In today’s fast-paced and constantly on-the-move society, stress is a common occurrence for most of us. When we experience stress, our body’s natural response is to increase and decrease the production of certain bodily chemicals like cortisol, serotonin, and dopamine. While the increased and decreased levels of these chemical compounds are meant to help you survive, they can make it hard to destress yourself. Such chemical imbalances in our bodies can exacerbate feelings of stress, anxiety, depression, and irritability.
To help you destress yourself, I am sharing the things that I know have helped me in my life. I believe natural stress relief habits are a great way to help us rid ourselves of unwanted emotions. These are 6 natural and simple ways to relieve stress!
1. Spend Time In Nature
Immersing yourself in nature is one of the best ways to destress yourself. It’s simple, all you really have to do is show up. When we surround ourselves with nature, we are breathing in much more negative ions than we do on a regular day at the office. Often, industrialized areas and places like office buildings are filled with too many positive ions due to the presence of technology, and the lack of plants. In nature, there are tens of thousands of negative ions produced by living plants and moving water.
Negative ions help benefit our bodies in several different ways. For one, negative ions are known to help increase serotonin levels in our bodies. They also are reported to relieve tension, decrease blood pressure, and act as natural anti-depressants. As a bonus, because negative ions help decrease airborne viruses and bacteria, they help reduce our chances of getting sick!
If you live in an area where you don’t have regular access to a natural environment, try filling your home with indoor plants or other natural air fresheners! These are the best indoor plants I recommend. Be kind to mother nature and she will help heal you.
2. Practice Meditation
Meditation practices are another great way to destress yourself. By focusing your attention on the mind, meditation helps increase your self-awareness. As with most things, our minds play a huge role in the way we feel about certain things.
“Stress is caused by being here, but wanting to be there,” as said by author Eckhart Tolle. Much of the stress we have comes from things that have already happened in the past or things that may happen in the future. Neither of which we can control. This sense of not having control is what can cause us to feel uneasy.
Meditation helps us accept that which we cannot control and let go of things that do not serve us. It can help you with stress, but also many more things in your life. For help getting started with meditation, check out my article 5 Helpful Resources for Beginners in Meditation.
3. Find Creative Outlets
Finding a creative outlet is a healthy way to destress yourself. For those who are artistically inclined, this should come as no surprise. Whether it’s making art, coming up with a recipe, or building something functional, creating things helps us release pent-up feelings. Through creation, we can express the way we feel about things, and let go of those feelings we may be holding on to.
Simple ways to be creative can be using an Adult Coloring Book swirling designs in a Zen Garden, or writing your thoughts in a Journal. Using your hands allows you to physically create something that first existed in your mind. When you take these thoughts, emotions, and feelings from your mind and bring them into a physical reality, there is no longer a need for us to hold on to them. We destress through the process of creation by learning to let things go.
4. Exercise
Exercise is a simple way to destress yourself. As a general rule of thumb, the more deeply an exercise makes you breathe the better. It’s not all about cardio though folks. Simple exercises like Yoga help us work up a gentle sweat and release toxins our body has built up. By focusing on our bodies and our breathing, we can reconnect and rebalance our bodies, naturally.
Also through the deep inhaling and exhaling process of exercise, you can practice visualization techniques. As you become out of breath, imagine on every exhalation that you are letting go of that which no longer serves you. It is completely within your power to rid yourself of the thoughts and feelings that cause you stress.
5. Use Essential Oils
This is one of my favorite ways to destress. It is essentially effortless. With essential oils being plant-based, we can gain benefits from certain plants, as well as the naturally produced negative ions from an ultrasonic essential oil diffuser. It’s a two-for-one! Using essential oils like lavender, which have calming and relaxing qualities releases these chemical components into the air with the help of a diffuser. All you have to do is breathe!
Certain essential oils are especially good for helping increase serotonin and dopamine levels and decrease cortisol levels. All of which are associated with stress. For more information on which essential oils are best for stress relief check out my article on the 7 Best Essential Oils for Stress Relief!
6. Change Your Perspective
This is one of the most simple, and yet hardest ways to destress. There is a quote by Wayne Dyer that says “when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” This is a powerful quote when you are trying to handle stress. If you have the mental fortitude to change the way you think about things, then this should be a walk in the park. We can control the way things affect us.
Stress is caused by our emotional responses to situations we are presented with. Emotional responses are just reactions, and reactions are something we can choose.
If you are needing some guidance on forming lasting self-care habits, enroll in our free eCourse below! Join our 5 Day Self Care Challenge and start living a life filled with health and happiness.
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