How can you ensure a stress-free life?

Stress is responsible for a range of lifestyle diseases and lack of work-life balance. Learn how to reduce stress and life a happier life!

stress free living Pause. Relax your shoulders. Unclench your jaw. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath.

Do you realise that you hold on to stress in your body? Holding onto things too tight results in a perpetual feeling of tension. How did letting go for a moment feel? Do you feel more composed?

Some amount of stress does make you do what you must, undoubtedly. But what if that is all you think about most of the day? Obsessing over what could go wrong is a major source of stress, and its not even real, it is something you have created for yourself. Learning to systematically let go of it is a way of life you must adopt to be healthier and happier.

Here are a few tips you can incorporate into your life to ensure a more stress-free way of living.

Set boundaries.

Putting ourselves first is something all of us lack in. Setting boundaries is a way to respect oneself and our time. Be it relationships or work, you must safeguard your limits, so that you do not exhaust yourself with stress from overachieving or trying to keep up with toxic relationships.

Read.

Based on a study conducted in 2009, it was found that 30 minutes of reading decreases blood pressure, heart rate and psychological distress, as effectively as yoga and humour. In addition to this, reading also has cognitive advantages that most of us are aware of. Replacing screen time before bed with reading a book significantly improves the quality of sleep thereby reducing the impact of everyday stress.

Lifestyle changes.

We all have heard the saying, “a healthy mind lives in a healthy body”. Taking baby steps towards it, is a reasonable approach towards a better life. A light dinner, a little walk after every meal, 30 minutes of exercise each day, a few minutes of meditation or sound therapy, and a healthy diet have a significant impact on the body’s natural stress response.

Seize the day.

Obsessing about every mistake you have made, or anything that could go wrong in the future is the leading cause of stress you create for yourself. Practicing gratitude and trying to live in the moment is a step towards a more fulfilling life.

Learn to let go.

How much ever we try, there is always going to be something we fail in, or something which did not go our way. Learning to let go and take every failure as a lesson is a quality very less of us possess. Making a conscious effort to relinquish goes a long way in ensuring success with minimal stress.

Give yourself credit.

Celebrate each achievement, appreciate yourself after every problem you overcome. Reinforcing positive behaviour tends to increase the likelihood of success, thereby reducing the overall impact of stress on our body.

Stress is temporary. It is important to deal with it in such a way that it does not affect our physical or emotional wellbeing.

Consider talking to an expert to help you work through your life in a more stress-free manner. Therapists can provide a solution to help manage personal and professional life without hampering physical or mental health.