Reduce Your Overall Work Stress Levels With These Tips
Vincent Benjamin

You probably know that stress is a leading cause of chronic heart conditions. Uncontrolled, stress can lead to a variety of physical ailments. Stress happens for a lot of reasons, and it isn’t always bad. Stress developed as a survival instinct in humans to keep us alive in our earliest evolution. But early man wasn’t expecting job stress to become a problem in their lives. Stress can start suddenly when you feel overwhelmed or it can build over time. So learning to cope with stress is essential for long term health and wellbeing. Here are just a few tips to help you relax and avoid stress in your day to day life.

  1. Just walk away. When you feel triggered in a high-stress situation, the very best thing you can do is to remove yourself from whatever is making you stressed or anxious. For example, if you a frustrated with a project you’ve been trying to figure out for a while, take a break. You can work on something else or take a walk, whatever is accessible for you. You’ll have time to relax and recharge and can face the problem with a renewed sense of purpose.
  2. Eat healthy foods. Since stress can build over time, it is important that you maintain proper nutrition and overall health to combat it. Make sure you’re eating a well-balanced diet rather than stress-eating junk food. Healthy food choices will help you feel better in general and give you the right energy to face stress without causing additional stress. Create healthy food rituals, like choosing fruit over salty carbohydrates as a snack.
  3. Get a good night’s sleep. Many adults go through each day with some level of sleep deprivation, and that isn’t good for eliminating stress. A good night’s sleep can really help with anxiety and stress, but it is a circular problem. Stress causes insomnia, and insomnia causes stress. To give yourself the best chance, develop a nightly ritual designed to promote healthy sleep. Go to bed at the same time every night, at a reasonable hour. Don’t eat anything before bed. Turn off electronics within a half hour of laying down to sleep. Make sure your mattress is comfortable and sleep with the temperature lower than you have it set during the day.
  4. Get daily exercise. What has been proven time and time again is that physical exercise is a stress buster. It can work to reduce stress hormones and replace them with healthy endorphins even when you’re in the middle of a stressful situation. When people avoid exercise, they often say they simply don’t have the time. But, in order to reduce the stress in your life, making time for regular exercise can be the most important change you make. Choose an activity you enjoy or something that can help reduce stress, such as walking or yoga.
  5. Breathe deeply. While eating, sleeping, and exercise are important routines to change to avoid or curb stress, sometimes we need a technique that works in the moment. Many people turn to mindful breathing when feeling overwhelmed. When you feel stressed, take a moment to sit quietly and focus on your breath. Take a deep breath, hold it, and release it. Repeat. This pattern of breathing will help you stay calmer and reduce your overall stress throughout the day. And it is quick and easy to do any time.

How do you reduce stress in your life? The VincentBenjamin recruiting offices, located in Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles and Orange County, want to hear from you.

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