College Central®

Ask around. The Network works.®

Health
Get Rid Of Stress And Start Relaxing

Danica Galang -- Whether you're in college or have a career, here are simple but effective tips and techniques to help you take control of your well-being and start off a new year with a healthy handle on life.

Everyone experiences stressful situations. Your body reacts to mild stress by increasing adrenaline, which makes you feel more alert and able to tackle problems. However, prolonged stress is very hard on the human body, it can cause you to experience a range of symptoms that including high blood pressure, headaches, and nausea. Learning how to cope with stress is essential to your health and well-being.

A great tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to pray. Praying can help you feel at ease. It's also great because you can do it almost anywhere. Just a little bit of praying each day can go a long way in keeping your stress down.

Saying "no" more often will actually reduce the stress caused by giving in to things you really didn't want to be obligated to and keep you from having to do them! When you are already pressed for time throughout your day, saying "no" to offers people make that you are not actually interested in will give you more control and definitely less stress!

Make sure your jaw is relaxed and do not grit your teeth. It is not unusual for your jaw to feel the brunt of the stress your body is absorbing. At stressful times, put your index finger on your jaw, breathe in as you clench, then release your breath and jaw at the same time. These techniques will help you relax during stressful times.

A great tip that can help you keep your stress levels down is to read a book to your children. Not only will you be keeping your stress in check, you'll be bonding with your children over a story. Try this next time you're feeling a little stressed out.

When you work for the greater part of your life, you may not have time to treat yourself. One of the things that you should do at least once during the week is to get a manicure or a pedicure. This will make you feel good about your body and relieve your tension.

One great tip for relieving stress is to clearly know and define your priorities in life, as they will help you stay focused on what must be accomplished. When you lose sight of your goals and priorities, you will become unfocused, confused, and go off track, which will easily result in stress.

Your mind can easily become cluttered, which is a fast track to stress, if you attempt to think about more than one thing at a time. Instead of focusing on many things that you need to do, focus on only one at a time so you will be able to accomplish it more easily.

If you are at work and passing through a moment of great stress you should take a second to look at pictures of people and places that you really enjoy. This can help you to refocus on what is important and may even make the stressful situation feel a bit silly or useless.

One easy way to reduce stress is to disconnect yourself from the outside world for a while. Turn off the computer, turn off the phone, turn off the TV, and just sit and read a book for a while. The people who need to get in touch with you can wait for you to check your voicemail.

If you have someone in your life who always leaves you feeling stressed out and run down, the best way to deal with the problem is either to distance yourself as much as possible from the relationship, or to cut ties all together. This can be incredibly difficult if the person is a friend or family member. However, in the long run it will be better for your overall health and well-being to reduce the stress associated with that person as much as possible.

To quickly relieve your stress, pay attention to your breathing. Make sure that you are breathing from your abdomen, not your chest. Take slow, deep breaths and watch to see that your abdomen rises and falls. This will help get more oxygen into your blood which will help reduce your level of stress.

Do not fight against the things that are in your life that stress you out that you cannot avoid. If you accept the fact that those things are in your life to stay, you are sure to find that you are far less stressed about them all of the time. Acceptance is important in these situations.

Prolonged stress can effect every area of your life including your health and relationships. Dealing with stress in a healthy way enables you to feel empowered and in control. It will also help you improve close relationships and reduce the long term effects that it can have on your body.

Danica considers herself a typical individual, but one with a great deal of knowledge in regards to reaction to stress. For additional information on the subject, visit her Web site at http://stresssymptomschecklist.com/.

© 2015 Danica Galang

Return to top

The views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of College Central Network, Inc. or its affiliates. Reference to any company, organization, product, or service does not constitute endorsement by College Central Network, Inc., its affiliates or associated companies. The information provided is not intended to replace the advice or guidance of your legal, financial, or medical professional.