Three Ways to Manage Stress
by Joshua Peters, CHt.

 

The seasons have changed. It’s getting darker earlier and earlier, and there’s a chill in the air. Before you know it the holidays will be upon us, filled with gatherings of friends and family, and the stress that often comes with season. 

Stress is the body’s reaction to positive or negative changes in one’s life. A stressful situation can trigger a release of stress hormones that produce physiological changes. Your heart pounds faster and faster. Your breath comes short and shallow. You feel tense and anxious. These are all symptoms that the sympathetic nervous system (the fight or flight response), has been activated.

Stress is an inevitable part of life so it’s important to learn positive ways to deal with it.

In the following article you’ll learn three easy ways to counter the stress response in your life and bring your autonomic nervous system back into a relaxed state.

Move your body

Work out, take a walk, practice yoga or tai chi. Physical exercise is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to counter stress. Movement such as brisk walking will deepen the breath and release tension from your muscles. Gentle movement exercises such as yoga or tai chi have the benefit of relaxing the mind as well. 

Surround yourself with positive people

Connect with the important people in your life. Your family, your friends, coworkers, your spouse or children. These connections provide a social experience that is known to help you live a longer and happier life. Emotional support and connection indirectly helps you to deal with stress in your day to day life.

Practice the relaxation response

Train your body and your mind to deal with stressful situations by meeting the stress with relaxation. Relaxation is one of the most powerful ways to counter the stress response and engage your calm, parasympathetic nervous system. Try these tips to engage the relaxation response:

• Breathe: One of the common reactions to a stressful situation is for our breath to get shallow and slow. We lose oxygen which stresses our body even more. When you feel yourself getting stressed simply pause and notice your breath. Take three deep slow breaths, completely filling your lungs. Breathe out slowly for a count or two longer than you breathed in, resetting your autonomic nervous system and feeling at peace.
• Visualize Peace: Imagine a place of total relaxation and peace. It may be a real location that you’ve visited or learned about, or it may be something you just make up. Imagine yourself in a peaceful place, feeling well rested and relaxed. Feel the relaxation, see it, hear it.
  

• Use self-hypnosis: Self-hypnosis is a quick and easy way to turn on the parasympathetic nervous system. Sit or lie in a comfortable position, close your eyes and take a few breaths. Imagine yourself walking down a set of stairs. Tell yourself you’re going deeper and deeper into relaxation with every step. At the bottom of the stairs simple be and allow the relaxation feeling to fill your experience. When you’re ready to finish, count yourself back up. You could also use a recording like this one: Ten Minutes To Relax

 

Stress is an inevitable part of life. We are wired to heighten our senses when in danger and then to come back to the “rest and digest” state once the danger has passed. Modern life and all its demands can often leave you in a state of chronic stress. 

Use the three positive strategies above to take charge of your own life and leave stress where it belongs, in the past.

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Joshua Peters is a certified hypnotherapist who helps successful people go from good to great using the power of hypnosis.
Click here to learn more.