This year International Stress Awareness Day is November 6th. We all know stress isn't good for you physically and mentally yet it seems more and more unavoidable in modern life, especially with stresses & strains of the rat race. This article on Heath line shows just how vast the negative effects of stress can be: https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body
So what can you do about it? Whilst some things may feel too big to change, stress reduction must be a priority in your life. If you are stuck in a situation which causes you stress, make sure you take as much time out for yourself as you can, do things that help you chill out.
Here's a list of some simple ways to de-stress:
🧠 Mindfulness and meditation: Just taking 3 minutes out to take some slow, deep breaths & calm yourself in the moment can have a huge impact in helping you stay calm and ground yourself. There are lots of mindfulness & meditation apps out there now which help you to take time out, or to meditate & calm your mind, even if just before you sleep. If you have a busy brain like mine guided meditations are great as they help me to stay focused & not to run through events of the day & 'to do' lists. Insight timer is a fantastic free app for this: https://insighttimer.com/
📝 Keep a written to do list: My mind absolutely reels when I have too many things that I need to do & remember, get them down on paper, then you're not constantly trying to retain it all. Plus, it feels good when you check off those tasks.
🛀 Soothing Baths & reading books: Something as simple as taking a long bath and/or reading helps to relax your mind & body. Reading helps to calm your mind & remove focus from stresses. Tropic have some fantastic essential oil bath milks and sumptuous bubbles to help you soothe your mind and body from the toils of the day: https://www.tropicskincare.com/vickyheard/
🖍 Colouring in: It's not just for kids! Grab yourself a set of pencils & a great colouring book or note pad to doodle your own colourful creations. Colouring in can induce mindfulness & help you to be more present in the moment - it has almost meditative qualities. As you are concentrating on which colour to do your next bit & keeping in those lines it gives your mind a rest from rumination about the past & worry abut the future. It is incredibly soothing & helps to relax the fear centre of your brain, the amygdala.
💆Relaxing treatments: Nothing beats a good massage to melt tension away, or if mental load is a problem then having your bars run (access consciousness) is definitely the treatment for you. See the services section on this page for a list of holistic treatments I provide.
🌿 Aromatherapy & essential oils: Inhaling essential oils stimulates the olfactory system, the part of the brain connected to smell. Molecules enter the nose or mouth pass onto the lungs, and from there, to other parts of the body. As the molecules reach the brain, they affect limbic system, which is linked to the emotions, the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress, and hormone balance. Essential oils have such amazing benefits for the mind and body, aromatherapy massage is a fantastic way to feel the great benefits. Diffusing essential oils can be a great way to incorporate aromatherapy in to your day, I never work without mine going on my desk. I also have one for my car. You can use a whole host of oils to de-stress, calm, focus or uplift your mood. See more about the benefits of diffusing in this article: http://www.naturallivingideas.com/essential-oil-diffuser-be…. It is important to seek professional advice when using oils to ensure you use them safely, give me a shout if I can help.
🌜Restful sleep: Sleep is vitally important to your general health and well being. In fact, it is just as important as exercise & healthy diet! Sometimes it is really difficult to get a good night (especially when you're a parent) but here are a couple of things to try. It is detrimental to your sleep to to have any screen time (phones, laptops etc) before bed, as you disrupt your natural wake-sleep cycle with the blue light, always give yourself an hour free from it right before bed. Meditate when you get into bed, there are plenty of sleep inducing meditations on the Insight Timer app. Another fantastic way to aid sleep is to use this amazingly blissful Tropic aromatherapy pillow mist, containing 7 calming, sleep inducing oils to help you drift off easily. It is also great to use when away from home as the scents work on your limbic system reminding you of peaceful sleep at home: https://www.tropicskincare.com/vickyheard
✌️ Life is too short for stress - and it's definitely bad for you!
Comments