Keep Your Cool This Summer by Managing Stress
Everyone experiences stress from time to time. How you choose to cope with it has effects on your physical and emotional well-being. In the short term, it can make you tired, irritable, and nervous, but can also help you focus on solving the problem at hand and improve your task performance. On the other hand, if you are constantly feeling stressed it can take a huge physical and mental toll on your body and mind. That is why it is so important to be conscious of your stress management. Long term stress is also a sneaky underlying contributor to health problems such as:
- •Depression
- •Anxiety
- •Insomnia
- •Diabetes
- •Obesity and other eating problems
- •Digestive issues
- •Reduced immunity to illness
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to manage stress and sometimes all it takes is a few moments out of your day.
1.Move more!
Getting up and moving around allows our muscles to move, promotes blood flow, and helps us feel better. If you are going back into the office or continuing to work from home, here are a few quick workouts you can do during a 5 minute coffee break.
2. Meditate
Taking even a few minutes in meditation can restore your inner peace. New York State has partnered with Headspace to provide free meditation exercises. It doesn’t get easier than taking a few minutes before bed!
3. Get your 8 hours!
Sleep is a powerful stress reducer. A regular sleep schedule calms and restores the body, improves concentration, regulates mood, and sharpens your cognitive ability.
4. Start a stress journal
Keep track of each time you feel stressed and you will begin to notice patterns or common themes. You can begin writing down what caused your stress (or guess if you aren’t sure), how you felt emotionally and physically, how you reacted, and what you might have done to make yourself feel better. For a more guided approach, try a journal with exercises like this one.
5. Show gratitude.
Cultivating gratitude is one of the simpler routes to a greater sense of emotional well-being and happiness in life. One of the best ways to cultivate gratitude is to write it down. Keep a simple notebook or even the Notes app on your phone- just write one line a day and watch your list grow. Speaking gratitude is also very powerful and helps strengthen relationships. Make it a point to express outloud to a friend or family member each day or even each week something you are grateful for.
6. Strike a pose.
Yoga is a mind-body practice that combines physical poses, controlled breathing, and meditation or relaxation. Studies have shown that yoga may help reduce stress and anxiety. Our yogi, Carolyn Carpentiere, guides a free stress relief session on her YouTube channel.
7. Wake up and smell the roses.
A study by Science Direct found that spending time outdoors can help improve mental health. So long as we keep our 6-foot distance from others, we are more than welcome to get outside, get some fresh air while and simply get in touch with the basics of life.
Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years and stress reduction is a common concern that is eased by acupuncture. Not only has it shown to help improve sleep but it also seems to have an effect on lowering stress hormones.
Contact HealthBridge if you are in need of acupuncture in Great Neck, NY. 516-627-4433.
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