We want to live long healthy lives with as little Stress as possible. Stress take its toll on our physical and mental health. However, there are some simple things we can do to reduce the impact stress has to our health. Here are five tips to help you keep your cool in order of how quickly they helped me
1. Box Breathing: ask a firefighter, special forces soldier or my 7 year old. This breathing technique is very affective when you need to just chill. It’s instantly lifts me out of any panic attack. Breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breath out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds and start over. This breathing pattern triggers a relaxing response when the body sees the lungs fully filling and regularly aspirating.
2. Positive self talk: Say it in your head, say it out loud. Just say nice things to yourself. “I do this all the time”, “I’m a bad mom/dad” or “this always happens to me” will literally take years off your life causing anything from heart disease, compromised immune system, and so much more. Focus on the positive. It truly matters, you will become your self talk.
3. Fuel your mind & get regular: Smarty Pants, good mood or any other off the shelf mindful supplement will help. Our brain needs its fuel and building blocks. Want more details message me back in this. It gets technical. But just as important you need to be regular. On your meds. Everyday the same time. Perscription or not. Heck just look at what hanger can do. And food is not supposed to be a mind altering substance.
4 Get organized: One of the major causes of stress is feeling like we're not in control of our lives. To reduce stress, try to get organized and make time for things that are important to you. Planning ahead and making lists can help you feel more in control and less stressed out. A couple years ago I moved my calendar and to do list and reminders over to an app called ClickUp. Check it out https://clickup.com
5: Mindfulness: older generations scoff at this but it’s truly the most affective. The reason most people fail is because this needs to become a routine. If you can practice for 7 minutes a day 3 times a week you will be shocked at the control you will now possess over your emotional state. One great app to get started with is Headspace. The reason I love headspace so much os because it actually takes you trough the process rather than just dumping you into more experienced stuff to soon. Headspace is great. They also have a show on Netflix now