How To Reduce Stress

Hi my name is Josh, and at times I have lived a very stressful life but now my life is busier than ever yet I manage to remain stress free and I am going to tell you how. I believe that there are a few key strategies to reducing stress and those are; balancing your life, time management, physical health and a few other small details that make a big difference.

Everybody knows too much or too little of something can be bad so finding you happy medium is always important and this applies to everything in life. People have different ways in which they spend their time either through hobbies, friends, work etc. and keeping all of those things in a balance that suits you and leaves you personally satisfied is the basis for avoiding stress.

Quite possibly one of the most stressful things is not having enough time or spending too much of your time. To avoid time as a stressor one should consider proper time management skills and actively focus on avoiding burnout. Burnout is caused by repetitiveness or an overdose of certain activities therefore, try to be mindful of what you are doing and how often/long you are doing it. Try to take breaks or find a way to mix it up to add some variety to whatever it is you are doing. Creativity goes a long way and can make each day interesting.

Some important time management skills and strategies I have used and would personally recommend are as follows:

· Utilizing your phones calendar feature once a week at first to get you in the habit of setting reminders for important events and times which can alleviate the stress of having to remember.

· Getting a sticky note pad and a pen and leaving it near your desk/work station for quick thoughts/reminders/goals and it can be a cathartic experience to see yourself tackling those objectives one by one.

· The single biggest change I’ve made to my life is adopting the mentality of “Now not later”. This single thought process has saved me countless times and every student knows that the worst problem everyone has is procrastination. This is an incredibly difficult change to make and nobody can turn their life around in such a short period of time. Rather than just simply trying to avoid procrastination all together, I challenged myself, once a week, to take care of a single task the moment I hear about it. Eventually that once a week turned into once a day and then a few times a day until it became a habit.

The final tip is that your physical health is tied to your mental health a lot tighter than you might initially think. You don’t need to be in peak physical fitness to be fine mentally, you don’t even need to be an athlete either but you would be amazed at how much a simple 30-minute exercise makes a difference day to day. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins and these endorphins are proven to boost your mood and make your physically feel better. On top of all of this after a day with a big workout it becomes much easier to fall asleep at night and we all know getting enough sleeps is integral to your mental health. Another big mood booster is the sun. Its hard to be stressed when you’re out in the sun and plus your body needs vitamin D so get outside and get moving and I promise you will have a much more relaxed and stress free life.