20 Simple Ways
to De-Stress Your Life

1.First, you should be trying to avoid any unnecessary stress in your life. For example, remove yourself from abusive relationships, don’t drink and drive, don’t wait until your tank is nearly empty to fill up, don’t procrastinate at tax time, etc.

    2. Face your stressful situation. In Dr. Michael F. Roizen’s popular book ‘The RealAge Makeover’, he discusses an alarm system that we all have called the ‘sleeping point’. It basically means that if you are so stressed out by something to the point of having a difficult time sleeping, then the stress must be dealt with. When you face the situation, you are in control. The best way to face a stressful situation is to treat it like any other problem and employ problem solving techniques. Analyze the problem, develop possible solutions, work out pros/cons for the solution, choose the solution to the problem, break the solution down into small, easily achievable steps and then set goals for achieving each step.

    3. When stress cannot be avoided, figure out how to manage it. Managing stress is controlling stress. Feeling out of control is one of the main problems with stress. When feeling stressed out by a given situation, think of ways to make yourself feel like you are in control of the stress rather than it being in control of you.

    4. If you know that you must face a stressful situation, approach it in a calculated way. This will allow you control over the situation. Plan the steps that you are going to take and follow through on them.

    5. If you are feeling stressed out most of the time and there is no escape, find something enjoyable that involves the use of your mind. Re-focus your attention to something that will completely occupy you. This will relieve your mind of the stress for awhile and allow a break while working on other stress reduction techniques.

    6. Reframe situations that cause stress. Try to turn maddening moments into learning experiences or humorous experiences. Recognize what is stressing you out and try to view the situation in a way that is not as stressful. Ie. If you feel there are too many demands placed on you at work, try feeling good about being such a valuable and trusted employee rather than feeling resentful about your workload.

    7. Spend time with the people that bring you joy and cultivate those friendships. If you're not part of a good social network, work at finding friends. Some ways to be more sociable are to volunteer, be more active in your community, chat rooms on the internet, walk your dog in a busy park, etc.

    8. If you must be around people who are negative or stress you out, pretend to be them in your mind. Try to understand their motivations and perspectives. You may develop empathy for him or her as a person, moving the focus away from yourself. It may also help to develop strategies that results in you reacting in a less stressful way.

    9. Learn to tone down your body’s physical response to stress. Learn stress reduction techniques. This does not mean that you have to learn yoga or practise meditation, it can be as simple as:<

10. Do not live byond your financial means if this causes you to worry. If you are at a point right now where you are doing so, start to make small steps to change the situation. Learn to manage your money so that it is not a nagging worry.

11. Try not to juggle too many commitments. Learn to do Urgent vs. Important task listing, a way to organize and prioritize. Write down the most urgent tasks that are on your mind and then write down other important tasks that may not be right at the forefront of your mind at the moment. Then number them in order of true importance in your life or your job. Choose to do only a number of the most important tasks.

12. Ask for help when necessary if you have too many important tasks and not enough time to do them. Don’t feel guilty about it because remember: what comes around goes around. This can even strengthen friendships, because it improves the give and take that is so important in promoting lasting bonds between people.

13. Develop a positive attitude. This one sounds a lot easier than it is. It means that you have to estimate what makes you happy and then try and do more of those activities. Try to combine fun with learning more, such as taking a new class or trying a new sport.

14. Learn to express your emotions in a positive and meaningful way. Angry feelings will actually add to your stress response, especially when kept bottled up inside.

15. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at yourself. Remember that the world does not revolve around you.

16. Try to keep your schedule as regular as possible. Although this can be difficult to do when working shifts, try to keep meals with your family and try to treat your night shift the same as you would your day shift as far as routine and rituals are concerned.

17. Remove the clutter or any tasks that are nagging away at you from day to day.

18. Try to get 7-9 hours of sleep every ‘night’. If your bedtime falls during the morning, make sure the have the room dark and cool. Make sure to cover any LED lights, such as those found on your alarm clock or you could end up inhibiting your body’s production of melatonin.

19. Take care of yourself. Avoid lifestyle choices that are known to contribute to stress such as excess consumption of sugar, salt, caffeine, alcohol, and smoking. Visit your doctor and dentist regularly.

20. Follow The Shift Solution approach to stress reduction and better health.

 

© Nicole Webb, Nutritionist. Stand Six, 2008