Everyone feels stressed every now and again. Pressures at work, trying to juggle a busy job with raising a family, money worries, and having personal problems to deal with are all common causes of stress. However, if you feel constantly stressed and always feel like you are under pressure, you may be experiencing chronic stress.
Chronic stress is something that not only feels pretty unpleasant but can also have a negative impact on your health. Chronic stress can affect many areas of your health and wellbeing, from disrupting your sleep to causing digestive issues. But, if left unchecked, chronic stress can also lead to some severe health issues. Your risk of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and high blood pressure are all elevated when you are chronically stressed. If you feel stressed most of the time and constantly feel like you are rushing around, now is the time to take action.
Making positive changes in your life that reduce your stress levels can seem impossible when you feel under pressure. But, implementing some practical solutions should help to begin lowering your stress levels and help you feel so much better. Here are some helpful tips to help you lower your stress levels:
Reach Out for Help
Reaching out for help from others rather than doing everything yourself can be difficult at first. But, realizing that you do not need to do everything yourself is an excellent way to take back control and manage your stress levels. Instead of pushing yourself to get everything done singlehandedly, it is helpful to try delegating tasks. You can do this in simple ways to start with, such as hiring a cleaning company to take care of cleaning your home each week so that you don’t have to. Identifying your everyday stressors and then reaching out for help to deal with them should help you feel calmer quickly.
Manage Your Time
If you are someone that is prone to saying ‘yes’ to everything, you may find that a lack of time is making you feel stressed. From agreeing to take on extra work to committing to helping out friends and family members, saying yes to every request when you are already stressed can pile on further pressure.
Becoming more assertive and learning how to say no, can be challenging, but it can make a vast difference to your stress levels. So, before you agree to do something that you don’t want to do, take a breath, and say no. With practice, this will become easier and can feel really empowering.
Get Active
Finally, it is helpful to find an outlet for your stress. Many people find exercising a really effective way to reduce feelings of stress. Heading out for a run or a bike ride, or even going for a walk in the fresh air, can make a significant difference to your mood. The release of those feel-good hormones generated by exercise should help you to feel better fast while clearing and calming your mind.
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