Tips On Managing And Reducing Stress

A little bit of stress is good for you, too much stress can have severe consequences on the mind, body and emotions. Here, Breathwork and Wellness Expert Alex da Silva of of Silva Wellness looks at signs of stress and offers tips and techniques to help you manage anxiety daily and improve your overall health in mind, body and spirit.

Stress can be useful in short bursts, such as when it helps you meet a deadline, when you are exercising or trying to avoid danger. However, chronic stress, when you repeatedly face stressors, can take a heavy toll on your body and can cause negative health effects. Chronic stress can cause headaches, insomnia, weight gain, anxiety, pain and high blood pressure.

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

UK Stress Statistics
Stress is extremely affecting 1 in 5 people in the UK.
1 in 5 over 16s in the UK are stressed every single day
A huge 63% of people in the UK are stressed at least weekly – up from just over a third 6 years ago
Only 6% of people say they are never stressed
Women are more likely to experience stress daily (24.52%) than men (15.33%)

How can you tell if you are feeling stressed?
Here are 10 questions to help you understand more about your stress levels.
1. Do you feel tired, have a headache, or experience digestive issues?
2. Do you feel irritable, anxious, or overwhelmed?
3. Do you find it hard to concentrate, or do you withdraw from social activities?
4. Do you feel like you have no one to talk to, or are you experiencing increased conflicts with others?
5. Have you recently experienced a life-altering event, such as a job loss, illness, or financial difficulties?
6. Have you been feeling stressed for an extended period of time?
7. Do you feel like stress has had an impact on your wellbeing and mental health?
8. Do you feel constantly tired and fatigued?
9. Do you find it hard to motivate yourself to do things you used to enjoy?
10. Have you become more negative about your work or personal life?

If you’ve recognised that you are feeling a little stressed or very stressed and here’s some good news. Firstly, well done on recognising this for yourself because many don’t, they simply block out their emotions with the symptoms of stress only getting worse over time.

Secondly, you can do something about it that will help you to recognise your stress levels when they arise and manage them effectively on a daily basis. Recognising your stress emotions is a good thing because you are connecting with your emotions and instead of blocking them out, you are instead putting healthy practices into place to ensure you are not running on an empty tank. You wouldn’t run your car on an empty tank so stop doing it to yourself.

Here are some tips to help you manage your stress levels and keep your energy levels topped up each day.

Tips and techniques - 4 tips to help you manage stress and anxiety daily:
1. Box breathing: Inhale for a count of four, hold your breath for a count of four, exhale for a count of four, and hold your breath again for a count of four. Repeat this practice for 3-5 minutes.

2. Use affirmations to bring you back into the present moment. Stress and anxiety can make us feel out of control so the combination of slow deep breaths and calming affirmations such as "I'm safe, I'm protected and I'm exactly where I need to be" can be extremely helpful. When you are going into a meeting or a job interview, use affirmations to help you connect with the present moment and boost your confidence.

3. Grounding and walking is a fantastic way to calm the mind and recentre. Being barefoot on the grass, going for a mindful walk outside Focusing on the now, while mindfully moving, will help you to feel grounded and present while boosting your wellbeing. The science is clear. Physical exercise and mindful practice positively influence psychological functioning, improving cognition, lowering stress, and reducing symptoms of depression.

4. Practising daily mindfulness. Practising daily mindfulness can play a big part in keeping your nervous system calm and regulated. Why you may ask? Because when you are mindful you are not stressed and anxious. Being mindfully in the moment drops us from our busy heads and into the moment we are experiencing. When you are starting to feel overwhelmed or those stress emotions are coming up, take a deep breath in and out of the nose and bring yourself back into the now. Remember, the only moment that exists is the now. Control what you can and what you can’t control, accept. Letting go can be hard to begin with but it’s so freeing when you do.

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

Tips and techniques - For overall health in mind, body and spirit:
1. Breathwork - this can help people with positive self-development, boost immunity, process emotions, heal emotional pain and trauma, as well as enrich creativity and increase confidence, self-image, and self esteem.

2. Mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness meditation can help people focus on the present and cut through distractions. This can lead to improved personal performance and productivity. It can also help to improve sleep and can lead to a greater enthusiasm for life.

3. Physical exercise. Many people who have been struggling with their mental health say that finding an enjoyable physical activity that they can perform regularly has helped them to reduce their levels of stress and cope with their symptoms. Remember that you are a mind, body and spirit complex so by having daily practices such as these in place will help you function better and allow you to live a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life.

Silva Wellness is a London-based treatment centre which offers a range of innovative and effective treatments for the mind, body and spirit.