one bath bomb set, turn on the music, grab a book and close the door. Do what you need to do to make your bath relaxing, but this can be the perfect way to disconnect from the outside world, turn off your brain and take a moment to focus on what you need to do. Which is absolutely nothing at this point. Whether you do this daily or leave it as a weekly treat, there’s a lot you can achieve by doing nothing more than relaxing in the bath and letting your worries wash away as you unplug.

Meditation

Meditation is a powerful tool for training your brain to focus on one thing and clearing your mind of everything else. This technique, which often uses mindfulness, brings you into the present moment and helps you focus on the here and now. By practicing this, you can increase your awareness, train your attention and ultimately find relaxation and stress relief. Meditation can be used for many different things, but if you often have a busy mind full of racing thoughts, this could be a game-changer. It can help you pause, refocus, regain mental clarity and therefore reduce stress.

Sleep

As mentioned, stress can affect your life in so many different ways, and it can negatively impact your sleep quality. However, this can become a catch-22 situation where your Stress affects your sleep, but you need sleep to reduce stress. Sounds familiar? By creating an effective bedtime routine that helps you wind down and get a good night’s sleep, you can give your body the rest it needs to help you combat your stress and get to the root cause of it. Poor sleep has a mental and physical impact on you and makes all your problems seem just a little bit worse. So instead of working on eliminating stress, work on improving your sleep so that you have the mental clarity to process what’s bothering you.