"Stress cannot be eliminated, it can only be managed" - Dealing with Stress

     To effectively deal with stress, first we need to accept that stress is a part of life; it’s a necessary evil. Stress can only be managed effectively and cannot be removed altogether. We need to learn / train ourselves to de – stress all along. The following are found to be effective in dealing with stress.

1.      Exercise / Physical Activity:

     Even a moderate amount of physical activity like Walking, Yoga, and Exercise has proven very helpful. When you are involved in some physical activity, it is hard to think about your problems.

Exercise / Physical activity releases Endorphins and other feel good chemicals in the Brain. This helps the brain in combating the stress.

     For starters it may be hard to take up straight away 30 mins or more of physical activity, what you can do is start with less, may be 10 mins or 5 mins or even less. First make yourselves comfortable and slowly build up the time.

2.      Meditation:

     Don’t overwhelm yourselves thinking meditation is some complex thing, only for the highly evolved or the saintly.

     In the simplest understanding, meditation is stilling your mind, so that you have a clearer thinking and clearer understanding of everything around. When your mind is calm and the mental chatter subdued, you will have clearer and better thinking, which helps you to concentrate and focus on getting things done, with a lesser overall stress.

    Try focusing on breathing, chanting or any other form of meditation which suits you best. There are a diverse range of Apps available for meditation and relaxing.

3.      Music:

     Music does wonders and can alter your mood in minutes. No matter what form of music appeals to you, be it Hard core metal or soothing / calming one, EDM to Rap. Each one will kindle different feelings in you. And the key here is to choose something to balance your state of mind and help you de – stress yourselves.

4.      Positive attitude :

     Being positive during tough time or in general having a positive outlook on life determines your response to difficult situations. When you start looking at the positive side of every situation you are inherently reprogramming yourselves, you are deciding proactively how to react to the situation. Essentially you are choosing a more mature way of dealing with the situation.

    Watching just a 5 min motivational / inspiring video can help profusely. And please remember motivation is not a onetime thing, it has to be developed as a habit. Keep watching motivational videos / movies, stories regularly to engrain in you the positive attitude.

5.      A Hobby:

    A sport, a game, travelling, or some activity which takes you outdoors can reduce your stress remarkably. This essentially takes you out the usual routine and usual places which your mind has associated itself as stressors.  Breaking the routine, being to new places, doing some activity randomly, rewires your thinking, temporarily disconnects you and alleviates your stress.

6.      Healthy diet:

    What we eat decides to major extent how efficiently our body works. We take at most care in deciding the quality of fuel, oil etc we put into our automobiles. But when it comes to our body we dump anything and everything we find and expect it to function adeptly.

     It’s simple, in order to have your body functioning at optimum levels, you need to refill quality fuel, at the right quantity at the right intervals.

7.      Good sleep:

     Sleep replenishes your body, recharges you for the next day. Our body repairs itself when we are at sleep. Sleep is nature’s nurse. Sleep is a planned maintenance of our body, without adequate amounts of it; sooner or later you will have a break down.

8.      Limiting/ avoiding intoxicants.

     Smoking, alcohol, caffeine, drugs or any other intoxicants give you an illusion that they are helping you but in reality they do much more harm than the perceived benefits. Limiting / avoiding or ruling out totally out your systems; if not suddenly then in a phased manner can help you a lot in the long run, in managing your stress.

9.      Balance and Harmony is the key:

     Stress manifests when you demand much more than what you can deliver. When it comes to deciding the workload, you are your best judge. The key here is to understand when you are being overloaded and balance yourselves with counter activities to establish your harmony.

Please comment to let us know any other ways you manage stress.