Stress and anxiety not just steals your confidence but also deprives you of good health. Modern hectic lifestyles bring stress and anxiety and thus negatively impact health. Stress and anxiety affect our mental and body health. The first place, its adverse effects can be seen are on skin and hair leading to problems such as breakouts, hair fall and overall unhealthy hair and skin. To calm your mind and get yourself back on track, so that you can play every day with your best self, here are some of the ways to reduce stress and anxiety.
How to Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Get Regular Exercise
Everyone knows that exercise is good for your health. In fact, some studies suggest that exercise is even more effective than medicines. This is especially true about anxiety and stress. If you maintain a healthy but not obsessive exercise routine then it reduces stress, enhances self-esteem, improves the mood, and increases energy levels. Exercise improves blood circulation among other things, and this is very beneficial for the skin and hair.
A six week study with 185 participants who performed aerobic exercise 2 days per week significantly reduced overall perceived stress and perceived stress due to uncertainty (1).
Get Enough Sleep
Everyone feels crabby after having a rough night with improper sleep. Sometimes it so happens that lack of sleep causes stress and anxiety along with negative feelings like anger, exhaustion and sadness. This is the reason that you should use natural methods like meditation, and comfort food like milk and honey to improve the quality and amount of sleep that you get at night.
Eat a Balanced Diet
What you eat affects your mental health so make sure to eat a healthy and balanced diet. Eating a balanced and healthy diet can help you reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Eating a diet high in ultra-processed foods and added sugar are more likely to experience higher perceived stress levels. Lack of balanced diet could lead to deficiencies of important vitamins and minerals. Deficiency in magnesium and B vitamins can lead to stress and mood. Eating more vegetables, whole grain, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds and eating less processed foods will help you reduce your stress level.
Practice Yoga and Meditation
Yoga and meditation are some of the best stress management techniques. Yoga helps to connect mind and body by improving your breathing. Yoga also has a positive effect on your nervous system and stress response. Other health benefits of yoga include reducing cortisol levels, blood pressure, and heart rate.
Meditation helps in focusing on the present. Practice mindfulness meditation to live in the present and leave the anxiety and stress of the past and future behind. It helps with anxiety induced thought processes. You can find many guided meditation techniques online to practice meditation, calm your mind and be mindful.
Reduce Caffeine Intake
Although caffeine has some health benefits, it can also raise your anxiety levels. Health experts recommend consuming less than 400mg of caffeine per day (2). Overconsumption of caffeine, especially late in the day, can affect your sleep which in turn may increase stress and anxiety symptoms.
According to the latest research caffeine can make you jittery and anxious. Consider replacing coffee or energy drinks with decaffeinated coffee, herbal tea, or water.
Take Supplements
There are multiple supplements that will help you reduce your stress and anxiety without the side effects of anti-depressants. One such supplement is magnesium supplement. Magnesium is a scientifically proven mineral to reduce anxiety. Magnesium helps reduce cortisol in the body, known as the stress hormone.
Omega-3 fats are known to reduce inflammation and anxiety. A study done on medical students proves omega-3 to be useful in reducing anxiety. A good omega-3 fish oil supplement rich in EPA: DHA helps maintain your overall body, skin and hair.
Connect with People
Social support from friends and family is very important to manage stress and anxiety. Having a strong social support system is important for your overall mental health. If you feel alone and don’t have friends or family to depend on, social support groups may help. Consider joining a club or volunteering for a cause that’s important to you.
According to a study in 163 college students, loneliness, depression and stress were linked to lack of connection with friends, family or a romantic partner (3).
Practice Deep Breathing
When you come face to face with a situation that causes anxiety then the body's sympathetic nervous system automatically triggers changes on a physiological level. The breathing becomes fast, adrenaline is secreted, and the heart begins to beat faster.
Deep breathing exercises help to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which controls the relaxation response. Deep breathing exercises allow you to focus on your breath making it slower and deeper. This helps slow your heart rate, reducing your stress and anxiety level.
Spend Time in Nature
Studies show that spending time outdoors helps to reduce stress. Spending time in nature such as parks and forests and being immersed in greenery are healthy ways to manage stress. Taking a stroll in local parks is a great way to reduce your stress.
A study found that spending as little as 10 minutes in a natural setting may help improve psychological and physiological markers of mental well-being, including perceived stress and happiness, in college-aged people (4).
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Laughing reduces stress response and also relieves tension in the muscles. Hanging out with your friends or watching a comedy show or movie, laughter is known to improve both your immune system and mood. A study done on cancer patients shows that laughter relieves stress.
Conclusion
Hope this blog has helped you understand how to reduce stress? Although stress is unavoidable in today's time you can manage it with the help of the above techniques. Remember chronic stress can negatively impact your heat health, blood pressure and mental well-being. Follow the techniques mentioned above and see the difference in your stress and anxiety levels.
FAQs
1. How do I control my stress?
To control your stress level, maintain a healthy lifestyle, avoid bad habits like smoking and drinking, take supplements and spend time with people.
2. How to avoid stress and anxiety?
To avoid stress and anxiety eat healthy food and avoid high processed food, take adequate sleep, reduce your caffeine intake, spend less time on screen and more time with friends and family.
3. What are the 5 main ways to manage stress?
5 main ways to manage stress are:
Healthy diet
Regular exercise
Yoga and Meditation
Maintaining a Hobbie
Connecting with people