8 Important Life Hacks to Reduce Stress in Your Daily Routine

Too much of anything is bad. If unchecked, the amount of stress we undergo every day can eventually pile up to become so huge and can ruin our lives so it is very important to reduce Stress. Not only does it make you a miserable person generally, but it also takes away the opportunity of leading a happy and content life. Too much stress has also been linked to the development of life-threatening diseases in our bodies. In times like these, it is essential to keep your stress levels under check.

When you get stressed, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode. This was useful in days when prehistoric humans needed to either fight or run away from predators. But in modern times it does little to help us against our challenges. Rather, releasing stress hormones for the entire day spikes up your heart and blood pressure. This can lead to a higher chance of a heart attack or stroke, or also hamper cognitive functions.

Truth be told, no one can avoid stress. It is an integral part of modern life, and in some cases, stress can be good! Stress is a motivation to do better and keeps you moving forward. But as mentioned above, excess of anything is terrible, no matter what. In this blog, you can find 8 lifestyle hacks you can implement without changing your daily routine, which will reduce the amount of stress you undergo every day!

How to Reduce Stress in Your Daily Life

1. Reduce Stress in Daily Life: Posture and Breathing Patterns

If you are in need to instantly reduce stress or panic, you need to focus on your posture and take deep breaths.

Slouching can increase panic, whereas a straight, tall posture ejects confidence. According to science, a straight posture circulates the blood in our body better, which in turn brings up our oxygen levels. Changing your posture can change your mood in an instant.

When we panic, we take faster and shallower breaths and that increases our heart rate. Controlling our breathing patterns directly impacts our minds. Take deep breaths from your stomach. Breath in through your nose and hold it for a few seconds. Then exhale through your mouth. While exhaling, relax your body in a way that stress and tension exit your system.

2. Reduce Stress in Daily Life: Go Take a Walk

Sometimes, all you need to do is distract and refocus your attention from the cause of your stress. Going for a walk without any gadgets gets your body moving, and improves blood circulation.

It also clears your mind. While walking, try to keep your mind as empty as possible, or let it wander to what you see around you. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, it always helps to shift your attention to your surroundings, such as the sounds you can hear or the sensations you feel. A study also found that employees that take a walk break after lunch are more focused and stress-free while working. Moreover, coming back to your stress point after a walk can help you tackle problems more efficiently and calmly!

3. Reduce Stress in Daily Life: Rant & Let It Out

All forms of stress need a healthy outlet to be discarded from your body. Expressing your stress in a form of a vent can make you feel better, and can also show you ways to deal with it. Keep in mind to not stress out the person you rant about your feelings too!

The best listener for your stress rants is a journal. You don’t need a fancy book to write every day, writing and expressing yourself in any written form can significantly bring down your stress levels.

4. Reduce Stress in Daily Life: Don’t Keep Your Stomach Empty for Too Long

Stress can cause a loss of appetite, and as a result can cause acidity, severe gastrointestinal problems, or even eating disorders. Sometimes, stress and anxiety can have such a tight grip on you, that you can forget to eat meals.

If this is happening, you must build solutions to eat regularly. Set alarms and reminders to take food breaks, and prepare food items or snacks in advance. If you plan your day’s meals, you will be more likely to follow through, rather than deciding at the last minute and eventually skipping meals. Healthy snacks can include Energy Bars such as Xinoa Bites Bars, which can ensure your stomach is not hungry for too long.

5. Reduce Stress in Daily Life:

When you see, hear and do things you love, your stress decreases, and your happiness increases on its own. Listening to music to relax can decrease stress levels. Our brain associates certain sounds and smells with particular memories. When we listen to our favourite songs, we travel to a happy place and thus experience a change in our mood. So, whip out your speaker and earphones, and blast your favourite music for a while!

6. Reduce Stress in Daily Life: Visualize a Calm Place

At Least once in your life, you must have experienced an instance or situation in which you felt calm to your core. Not to be confused with your happy or exciting memories, a calm place could be on a beach or among nature or just a peaceful situation, where you were relaxed and content. In high scenarios of stress, simply close your eyes and visualize the scenery, sounds, smells, and what you felt during that time. A visualization is also a form of meditation.

7. Reduce Stress in Daily Life: Smile & Laugh Out Loud

Although it might be difficult in a stressful situation, make sure you have smiled or laughed a few times a day. Smiling and laughing are comforting not just for you, but also for the people around you. These activities release endorphins which are your body’s natural stress-busting hormones. Sometimes, laughter can come from happiness, and other times, happiness can come from laughter!

8. Reduce Stress in Daily Life: Be Around People You Love

There’s no better therapy than spending time with your loved ones. Make time to meet and spend quality time with people who make you feel calm and peaceful. Surrounding yourself with people like that can easily make your life calm too!

Conclusion

Stress can turn into something life-threatening if not kept in check. You don’t have to change your daily routine a lot to implement the hacks in this blog. In fact, most of these tips can be done in the accommodation of your schedule! However, not following stress management on a micro and macro level is dangerous. The bottom line is, that the hacks in this blog are tried, tested and proven methods, and balancing the bad with the good can turn your life around!