Simple Techniques to Combat Stress in Any Household

April is stress awareness month, and as a Registered Nurse who worked in healthcare for 21+ years, I thought it important to drive this concept home a bit more.  Stress leads to Gi issues, headaches, nausea, lack of sleep and heart disease, to name just a few…

It is imperative to reduce stress in our lives to reduce the overall physical, mental and psychological implications stress can create.

Here I have compiled a list of 10 little ideas that can calm you, relax you, make you step back for even just a minute to help reduce stress in your life:

1. Make your bed first thing in the morning (seems like work, but doesn’t it look so calm and comforting when the bed is made!)
2. Keep fresh flowers on your desk or near your work space. Natural beauty has a way of relaxing you.
3. Listen to music! It’s funny how our mood can change based on the type of music we listen to. Calm down or pump you up! What gets you “in the mood”
4. Give a hug! There are certain people in the world that are actually exceptional huggers! In each major hospital I worked in, I had a hugging partner. Miss Donella and Miss Ann… when I was so stressed out at work, and on the verge of tears, I would actually seek them out for a hug… It was if they each possessed a magical ability that just relaxed me.  My son Jack also possesses this gift…and luckily he loves giving them too!
5. Take a few moments to be thankful.   Recently I started keeping a gratitude journal.  Every night I write down 3 things that I am grateful for.  Of course at first I listed things like my children, husband, chocolate ice-cream and of course French fries!  Now my gratitudes come throughout the day, as I see things all around me…
6. Relax with a cup of afternoon tea, coffee or whatever it is you enjoy. I love an afternoon cup of tea, where I sit for 20 mins alone, unwind and prepare for the second half of the day.
7. Make a list! You know I had to add this one!  I notice myself feeling stressed and out of control when I have a ton on my plate! And trust me, I’m pretty good at dealing with chaos in a very effective, productive manner, but I too get overwhelmed.  When I start spiraling, the easiest thing is to get it ALL out of my head, step back and start processing it. I immediately feel relief.
8. Use aromatherapy. Essential oils are all the rage right now, or you can just light your favorite candle or sniff a lemon even! Jasmine, lavender, chamomile and citrus scents have been noted to decrease stress hormones known as cortisol.
9. Eat some chocolate! Gotta love the results of a 2009 study by the American Chemical Society, stating that eating a mere 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate daily lowered stress hormone levels. Of course this doesn’t mean gorging on whole chocolate bars.
10. John Ratey, MD, a Harvard Medical School professor says you can change your mood with just a few minutes of heart rate increasing exercise. “Anything from squats to jumping jacks supplies a surge of neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin—the same targets as antidepressants,” he says. No wonder I’m addicted to my treadmill!

May I just add, that while writing this blog post my boys were banging the ball against the garage door and running in and out of the house! Talk about coincidental!! I actually said “ do you know I’m writing a blog about not being stressed… It’s kinda difficult!”.

Well… that’s the reality of it and why I immediately lit my lavender candle and started ravenously eating Hershey kisses!