Exercise
Exercising grants an absolute plethora of health benefits.
Doing any form of exercise regularly, can improve self-confidence levels, elevate moods, help you relax, and can greatly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Physical activity produces endorphins. This chemical in the brain acts like a natural painkiller.
Besides all the benefits to mental health, exercising tires you out which improves sleep and therefore, reduces stress.
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Eat Healthily
A nutritional, balanced diet is essential for maintaining a healthy immune system.
Not just that, but clean eating gives you energy from healthy sources. Energy, that will be needed to handle stressful events.
Plus it gives you peace of mind.
No worrying about expanding waistlines, growing stomachs, flabby arms, or double chins — all of that doesn’t have to plague your concerns.
A healthy diet, or at least primarily eating cleanly, will boost your general mood as your well-being is improved.
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Laugh and Smile
Both of these things are symbols of positive emotions and general greatness. They also create positive feelings.
Over time, increased laughter and smiling can have some very real and major health benefits such as:
- Better cardiovascular health
- Lowered depression
- Increased life span
However, both laughing and smiling can significantly reduce stress.
Life can get very cumbersome and hectic, so be sure to be exposed to humor every so often so you can release those feel-good hormones you need.
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Yoga
The poses required for yoga are muscular stretches.
Since this activity requires you to spread out, stretch out, and open yourself up, yoga can be like one big massive deep breath for the body. Plus it’s incredibly easy to do with no equipment of any kind required.
It’s stretching, which will not only serve as something to take your mind off of moments of struggle or hardship but is incredibly beneficial for your muscles.
Risking an injury is one less thing for you to have to worry about.
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Journal
This is one of my favorites on the list and I must say, is perhaps the one fundamental part of my life that changed me for the better.
Journaling is a very constructive and adaptive way to use emotion as a learning experience and to also keep yourself and your days in check.
Spill your thoughts onto the pages. All your worries, doubts, stresses, etc. all onto a page where you can collectively archive your emotions.
It’s a very constructive and meaningful way to destress because you’re not ranting, it’s for your eyes only, and you can find the solutions to your current rut.
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Learn to say no
Sometimes it’s hard to say “no”.
Maybe you feel guilty every time? Perhaps you just want people to be happy?
Well, perhaps part of your stress is that you aren’t prioritizing the most important thing there is; you.
Saying no more often will establish boundaries with others, keep your efforts toward more meaningful things, and stops letting other people’s stresses become your own.
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Meditate
Meditation can and will provide you with mental clarity and stability.
It takes you away from everything and lets you have a moment of stillness to be present, taking you away from anxieties about the future and wishes that the past were different.
Get yourself a quiet place, free from distractions, sit on the ground comfortably whilst maintaining an upright posture, and focus on your breathing.
This without a doubt is one of the most potent stress relievers on here. At least, speaking from experience it is.
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Gratitude Writing
Take a break from worries and stresses, and start focusing on appreciating the small things. Or perhaps, large too!
Gratitude Writing involves literally taking a sheet of paper, or even making space in your diary/journal, and taking note of some things to be grateful for.
For me, every morning, I give myself 3 things to be grateful for in general.
At night, I make myself be grateful for 3 things for that day.
Take some time whenever you feel stressed, to take note of what you value. Give your mind a rest to focus on something greater than your stress.
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Improve Sleep
Sleep is absolutely one of the most important aspects of maintaining our overall health.
A circadian rhythm that is completely off will have detrimental effects on your well-being.
Poor sleep reduces your cognitive abilities, motivation, memory, and so much more. Your basic human functions become substantially lessened.
Too much stress can harm your sleep. Not enough sleep can cause stress.
Try taking a nap whenever stress is getting to you.
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Music
Listening to music can have profound effects on the mind.
Studies have shown that listening to music can help lower your cortisol levels. Cortisol, of which, is the stress hormone.
Music can release emotion and has the ability to make you feel particular emotions too.
So, put on some feel-good songs or instrumentals and jam out for a little bit.
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Indulge Creatively
Take a moment to step away from the stressful workload or maybe to take your mind off of whatever you’re fixated on, to indulge in something creative.
Creating music, writing, drawing, photography — anything that can get your mind utilizing its imagination will reduce your stress levels.
You’ll get dopamine and satisfaction from working on your craft and using already-acquired skills to create something beautiful.
Anything that involves your creative input, absolutely go for it.
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Be In Nature
Nature has the power to take away all your angst, anxieties, and general negativity.
Going for a walk to just be present and be within the tranquil embrace of nature takes you physically and mentally away from your troubles.
I cannot do the explanation of how crucial nature is for your well-being justice.
Being present is a large part of de-stressing, and taking in your surroundings and the natural beauty of the Earth, can ensure your mind doesn’t wander too far into the future, or too far back into your past.
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Stop Scrolling Social Media
I despise social media for a number of reasons.
However, it is without a doubt a large cause of stress.
The main part is comparison.
All it takes is one person to show off something about themselves that they have but you deeply desire, to make you envious, and to start questioning yourself.
Social media is just a cesspit of harmful agendas, moronic opinions, and overly glorified lifestyles to make you mentally harm yourself.
Pick a better pastime than neurotic scrolling.
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Aromatherapy
Scents can have a powerful effect on your mind, and thus so, can reduce your stress levels.
Lavender is a very common scent because studies have shown that this scent (among others too) has a positive psychological effect on the brain.
A positive effect is; reduced stress levels.
Invest in some aromatherapy if you can, I’ve heard many great things from friends and family alike who love to spruce up their homely smells with some amazing scents.
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Affirmation Recital
Reciting affirmations to yourself can give you that much-needed boost to your confidence and esteem.
Your stress may be triggered by anxieties and doubts about yourself.
So, remind yourself how capable you are.
Some very common affirmations to recite to yourself in times of stress include:
- I am successful.
- I am confident.
- I am powerful.
- I am strong.
- I am getting better and better every day.
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Learn a New Skill
Deciding to finally commit to learning something new, or continuing to perfect a new talent you’ve been working away at slowly, can relieve stress immensely.
This is because you’re taking time to step away from stress, in pursuit of leveling yourself up.
Growth is a powerful thing and steadily improving at a new skill is a remarkable indicator of your growth.
Take some time to decompress by gently and slowly tempering your skills at something new.
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Clean Your Bedroom
Your bedroom is the most important aspect of your environment.
You start the day there and end it there. So, why not make it reflect your current goals or desired emotions?
Clean your room so it isn’t messy. Room clutter is mental clutter.
Organize your bedroom to organize your being.
Make your bed so you feel better getting into it every night.
Add some color to your room, perhaps some plants too, to bring some life into it.
Your bedroom is a reflection of your mental state, so don’t allow it to reflect your levels of stress.
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Read
Reading is a very constructive past-time.
It gets your brain working away and focused on the text in front of you.
Fiction can take you into a world that isn’t your own, granting you an escape that’s more adaptive than binging a show and losing precious time to it.
Non-fiction can teach you a plethora of new things that university, college, and some dainty paid online courses can’t.
De-stress by taking yourself into a new world that your imagination has to work away at to also craft. Or learn something new and obtain centuries’ worth of wisdom.
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Take A Bath
Nothing trumps a warm bath or shower.
I recommend a warm bath over a shower because you can just relax and like yoga, let your body breathe without the need to actually move at all.
You can even customize your baths by perhaps listening to some music and adding some of that aromatherapy into the bathroom when you take one.
You can relax and let your muscles breathe.
A warm bath can do tremendous amounts of good for the body, mind, and soul, and take away the effects of stress on all three.
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Cook/Bake
This is for the stress eaters out there.
I once was, and taking a moment to be mindful of my imminent binging to actually allow my creativity to shine in the kitchen did wonders for me.
Instead of ordering that cheeseburger or taco, why not get fancy and make it yourself?
Being in control of your own food, allowing yourself to make healthy choices when doing so, or just giving yourself the option to customize it down to the exact detail, is good for you.
Rid yourself of that stress by creating something you’re proud of. Something that your taste buds will love you for, and you yourself for.
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Organize Tomorrow/The Week
Lastly, if your day was made hectic by copious amounts of stress, then take a moment to relax and plan for tomorrow or the rest of the week.
I suffer from stress far less now that I have a “timetable” of sorts.
Mine is very vague, but yours doesn’t have to be, or it can be too.
Giving yourself structure will make you feel more comfortable with upcoming days and or events.
You’ll also do something constructive instead of dwelling on whatever it is that is stressing you out.
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Stress can get so bad at times that it can completely overwhelm us.
We don’t even have the ability to make sense of the world around us, and we lose or even forget to be mindful and aware of what we’re doing to ourselves.
It’s important to eliminate the stress the second we recognize when we’re in a state of it.
We can be affected not just mentally, but physically too.
So, I implore you that if you’re under any kind of stress, step away momentarily, pick one of the methods, and do it.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
 White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism |
 Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
 The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer |
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Photo credit: Elisa Ventur on Unsplash
