Are you feeling stressed out a lot?  It is time to take these feelings seriously.  Unfortunately, stress does more than just ruin your day.  As it turns out, it also can be detrimental to your overall health.   It is key to put together a strategy that will help you effectively deal with the anxiety you are experiencing.

Doctors Stephanie McClellan and Beth Hamilton recently released a great collection of tools to keep stress at bay.  All of these tips are extremely simple to integrate into your lifestyle.  After all, the changes that you make to relieve your stress should all be stress-free!  (Otherwise, you might experience a bit of a Catch-22 situation.)

Here are just a few of the tips for leading a life with less stress:

Breathe Deeply

It is important to make sure to breathe.  Your first reaction to this statement may be, “Of course, I breathe! Doesn’t everyone?”  However, breathing for relaxation is a bit different.  This is actually a process where you learn to take deep calming breaths.  When you start to feel anxiety coming up, inhale and exhale deeply.  You may find that you handle any potential situation in a more relaxed manner.

Laugh and Smile

Another key way to fight stress is to make sure you are getting plenty of laughter.  When you laugh and smile, endorphins are actually released in your brain.   Another important reason to laugh is that the physical reaction of laughter itself is beneficial.  When we laugh it causes our muscles to relax and our heart rate and breathing to slow.

Stress Relieving Foods

If you can increase your serotonin levels, it can help to beat stress.  One food that can do this is organic dark chocolate.  In fact, if you eat walnuts and chocolate together, you receive the omega3 and tryptophan from the walnuts. When this is combined with chocolate, you get a great serotonin boost.

If you can skip your morning cup of coffee and switch to tea, this can definitely help with stress.  Green tea has essential antioxidants, which can are beneficial to your body.  Also coffee can interfere with the absorption of nutrients from your breakfast.

Exercising in the Sun

Exercising when it is sunny out can also help you reduce anxiety.  Your circadian rhythms being out of whack can cause stress.  When you are getting plenty of sunlight, it helps to regulate your body’s functions.  Not to mention, sunlight helps to make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D.

Emotional Tools

Another valuable relaxation tool is remembering to help other people.   Humans are social, and when we can help others, we end up feeling better ourselves as well.  Drs McClellan and Hamilton also recommend keeping a stress journal.  In this journal, you can keep track of your emotions and your physical symptoms of stress.  Just putting your thoughts down on paper and acknowledging that your body and feelings are connected can relieve stress in and of itself.

Source
lifestyle.msn.com