6 Natural Ways To Manage Stress

High on stress and in need of proven, quick ways to reduce stress naturally? If you said yes, then you’re in luck because I’m covering 20 effective ways to reduce stress naturally and quickly.

All of these techniques are simple (yet powerful) and can be used when short on time. Most can be utilized anywhere, including at work.

And the best part is that they aren’t just natural stress relievers but will also help you keep stress levels low in the long-term.

# Recognize the Problem

The most and the easiest way to combat stress is to recognize the source of the negative stress. This is the first step to identify the problem and plan measures accordingly to overcome it. To know about the problems, let’s start with Stress Control A B C Strategy. A = AWARENESS, B = BALANCE and C = CONTROL.

# Change Negative Thinking

If you want to combat stress, the first and foremost point should be to change in negative thinking. You should try to change the situation or negative thoughts. Negative thinking that lead to stress can be managed with the help of following tips.

- Re-framing: It is a way to perceive things in order to feel better about them.
- Positive thinking: Forget powerlessness, dejection, despair, failure and try to focus on positives.
- Analysis your own thoughts minutely.
- Try to perceive the things from another perspective also.
- One should point out that emotion is only information rather than fact.

# Assertive Skills

- Be assertive: Assertiveness helps to manage stressful conditions. On the other hand, lack of assertiveness leads to low self-esteem and low self – confidence.

- Get organised: Lack of organisational skill leads to stress. organised and systematic approaches offer security against ‘out of the blue’ problems. Prioritising duties and activities make them manageable and achievable. Organisation will help avoid personal and professional chaos.

- Ventilation: Sharing problems with friends, near and dear ones means a problem halved’. So try to develop a network of such peers, which helps to come out in the time of needs.

- Humour: Humour acts like as a stress – reducer. It helps to reduce stress through easing your tension, increasing your endorphins that act like as a natural pain-killer.

- Diversion and Distraction: To reduce or minimise diversion and distractions, one should follow the following tips.

- Take time out
- Get away from things that bother you
- Doesn’t solve the problem
- Reduce stress level
- Calm down
- Think logically

# Time Management Skills

Time also plays a bigger role to minimise or exaggerate stress level. But, here I am telling you some tips that will help you in the control and management of stress.

- Make a list
- What MUST be done
- What SHOULD be done
- What would you LIKE to do
- Think about wastage of time
- Learn to drop unimportant activities
- Say no or delegate
- Plan your day
- Set achievable goals
- Don’t waste time making excuses for not doing something
- Work in interval

# Build a Support Network

Let’s know how to build a support network.

Relationships bonding: give more weightage to deepening of an existing relationship.
Share your own feelings, opinions, or experiences but also give the other person a chance to open up in turn.
Try to bring old friendship into your loop.
Let’s be in touch through letters, phone calls, email, social media with people across a longer distance.
New friendship should also blossom.

6. Self -care

Self-care should be taken in the following domains such as

Diet
Smoking & Alcohol
Exercise
Sleep
Leisure
Relaxation
Time -out
Naturopathy (Mud Therapy)

- Dietary management also plays important role in combating stress. Following are the few important diet tips that will help you in this regards.

- Drinking at 4-5 litres of water per day to keep our systems running properly because our bodies are constituted of 75% water.
- Avoid caffeinated beverages
- Eat-in moderation.
- Whole grains should be given preference.
- Avoid simple carbohydrates.
- One should keep himself away from saturated fats and trans fats.
- Eating of lean protein such as fish, poultry and vegetable proteins should be given preference.
- Add calcium and Vitamin D to keep bones strong.
- Limit salt and sodium to 2,300mg per day.
- Avoid processed or pre-packaged foods that are full of additives and preservatives.