How to Reduce Stress
33 Ways to Reduce and Prevent Stress
Stress is evident everywhere in our fast-paced world. It’s a mental, emotional, or physical strain caused by anxiety or overwork. We all feel stress and often suffer the results of it in some way or other.
What you are about to read can have a significant impact on the levels of stress you experience. This post is not about how to deal with stress; it’s about how to reduce and avoid it.
Most of the stress we experience can be broken down into three categories.
1. Stress we can’t control—such as the loss of a job, loss of a loved one, or encountering major health challenges.
2. Natural stress—such as what we feel when we set goals, push ourselves outside our comfort zones, and strive to get better.
3. Stress we can control—such as being late to an appointment, having a breakdown in a relationship, or getting upset sitting in traffic.
When you identify and learn how to manage the things that create stress, you will experience improvements in every area of your life—from your relationships to your performance, from your health to your outlook on life.
Let me encourage you to print these 33 points and highlight the ones that you are determined to work on. The realization that you are in control of your stress is the foundation of stress management.
1. Don’t over commit. Whether in your personal or professional life, learn your limits and set boundaries. Know when to say, “No!” Don’t take on more than you can reasonably handle.
2. Avoid people who stress you out. If someone is a constant source of stress and you can’t turn the relationship around, limit the amount of time you spend with that person, or end the relationship entirely.
3. Avoid heated topics. You know the topics that cause your blood pressure to rise, so learn to avoid them.
4. Practice relaxation techniques. Techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing activate the body’s relaxation response—a state of restfulness opposite of the stress
Stress is evident everywhere in our fast-paced world. It’s a mental, emotional, or physical strain caused by anxiety or overwork. We all feel stress and often suffer the results of it in some way or other.
What you are about to read can have a significant impact on the levels of stress you experience. This post is not about how to deal with stress; it’s about how to reduce and avoid it.
Most of the stress we experience can be broken down into three categories.
1. Stress we can’t control—such as the loss of a job, loss of a loved one, or encountering major health challenges.
2. Natural stress—such as what we feel when we set goals, push ourselves outside our comfort zones, and strive to get better.
3. Stress we can control—such as being late to an appointment, having a breakdown in a relationship, or getting upset sitting in traffic.
When you identify and learn how to manage the things that create stress, you will experience improvements in every area of your life—from your relationships to your performance, from your health to your outlook on life.
Let me encourage you to print these 33 points and highlight the ones that you are determined to work on. The realization that you are in control of your stress is the foundation of stress management.
1. Don’t over commit. Whether in your personal or professional life, learn your limits and set boundaries. Know when to say, “No!” Don’t take on more than you can reasonably handle.
2. Avoid people who stress you out. If someone is a constant source of stress and you can’t turn the relationship around, limit the amount of time you spend with that person, or end the relationship entirely.
3. Avoid heated topics. You know the topics that cause your blood pressure to rise, so learn to avoid them.
4. Practice relaxation techniques. Techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing activate the body’s relaxation response—a state of restfulness opposite of the stress