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A Guide to Stress Management
Stress is tough for anyone to deal with. It’s also a universal part of being human. If you’re breathing, you’re going to be experiencing some stress and anxiety today. It might not be serious, chronic, or catastrophic, but it’s likely to be enough stress to affect both your physical health and your mental health.
High stress levels have a tendency to make you feel thrown off-balance, which can be a frustrating and disorienting experience. Luckily, there’s hope if you or a loved one feel overwhelmed by the stresses of everyday life.
Many people feel ruled by their stress. If you’re one of those people right now, don’t give up. While stress can seem overwhelming, you’re not a lost cause – not by a long shot. Learning stress management techniques is one of the key aspects of a holistically healthy, happy life, and at R3SET, we’re devoted to helping you do just that.
In this post, we’ll be filling you in on everything you need to know about stress management. We’ll cover relevant topics like the main causes of stress in your daily life, healthy coping strategies, and natural supplements that can help to provide a boost of calm and focus for the daytime and nighttime.
If you’re struggling with effective stress management, keep reading – this is for you.
Where Does Stress Come From?
When you are stressed, three key systems within your body are affected: the endocrine system, the nervous system, and the immune system.
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Stress affects the endocrine system by increasing the production of chemicals like adrenaline and the stress hormone cortisol, which are key components in your body’s natural response to stress. While these chemicals are normally beneficial and help your body maintain a state of equilibrium in stressful situations, chronic stress can lead to overproduction of cortisol and adrenaline. That means your body is expending more resources than it needs to, which can lead to problems like adrenal fatigue.
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Stress also disrupts your immune system. Your body’s production of cortisol directly affects your immune system, and overproduction of cortisol can lead to a compromised immune system over time. This means your body can gradually become more vulnerable to sickness if you are constantly in a state of high stress.
- Finally, stress also affects the nervous system. This is where your natural fight-or-flight response comes from, your body’s biggest defense against imminent threats. However, stress can cause this defense mechanism to engage even when there is no threat present. That means that in periods of extreme stress, your body is as revved-up as it would be if you were fast approaching a cliff in a speeding car or staring down a tiger.
Knowing how much stress can affect your body, it’s easy to see how important it is to form strong defenses against everyday stressors. In the next section of this post, we’ll be discussing some of the most common stressors in life and how you can deal with them in healthy, constructive ways.
The Most Common Sources of Stress
Anything can become a stressor, even something that previously brought you great joy and fulfillment. When your relationship with a person, a commitment, or another aspect of your life starts to take more than it gives, that burnout tends to produce stress. While give-and-take is a normal part of life, it can sometimes become too much to bear, which is when long-term stress starts to develop. Although some types of stress are caused by larger mental illnesses, short-term coping skills can be added to help from a professional healthcare provider to improve your overall well-being.
So, what are some of the most common stressors, and how can you work towards finding relief from the overwhelm they cause?
Relationships
While it’s a beautiful thing to be close with other people, human relationships are also often a source of deep anxiety and high levels of stress. Even the strongest, healthiest relationships can be emotionally taxing, especially when unavoidable, unforeseen circumstances are making it hard to have peace within your relationship.
In times when things get tough and life is taking a toll on your relationships, it often takes extra work and intentionality to stay healthy in the way that you relate to others, as well as how you relate to yourself.
Health
Your health can be a major source of stress and concern, especially as you get older. Health problems tend to start coming to the forefront of your mind once you reach the second half of life, and it can be hard to free yourself from health-related anxiety. Life is fragile, and it can be scary to think about the possibility of getting hurt or sick. However, it’s vital to not let health-related stress rule your life or stop you from finding joy and fulfillment.
Money and Work
Your job is another potential source of stress, as well as your financial situation.
Many people find themselves stressed and anxious due to overcommitting, which is a common occurrence in the professional realm. When you stack up more tasks than you can really handle, you can quickly find yourself getting overwhelmed and burnt-out.
Likewise, money woes are some of the biggest sources of stress. Worrying about your financial security can throw you into a tailspin of what-ifs and worst-case scenarios. In times when money is tight and you aren’t sure how you will make ends meet, it’s easy to get caught up in worrying about how you will make it through. The resulting stress and anxiety that come from financial problems are often more problematic than the money-related issues themselves.
Forming Healthy Coping Mechanisms
One of the most important aspects of managing your stress is finding healthy, constructive ways to calm and soothe your mind when things get overwhelming.
Below are some simple and practical strategies for stress management that can help you stay peaceful and happy, even when life gets hectic.
Meditation
Meditation is the practice of quieting your mind and focusing on peace, gratitude, and other calming concepts. While meditation is a spiritual and religious practice, it can provide stress relief for anyone who is willing to incorporate meditation into their self-care routine. Be respectful of meditation's origins as you explore meditation's use as a relaxation technique. You can meditate by simply getting quiet, sitting still, and focusing on your deep breathing. You can also incorporate aromatherapy alongside your breathing exercises for increased stress reduction, or you can incorporate meditation into other wellness practices like Tai Chi. It’s a practice that takes more diligence, patience, and focus than you might imagine!
In a time when sitting still and stopping the constant flow of action is harder than ever, meditation might be one of the best habits to form for stress management. Instead of letting anxiety, stress, and constant distractions control your life and steal your attention, take time to sit still, get quiet, and focus on the simple things that matter most.
Exercise
Exercise is one of the best tools in your stress-fighting toolbox. Even low-intensity physical activities like walking triggers the release of endorphins, hormones that regulate feelings of pleasure, peace, and contentment. While it can be tough to motivate yourself to stick to an exercise regimen, it’s definitely worth it for the sake of your overall quality of life.
Getting some daily movement is great for more than just your body – your mind benefits from exercise, too! Just 30 minutes of daily exercise can help you stay energized, focused, and calm throughout the day, providing you with a buffer of defense against acute stress and getting overwhelmed.
Getting Enough Sleep
When you’re sleep-deprived, your defenses against the effects of stress and anxiety are significantly weakened. The importance of sleep is something that no one should ever underestimate, and it’s always absolutely essential to get the rest you need so that you can face the day with your batteries fully charged.
The general recommendation for adult sleep each night is 7-8 hours. However, you might need more than this amount to feel fully rested. In addition, the quality of your sleep matters, too – getting enough REM (rapid eye movement) sleep each night will help you to wake up refreshed and recharged in the morning.
Supplements
Including natural stress-fighting supplements in your daily routine is a great way to give yourself an extra calming boost.
R3SET’s CALM and UNWIND capsules are designed to help you conquer your stress and live a more peaceful, productive, and happy life.
Our 12-in-1 formula includes calming ingredients like valerian root, ashwagandha, lemon balm, passion flower, GABA, L-Theanine, and many more.
By taking R3SET supplements each day, you’re setting yourself up with a science-backed combination of botanical ingredients that can help you stay on top of stress, instead of the other way around.
To learn more about everything R3SET has to offer, click here.
Summary
Stress can be tough to manage, but conquering it is far from impossible. By putting the beneficial habits discussed in this post into action in your life, you can move towards a calmer mind and less overall stress.
If you want to learn more about stress management, make sure to check out our blog. There, you’ll find plenty of helpful, informative articles about the impact of stress on the body, how natural ingredients can help to keep stress and anxiety under control, and more.
You got this!
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4465119/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response