Everyone feels stressed from time to time, and it’s totally normal. When you feel stressed, your body releases two powerful hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, which can make you feel on edge and anxious, increase your blood pressure and heart rate.
If smoking a cigarette is how you deal with stress, the good news is that there are so many other ways to reduce your stress levels. Figuring out smokefree ways to lower your stress levels is worth doing as regular high levels of stress are bad for your health. Here are some tips for dealing with stress.
Eat well and exercise
Eating badly and not being active enough can not only make you feel rubbish but can also increase stress. If you’re not feeling at your best because you’re neglecting your basic needs, it can make dealing with stress feel much harder. Try to find small ways to improve your diet and take steps to find ways of exercise you enjoy.
Figure it out
Often it can help to face what’s causing you stress head on. First, think about why you’re feeling stressed. Sometimes it’s easy to do this, such as if you’re experiencing a difficult work problem or relationship struggles.
Ask yourself: is there anything I can do about it? If there isn’t, trying a mindfulness exercise or focusing on your breathing can help to ease those anxious feelings. If there is something you can do about your stress, decide what you’re going to do about it. You’ll probably feel much better when you’ve got a plan in place. You don’t have to do it alone!
Get talking
Talking to someone about your stress is an excellent way of dealing with it. If you’re comfortable talking to someone you know, chatting to let off some steam can really help and they can even help you put together a plan to tackle any stresses. Likewise, talking to a professional who doesn’t know you can help too, and a trained counsellor can give you coping strategies to help in the future too.
Meditate on it
Meditation can really help to lower your stress levels. Meditation will relax you, doing the exact opposite of what stress does to your body. If you’re not sure where to start, there are some great free guides on YouTube.
