Stress!

Stress, the bane of modern life and something we are all impacted by on a regular basis. What exactly is stress - well it is your body's reaction to change whether that be physical, psychological or emotional and at times a certain amount of stress can be helpful, that feeling when you need to complete work by a particular deadline but it feels good and powerful to complete. Too much stress can have a negative impact on both our body and mind. Here are my top tips to help deal with stress:

Realise you are stressed and let it out:

Take a moment to realise you are feeling really stressed, then take some time to write down all your stresses, get them out your head, some may well be massive but some stresses will feel more manageable when you get them out of your head and onto paper. Go to a safe space whether that is your bedroom, bathroom or car and have a shout and scream, it can be therapeutic to physically shout out that stress!

Make time for leisure and fun in your life:

Our lives can be so busy that we forget to make time for those fun activities. Make sure you prioritise this it can be anything that sparks some joy in your life whether that is watching a comedy film, meeting a friend for a coffee, dancing to your favourite music.

Take a look at your sleep:

When we are stressed it can affect our sleep and less sleep can make us more stressed so it is a viscous circle! Maybe you can incorporate an evening bath into your routine to wind down, or a 5 minute pre bed meditation to calm the mind.

Smell!

Well what do I mean by that. Certain smells can really help relax us, do try lavender, lemon, bergamot orange and chamomile. Check out our range of wellbeing sprays that are perfect for those stressful moments, and to spray when trying to get to sleep. https://www.csholisticapproach.com/product-page-rs23h/well-being-spray-collection

Movement:

Our bodies like to move, and exercise has a positive impact on reducing stress. A run, a brisk walk, a cycle ride, skipping, dancing or whatever takes your fancy releases endorphins - which are your brains feel good neurotransmitters. Just concentrating on the exercise is actually a form of movement mindfulness, taking your brain away from concentrating on the stress.

Nature:

Did you know that there is a type of therapy called - ecotherapy which involves doing activities outside in nature. Scientists are studying the connection between spending more time outside and the reduction of stress. Amazingly as little as 1o minutes outside connecting to nature can have a positive impact. If for any reason you can not get outside bring some of that nature inside, get a house plant, put a beautiful nature picture as your screensaver on your laptop or phone and download some nature playlists.

Gratitude:

When we are stressed we often only focus on what is negative in our life, try and incorporate a daily gratitude practise into your life, pick 3 favourite positive affirmations in the morning and say them out loud in front of a mirror up to 10 times. At the end of the day write down 3 things you are grateful for or 3 positives that happened, however small they may be.

Breath Work:

When we are stressed we have a tendency to hold our breath actually increasing the stressful response in our body. Deep breathes send a message to our brain to calm down, therefore also calming our bodies down. Try the 4-7-8 breathing technique, so breath in for 4 seconds, hold the breathe for 7 seconds and then exhaling out for 8 seconds, literally blowing that stress out, it can be helpful to make a whooshing sound as you breath out.

What helps you feel less stressed?

Do look out for more blogs on stress and anxiety, our aim is to really help you rebalance your mind, body and soul.