5 Tips for Managing Stressful Moments in Life

 

Raise your hand if you are stressed more than you like to be. Odds are, most of you reading this probably raised your hand (or knew that you should have). Stress is something that everyone lives with every single day. It’s not really something that we can 100% avoid in life, unfortunately. However, how we handle those stressful situations is key. With that being said, I want to jump into a few tips for managing stressful moments in life. When you learn how to handle your stress better, plan ahead of time (so that hopefully, you can avoid some stress), and increase your self-care, you will feel better and more capable!

 

Move your body

When it comes to stress, moving your body and exercising can help your physical health, obviously, but your mental health, as well. You probably knew this, but when you are stressed (or when you know that you will have a stressful day), do you choose to go on a walk, get on the bike, or lift some weights, OR do you opt to sit your butt down on the couch and eat a bag of chips, or a container of ice cream?

 

Just guessing, but maybe I’m wrong…you tend to prefer sitting on the couch. There’s nothing wrong with that, but moving your body does help when it comes to stress, so if you are more intentional with it, maybe it could help you? A healthy body and mind keep our stress levels at bay. Exercise reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones and stimulates the production of endorphins, which can help you to improve your mood.

 

Choosing the “harder” option of working out when you are stressed is never easy, but it will help you greatly, I promise.

 

Step outside

If you want to add another mood booster into your life, consider getting outside more often. Maybe even go for a walk around your neighborhood, or around the city. Going outside and enjoying the sun has so many health benefits (again: both mental and physical benefits). In fact, there is even a form of therapy called “ecotherapy,” where patients simply go outside and enjoy nature. It is scientifically proven to help mild to moderate depression and I truly believe that sun is healing.

 

Choose self-care, each day

Stress causes many mental challenges in our daily life, and it can be hard to rebound from them. When we focus more on self-care, instead of the stress that we are dealing with, we can help relieve that pent up stress and it also helps prepare our mind for additional stress to come our way. There are times when you have to deal with the stress in your life, but at the end of each day (+ at the beginning of each day, if you can give yourself some time), try to focus on focusing on yourself and reducing that stress, so that you can get each morning off to a great start, and wind down and relieve that stress at the end of each night.

 

Outsource the cause of your stress

If there is a life event that is coming your way soon, try to plan in advance to reduce your stress. When you plan in advance, you are able to outsource the cause of your stress, which can help make the process much easier on yourself. For example, moving from New Jersey to New York would probably be a huge transition that you would more than likely want help with. Companies such as Bluebell Relocation Services can help make the process of moving more smooth, less stressful, and just overall so much easier for you and your family. They have a lot of experience when it comes to residential and commercial moves, and especially around the NJ and NY area. If stress reduction is your goal, find a way to make it happen, if you are able to plan in advance.

Consider your diet

This sounds like a weird tip, I know, but there is research behind the foods that we eat affecting our mental state. A great example of this is food coloring. Artificial food coloring has been linked to ADHD, as well as a slew of other health issues. This article from Attitude does a great job of explaining. Here’s an excerpt from it: 

“In recent years, more than 2,000 parents have reported their concerns with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group. “We’re a non-profit organization and somehow people manage to find us,” says Lisa Lefferts, MSPH, a senior scientist with CSPI, which has petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban these food dyes. “The stories are heartbreaking.” Joining the CSPI in its crusade is the American Academy of Pediatrics and ADHD experts like Joel Nigg, Ph.D., director of the ADHD Research Program at Oregon Health and Science University. Nigg and many of his colleagues in science are calling on the FDA to either ban food dyes completely or require a warning label about their effects on hyperactivity to increase awareness. Based on research, including Nigg’s own review of the literature in 2012, synthetic food dyes do cause increased hyperactivity. Although aggregate effects are quite small, food dyes affect some children more than others. Overall, they appear to affect only a minority of children with ADHD, but this still represents tens of thousands of children or more in the U.S.Similar studies were enough to convince the United Kingdom and the European Union, beginning in 2008, to require warning labels on food containing food dyes. Today, the majority of food manufactured there does not contain synthetic dyes.”

So, as research continues to show, food does affect our mental and physical health greatly, so choose what you eat wisely.