Everybody experiences stress in their life, but it needn’t become a way of life.
Recognising the signs of stress aren’t always that obvious but the effects can manifest in your body leading to lack of appetite or binge eating, teeth grinding, hair loss, heart attacks, anxiety, depression, chronic illnesses and cancer.
However, the good news is that you don’t have to put up with a stressful life. We are responsible for the way we think, feel and behave even if at times it feels like someone or something else is controlling us. By implementing small lifestyle changes you can dramatically increase your sense of calm and the ability to control your life starts to get easier.
1.Breathing
The quickest way to change how you feel is to change the way you breathe. Most people fail to breathe correctly. Those who are stressed or anxious tend to over breathe and breathe too shallowly. When you learn to breathe correctly you will stop breathing from your chest and start breathing from your diaphragm.
A quick way to test if you are breathing properly is to place one hand on your tummy. Take a deep breath in through your nose and see if your chest expands and your shoulders rise. This is a sure sign you are breathing incorrectly. Try introducing some simple breathing techniques into your daily routine.
2. Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness Meditation helps to relax the body and mind which helps you to live in the present. It is a great way to reduce stress and increase relaxation and calm. At the Mindset Clinic we teach our clients about how to be mindfully aware so that they can start to realise the power of their thoughts and actions and the impacts they have on well being.
3. Sleep
When we are stressed we tend to go over and over things in our minds which can cause sleepless nights, night sweats, teeth grinding and bad dreams. Without sufficient deep restorative sleep your health can quickly spiral downwards leading to a lack of motivation and increase in aggression. If you are waking up in the morning still feeling tired this is a big indicator that you are over thinking during your waking hours. Try implementing breathing techniques and mindfulness meditation before you go to sleep to help calm and relax you.
4. Exercise
Add some pep to your step! Stress does real damage to your brain and nervous system. Regular exercise helps you heal and is a great stress-buster. Introducing just a few minutes of exercise into your daily routine will help release endorphins, the happy hormones which makes you start to feel better and reduce your sensitivity to pain. Regular exercise also teaches the body how to better regulate the stress hormone cortisol. Even something as simple as a 10-minute walk can have a dramatic positive effect on your frame of mind and help you release unwanted stress from your system. If you need help gaining motivation to excercise The Mindset Clinic can help.
5. Positive thinking
If you are naturally inclined to think the worst and ruminate about all the things that could go wrong you increase your chances of stress and disease. Changing the way you think will change the way you feel. The Mindset Clinic teaches people how to change their negative thinking which in turn helps them to start to take control of the way they feel.
Try the tips above and see how quickly you can start to make changes in your life. Speaking to a life coach can help you to get back on track so you can start thriving instead of surviving.
About Rebecca Sanderson
Rebecca Sanderson is the Director of The Mindset Clinic. She is a qualified Life Coach, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Master Practitioner of NLP. She specialises in treating stress and anxiety to enable people to live happier healthier lives and offers Skype and telephone consultations for those who are unable to meet for one to one consultations. Get in touch to find out how she can help you: info@themindsetclinic.co.uk