Resource Roundup: Stress and How to Reduce It
8:00 AM
The upcoming April monthly challenge will revolve around taking steps to reduce your stress. We've all felt stress and while we know it to be an unpleasant experience, it's important to avoid it for the negative effects it can have on your health as well. Check out the following resources both to understand the physiology of stress and to get ideas on reducing it.
Understanding Stress and its Impact on Health
What is stress? Here's the detailed explanation for all of my fellow researchers, and a more condensed, visual version for those whose biggest stressor is a lack of time.
When you encounter stress, your "fight or flight" response is triggered, which dumps cortisol into your blood stream. There are many ways increased levels of cortisol can affect your body, including weight gain, infertility and gastrointestinal issues. To understand more about the stress/cortisol connection, check out this helpful infographic.
The best first step to treat chronic stress is to understand its signs and symptoms.
Ways to Reduce Stress
The first step anyone should take in reducing stress levels is to learn proper breathing techniques. Yes, breathing is an involuntary action, but you could still be doing it wrong. Shallow breathing, which can often result from a sedentary lifestyle (especially if you spend your day hunched over a desk), can lead to increased levels of stress. Diaphragmatic (deep belly) breathing supports increased blood flow, improved energy and a stronger immune system.
Other ways to reduce stress include exercise, meditation/prayer, eating a nutrient-dense diet, spending time outdoors and with others, practicing gratitude and using the right blend of essential oils. Find more information on each of these items, including which foods increase and diminish stress, here.
Resources to Help You
Yoga is a great way to practice mediation and mindfulness, while mastering the art of deep breathing. Doyogawithme.com is my favorite resource for free classes. Additionally, this guide is great for simple, restorative yoga poses that aim to beat stress, for all fitness levels.
Calm for iOS and Android offers guided meditation and goes with you wherever your phone does.
Stigma for iOS is great for journaling the things you're grateful for, which can help to reframe your thinking, eliminating negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones. Of course, pen and paper works great for this as well.
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Do you have any other great ideas for reducing stress? I would love to hear them in the comments below. Be sure to join our Stress Less Challenge through the month of April by logging each day that you practice stress reducing techniques, through MyWellness.
The first step anyone should take in reducing stress levels is to learn proper breathing techniques. Yes, breathing is an involuntary action, but you could still be doing it wrong. Shallow breathing, which can often result from a sedentary lifestyle (especially if you spend your day hunched over a desk), can lead to increased levels of stress. Diaphragmatic (deep belly) breathing supports increased blood flow, improved energy and a stronger immune system.
Other ways to reduce stress include exercise, meditation/prayer, eating a nutrient-dense diet, spending time outdoors and with others, practicing gratitude and using the right blend of essential oils. Find more information on each of these items, including which foods increase and diminish stress, here.
Resources to Help You
Yoga is a great way to practice mediation and mindfulness, while mastering the art of deep breathing. Doyogawithme.com is my favorite resource for free classes. Additionally, this guide is great for simple, restorative yoga poses that aim to beat stress, for all fitness levels.
Calm for iOS and Android offers guided meditation and goes with you wherever your phone does.
Stigma for iOS is great for journaling the things you're grateful for, which can help to reframe your thinking, eliminating negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones. Of course, pen and paper works great for this as well.
_______________________________________________________________
Do you have any other great ideas for reducing stress? I would love to hear them in the comments below. Be sure to join our Stress Less Challenge through the month of April by logging each day that you practice stress reducing techniques, through MyWellness.
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