5 Ways to Immediately Reduce Stress and Anxiety
With everything going on right now, it's hard not to feel the pressure. But with some easy methods, you can immediately reduce stress and anxiety to get you through your working day. Check them out below.
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Organize Your Thoughts
All your thoughts and feelings can sometimes overwhelm you. So you must understand how to control them. A standard technique doctors use at any cognitive behavior therapy center is to organize your thoughts and feelings through an external medium. The simplest is to write them down. But you can also use art as a form of expression. Alternatively, you can write a blog post or create a piece of music with lyrics explaining how you feel about something. The idea is that you remove the negative thoughts and feelings from your mind, and onto something external.
Clear Your Head by Jogging
The physical benefits of jogging are well documented. These include good cardio health, weight loss, and toning your muscles. But jogging is also excellent for your mental health. Going for a quick jog of around 15 minutes will help you clear your mind and refocus your efforts. Additionally, you can make your jogging experience even greater in terms of mental health. For example, you can enhance a jog by listening to your favorite music or jogging in a place of natural beauty, like a park or nature trail. All of which significantly boost your serotonin.
Remove Yourself from Stressful Situations (including online)
When you are in a stressful situation, it always helps to simply remove yourself from the situation. Especially if it could escalate into more pressure or violence. Just walk away and find somewhere quiet. Also, try to find something to take your mind off the incident, so you don't become anxious again. And this goes for online interactions as well. Trolling accounts for around 30% of cyber crimes. When you are being trolled, the worst thing you can do is engage with the idiot doing it. Simply switch off your device and find something constructive to do.
Count Backwards from 100
Going for a jog or finding your journal isn't always possible. So you might need something more immediate. Counting backward from 100 is a genuine method of helping you calm down or reduce anxiety. Because you are counting backward and not forwards, as usual, you engage your brain more. And as well as the left side for counting, you use your right side for the backward part. Because of this, you prevent your mind from focusing on the negative experience you just had. And on the immediate task of counting down instead.
Practice Meditation
If you have access to somewhere private and a little time on your hands, meditation is one of the best things you can do. Find somewhere quiet and where you are unlikely to be disturbed. Then sit or lie comfortably and focus on your breathing. You can also take your mind off a stressor if you imagine something to focus on visually. This can be a candle, a light, or a still object. Meditation can be hard when you aren't used to it and might take around 20 to 30 minutes. However, with some practice, you can hold a meditation session in 5 minutes.
We hope that these tips above will help you to feel a bit better and feel less stressed day to day.