27 Ways To Help Reduce Stress

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I don’t know about you, but I do not know of one person who has never gone through periods of intense stress or even just stress in general. A majority of us face stress every single day of our lives. Whether it be from work, our home life, children, or anything else – stress is stress. It still affects each and every one of us. We all handle our stressors in our own unique way. Some people are able to handle it in a very healthy way, while others don’t know how to handle it at all. Some people try to run from it while others face it head-on. Despite how you handle stress, we have created a list of 27 different ways to help you manage your daily stress a little bit better. We hope you find this list useful.

Journaling

Journaling is a very good way to manage your stress and emotions because it allows you to get everything out that you are feeling on the inside. Try not to hold back when you are journaling, because that is not as beneficial as getting it all out of your head. If you are worried about someone finding your journal, don’t fret. There are ways to have a secret journal such as opening up a word processor (such as MS Word), letting your thoughts flow, and then just saving it to a flash drive and keeping it in your pocket or stashed away somewhere in your purse!

Limiting Caffeine

Limiting caffeine is hard to do if you are a coffee addict like me and thrive off of it, but you got this! Caffeine is a stimulant and can actually make you irritable and jittery. In turn, that will make you even more stressed out throughout your day. You can try cutting back by one cup at a time. Watch how late you are consuming caffeine as well because without realizing it you may be causing yourself issues with falling and staying asleep.

On a side note, coffee is not the only thing that contains caffeine. Chocolate and certain teas are also loaded with the alertness aid!

Meditation

Learn how to meditate and practice it daily. It is an amazing way to help relieve stress. It is also known to make people happier too! You don’t even have to sit crossed legged on the floor with your thumb and index fingers pressed together while chanting either! You can learn to meditate while sitting comfortably in a chair.

Side note: I plan on posting simple and short meditations in the future!

Learn PMR

PMR stands for progressive muscle relaxation. It is where you tense and releases certain muscles throughout your body to promote relaxation. It greatly helps relieve stress! You may feel like a new person afterward too!

Please Note: I plan on writing about this as well. In the meantime Click Here to be redirected to a site that teaches you!

Practice Yoga

Yoga is an excellent way to relax and reduce stress. You can make it a part of your daily routine to help make you a healthier and happier person. Don’t let not having any yoga DVDs stop you either because you can just YouTube it! There are also apps that help you with yoga as well!

Deep Breathing

Practicing deep breathing is a very good way to help you relax and reduce stress. Anytime you feel yourself about to boil up, start to get frustrated or irritated, or even if you are feeling anxious, deep breathing can really help you stay calm, cool, and collected.

Play A Game

If your schedule allows it, playing a quick game either with friends, family or even just by yourself can help reduce stress because it gets you out of your head. You can even ask your Google Assistant to play a game and she will give you a few options to choose from! I love playing Mad Libs with her! It can be so much fun and very entertaining.

Sex

People are either going to love or hate this stress reduction technique. Simply having sex and reaching the big O can help you feel so much better. It releases hormones that simply give you a sense of pleasure and happiness. You don’t even always need a partner… Just saying.

Talk/Vent To Someone

Yes, relieving stress can be as simple as talking to your best friend, any friend, or a family member that you are close to. Talking and venting is a great way to get out how you feel… to a certain extent. One thing I have learned throughout the years and from my current therapist is that you have to learn who you can talk to about what. You may be able to tell your bestie somethings that you cannot tell a spouse, or you may be able to tell a family member something that you cannot tell a specific friend. It’s all about learning who you can tell what to.

Get Some More Laughter In Your Life

Laughing can cure almost any negative feeling or emotion including stress. Ask a friend to tell you a joke, watch or listen to something funny, Google something humorous even if you are just looking up jokes. Laughter really can soothe the soul. Give it a try!

Listen To Music

Listening to music is a great way to lift your spirits and reduce stress. But make sure that whatever you are listening to is upbeat and happy and not sad and depressing. Just as upbeat music can make you happy, sad music can put you in a depressive state or make you feel sad. Create a playlist that has happy songs on it. I use Amazon Music, and I know that you can create as many playlists as your heart desires using that music app. As a suggestion, one song that can make me hype is “Turn The Music Up” by NF or almost anything by Kiiara.

Take A Walk

Walking is a great way to get out of a funk. When stress is hitting you hard, take a short or long walk depending on how stressed out you are. Exercise releases endorphins which can lift your mood up and make you feel happier. It can also make you feel pumped up and give you energy.

Practice Time Management

Time management is a key element in stress reduction, especially for people who are busy or have a lot to do doing the day. If you have to, buy one of those bigger calendars with lots of room to write and break down what you have to do in a day. If you are like me and have problems with time management, making yourself a schedule and writing everything out in your calendar is a great way to start learning proper time management. I like to use pencil because you never know when something could change or get canceled! Remember: it’s progress, not perfection!

Enjoy Some Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy may sound silly to some people, but don’t knock it until you try it for yourself! Just breathing in certain scents can actually calm you, relax you, reduce stress, and make you feel at ease. For me, eucalyptus does it every time!

Note: I added a picture of my favorite candle scent on the right. It’s almost gone!

Skip Out On The Booze

Alcohol itself is a depressant. The worst time to drink is when you are depressed or extremely stressed out. Although, I really do understand that is when most people want to drink the most. I used to be the same way. But it is highly advisable to skip out on the booze if you are feeling low due to the risk of ‘beer tears’ and feeling even worse. If you are going to drink, make sure that you can drink in moderation. Personally, I couldn’t do moderation so I skip out on in all the time now. That’s just me though.

Try Not To Procrastinate

When it comes to procrastination, I am a pro! I have been working on it, however, and have found that I am much more productive now. The rule of thumb here is to get the thing you dread the most done first so that the rest seems simple. It’s an easy trick, and it can greatly help reduce stress because you aren’t “wasting” your valuable time anymore which means that you can get more done in a day.

Relax With Some Tea

To unwind try sipping on your favorite tea. It’s that simple and it is an amazing way to reduce stress and relax. There are hundreds if not thousands of different teas out there available for you to try. During the day, I prefer Earl Grey and I night I drink this tea that is literally called Zen and it seriously helps me relax at the end of the day. I think I may go make a cup of Zen now!

Sing Along To Some Music

Another good way to relieve some stress is to have a sing-a-long! Just get into your car or wait until you get home and just start belting out some upbeat music! It’s a simple and free way to elevate your mood! Who cares how you sound, anyway? My boyfriend came home to me loudly trying to sing along to some Kesha today!

Commitment Chopping

This one may sound hard to do, but when it comes to relieving stress it is well needed! Start chopping down and cutting out some commitments that are not mandatory. It much needed when we are getting very stressed and have too much on our plate. People with Bipolar Disorder, among others, are known for putting a lot on their plate when they are manic and then when their episode passes that have more to do than they know what to do with. I am very guilty of this myself. I had to cut some stuff out. If I can do it, I know you can too! You got this! When you take stuff off your plate and your to-do list, it feels like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

Playing With A Pet

There is just something about pets that is very relaxing and it can help you feel less stressed out too. Sometimes just taking a time out to play or cuddle with your pet – or even a friend’s pet – is a great way to soothe the soul. If you have a dog, take him/her for a walk outside if it is weather appropriate. You won’t regret the time you get to spend with your furbaby.

Take A Mini Vacation

Sometimes a change of scenery is all we need to get out of our heads for a day and to relax and de-stress a bit. You don’t even have to travel far in order for it to be called a mini vacation. You can get rid of the kids for the night, stay at a friends house, rent a hotel room, something to just get you out of your own house and all the stressful triggers that you may have at home. When it’s possible, I recommend giving this one a try!

Pray

Now, I get it. Praying isn’t for everyone. But for those of you who do, sometimes a little prayer can go a long way. Leave your stress and worries in God’s hands, or whomever you choose to worship. There is no right or wrong belief system. Pray or talk to your higher power. It can sometimes help more than you realize.

Create A Gratitude Journal

Creating a gratitude journal can help keep your head and the game and reduce stress when you go over the things that you are thankful and grateful for. If you are having an incredibly bad day, I know there is always something you can be grateful for such as being able to see or even just being able to take in a breath of fresh air. Try to list at least three things that you are grateful for every day.

Take A Mental Health Day

Taking a mental health day when everything becomes too much can be very beneficial. I have taken quite a few myself. If you can, call out of work and spend the day focusing on you. Do things that you like and that make you happy. Everyone needs a break every now and then.

Get A Massage

If the finances are there, sometimes getting a massage can really help you relax and de-stress quite a bit. Just make sure you get recommendations because for my very first massage my friend and I tried a place that she doesn’t usually go to and it turned out to be a deep tissue massage… I have chronic back pain and fibromyalgia so it was not a good thing! I feel like we paid to get beat up! If that’s your thing, more power to you!

Read A Book

Reading is an excellent way to get out of your own head and into someone else’s. Books really can transport you to another reality and help you reduce stress along the way. Taking a time out to even read just one chapter can help you relax.

Blog!

If you don’t have a blog, creating one can be an excellent way to reduce stress because it is like interactive journaling. You don’t even have to be a good writer as long as you write about whatever your heart desires! You can blog about how you feel or even a hobby that you hold dear.

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So there you have it! 27 different ways to help you reduce stress and relax! I hope that you are able to give some of these things a try. Stress management is very important and a key element in having a healthy mind, body, and soul.

 

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