4 natural ways to help you manage stress

4 natural ways to help you manage stress

A study carried out in early 2017 found that 70% of American’s suffered from stress and of those, more than half have to deal with it on a daily or weekly basis.  This is bad news for our country.

Stress is responsible for a whole host of health problems. On a minor scale, it can give you headaches. On a major scale, we’re talking about depression, insomnia, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, fertility problems and an increased risk of having a heart attack. Stress can kill.

With so many of us suffering from it through issues such as problems at work or home, then you might be wondering what can be done to combat stress? The answer is quite a lot.

Here are four ways to help you manage stress.

Avoid any unhealthy habits

Have you ever found yourself stressed and reaching for a pack of cigarettes or the bottle as a result? If you have, then all that you are doing is feeding that stress even more. This is known as avoidance behavior, where we smoke or drink to forget our problems. That doesn’t make them go away and although tobacco and beer might help temporarily relieve the stress, it in fact only make things worse once we’ve finished puffing or when that hangover or comedown kicks in. Avoiding any unhealthy habits will give you a much better chance of combatting and managing stress.

Exercise

Exercise helps release chemicals into our bodies that make us feel good about ourselves, combatting feelings of stress. You don’t even need to do that much exercise to be considered healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that for substantial health benefits, adults should do 2 hours and 30 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise. That works out at 30 minutes a day, Monday-Friday, which is nothing really. You can fit that in during your lunch break at work – just go for a vigorous walk for half an hour and it’s done.

Take supplements

There are a host of natural supplements out there that can be used to help cope with stress, all of which deal with different causes of the problem. Take Magnesium, for example. It controls the brains nerve and muscle functions but most intriguingly of all, it deals directly with the area in charge of our stress response. Adding magnesium to your diet can help regulate how we cope with stressful situations. Tiredness and a lack of sleep can also lead to stress, and there are all kinds of supplements out there which can help regulate our sleep cycles such as chamomile tea, melatonin, valerian, and kava. Lastly, herbs and plants can help with relaxation. Lavender, lemon balm, hawthorn, and cannabidiol – which you can learn more about – can all aid in helping us unwind and destress.

Become more organized

Much of our stress levels comes from not being organized. How many times do you worry that you haven’t paid that bill on time, that you’re running late or that you’ve forgotten something important? Simple changes such as being more prepared when it comes to leaving enough time to get from A to B or writing lists so you know exactly what needs to be done can help you be more organized and, as a result, less stressed.