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3 of the Best Ways to Reduce Stress in Your Life

By Operation Meditation

Is life getting to you? Do you feel your frustration and anxiety rising as obligations and commitments at home and work continue to pile up? Are you looking to reduce the stress so that you can start to enjoy living again?

WebMD defines stress as “the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response.” While not all stress is negative, like the birth of a baby, it still has the ability to affect your health if it’s constant and consistent.

If you don’t learn to control your stress, it will start to control you. You can wind up with heart problems, blood sugar issues, headaches, depression and more. So, the sooner you get your stress in check, the healthier and happier you will be.

Here’s three tips to living a stress free (or at least reduced) life:

Exercise. Being physically active relieves stress in two ways. First, it released endorphins which are hormones that help you feel good. Second, it takes your mind off of whatever is stressing you. When you’re focused on your run or lifting the last three sets of weights, you aren’t thinking about anything else.

For this reason, as well as the numerous health benefits of regular activity, you should try to get some form of exercise daily. It doesn’t have to be a grueling workout to receive the benefits, either. Go for a walk. Dance in your kitchen to your favorite songs. It will leave you feeling renewed and energized.

Meditation. Are you a person that has to have the television or radio going at all times? Do you find it necessary to always be on the go? If so, you may benefit from time to just sit and be.

Meditation has been used for centuries to help people achieve an inner peacefulness. Like exercise, it allows your mind to walk away from whatever is stressing it and focus on something entirely different. The result? A level of contentment that is amazing!

How do you do it? Try this simple exercise. Find a nice quiet place, free from distraction. Don’t think about anything other than the breaths that are entering and exiting your body. When your mind wanders, which it will until you get used to this exercise, bring it back to your breathing.

Just doing this simple exercise daily will help you feel more calm and deal more effectively with the stressors that are in your world.

Talk. Another way to deal with stress is to talk about whatever is on your mind. Sometimes it just feels better to let it out, get it off your chest. You may find that giving your stress a voice is all you need to feel better.

Get a counselor, talk to your pastor or call a trusted friend or family member. Find someone that will listen to you and help you. Sometimes it’s hard when well-meaning loved ones want to help you with your struggle and start to give unsolicited advice. So, you may want to start the conversation by saying something like, “I just need to vent. I’m not looking for solutions, I just need someone to hear me out.” If they truly love you and care about you, they’ll respect your wishes. And, it may actually relieve some stress for them by knowing up front that you’re not expecting them to make your life better.

Try any one of these three ideas, and you’ll feel your stress lower immediately. Do all three and you’ll wonder what stress feels like. Can you imagine that?

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