Proven Tips to Relieve Stress and Anxiety

2. Do something you love at least once a day

Life’s all about the little moments, and it’s important you live for them. While huge accomplishments come with unbeatable satisfaction, many of us aren’t making daily life-changing moves (but we salute you if you are!).

Doing something you love can reduce stress and anxiety levels by releasing built-up tension. So, doing it daily can help banish bad juju as soon as it comes in. If you wait until Sunday morning, you’ll have your work cut out for you as you’re then trying to release the tension from the entire week.

Whether it’s cooking your favorite meal or watching a series on Netflix, we urge you to do it immediately.

3. Exercise

This won’t be the first time you’ll hear that exercise releases feel-good endorphins that can boost your mood. But please let it be the last before you actually do it. At first, exercise can seem like more of a chore than it is fun, but we promise the reward is worth it.

Physical activity that involves the movement of your body rather than the mind can help divert attention away from stressful and anxious thoughts. But this isn’t a quick fix to ignore what you’re feeling and become a total gym junkie. We’d never recommend that.

With endorphins kicking into action as soon as you finish your workout, revisiting these thoughts, later on, will seem lighter as your mood has lifted. You’ll look at them more optimistically than you did before and come up with solutions, not more problems.

While some people may feel better immediately after exercise, this isn’t enough to keep stress and anxiety at bay. Committing to regular exercise will keep a steady level of endorphins flowing in the brain to experience increased feelings of happiness over a longer period of time.

4. Have a daily routine

With working from home at an all-time high, having a routine is more important than ever before. Creating daily structure can help you feel more in control in times of uncertainty. Without a sense of routine, our lives can quickly turn into a series of unfortunate events.

We spiral and let feelings of stress and anxiety take over. Especially if you led a super busy lifestyle that’s been forced to slow down with more time on your hands to overthink situations, triggering feelings that may not have even been there to begin with. You’re not alone if you’ve been questioning your entire life’s choices leading up till this moment.

Everyone’s routine will look different as we all have different goals to accomplish in a day. To start planning your routine, jot these down in order of priorities and apply a timestamp to each of them. Always give yourself more time than you think you need at first to avoid added pressure. Once you’re familiar with how much time you actually need, you can revisit this later on.

While we all want to kick ass every day, having a routine is so much more than showing up for your responsibilities. Don’t forget to dedicate time to indulge in self-care and show up for yourself too.

5. Start a journal

And no, we’re not talking “Dear diary” here. Keeping a journal is an effective way to master what you’re feeling and take action against unwanted emotions. When we’re feeling overwhelmed, our minds can become overcrowded with so many emotions at once that there’s a chance the emotion we think we feel isn’t actually how we feel. Our minds have a mind of their own, basically.

Writing down how you feel can help you get your Marie Kondo on and declutter your mind to identify how you’re truly feeling. It’s only when we understand this can we begin to make productive changes to what’s causing us stress and anxiety.

Staring at a blank page can feel intimidating when you’re new to journaling, so we recommend writing question headers to help prompt you. Pre-printed journals won’t suit everyone as we all have different things we need to work on.

Writing them yourself leaves room for the journal to grow with you as your journey unfolds. A couple of questions you can ask yourself to begin could be “how did I feel today?” or “is there anything that lifted or intensified these feelings?” 

6. Eat a healthy balanced diet

Wouldn’t it be nice to have one less thing to worry about whilst reducing stress and anxiety? Cue a balanced diet. Without one, our mind and body become more vulnerable to fatigue and irritability – a place for feelings of stress and anxiety to thrive. 

We asked Registered Dietitian Diana Gariglio-Clelland about the links between diet and anxiety. Here’s what she said:

“People’s anxiety symptoms might not be clearly related to certain foods, but keeping a food/emotion journal can be helpful to try to see if there is any correlation. In fact, one study found an association between saturated fat and added sugar intake and increased anxiety symptoms.

Caffeine is another common culprit that can worsen stress and anxiety. Caffeine is a stimulant and can raise blood pressure and increase your heart rate. Anxiety sufferers can already struggle with physical symptoms such as a racing heartbeat, so caffeine can exacerbate those symptoms.”

Having a diet rich in vitamins and nutrients helps you to perform at your best and think clearer. At the top of the list for stress-relieving vitamins are B vitamins – vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, folate, and vitamin B12. This complex of essential nutrients has been shown to boost mood, support healthy energy levels, and reduce work-related stress symptoms like fatigue. 

In addition to making sure your plate is full of B-boosting leafy greens, legumes, and healthy sources of meat and dairy (if that’s your thing), ensuring each meal or snack you consume throughout the day contains healthy carbs, protein, and fats will keep you feeling satiated and energized all day long.

This balanced approach will keep your blood sugar levels stable and prohibit energy drops and the rise of stress hormones.

7. Learn to say no

Calling all people pleasers! But seriously, our lives seem to only get busier and more chaotic as time goes on, and even when our calendars are overbooked, telling people no can still be a struggle. But we’re here to tell you that it’s fine to tell people no – no shame attached.

Learning to say no to plans that don’t fit your schedule, wants, or needs is an essential skill to know for reducing stress and making time for what’s important. When it comes to coping and preventing stress, anxiety, and the dreaded burnout, learning to say yes to yourself and no to anything that doesn’t make you feel at ease will work wonders on your mental health.

You don’t have to decline every offer that comes up, but take how you’re feeling seriously because always putting others before yourself is a sure-fire way for feeling mentally and physically exhausted. And you don’t want that.

8. Talk it out

A problem shared is a problem halved. Talking to someone you love and trust is one way to feel instantly more grounded. Not only can a safe space provide you with some necessary room to vent and release some pent-up negative emotions, but talking to someone can also help you better sort out the problems and stressors you’re struggling with.

Talking it out with someone you trust, whether that’s a parent, partner, friend, or therapist, can also help you see things in a new or clearer way. Perhaps they offer new solutions that you haven’t thought of or an eye-opening new perspective. At the very least, talking to someone you trust can help you feel less alone and less burdened by the weight of stress and anxiety.