Let's face it, life can be stressful at times. Stress and anxiety can physically impact your health and your mental wellbeing - it can affect your mood, the way you interact with others, and in serious cases may lead to hair loss, exhaustion and heart problems. Here are 10 easy ways you can begin to reduce your stress levels right now.
Go for a walk in nature
Exercise is a great stress reliever, and there's nothing that can beat enjoying a walk through the woods, a walk on the beach, or even a walk through your local park. Walking in amongst nature immediately lifts your spirits, helps to lower anxiety and will improve your health and fitness at the same time. What's not to love?
Do a spot of gardening
Even if you're not a seasoned gardener, spending time in your garden mowing the lawn, cutting back the shrubs or planting new bulbs and perennials will instantly calm your mind make you feel at peace. Surrounded by the greens and blues of the natural landscape, you'll soon find that you lose time (and stress levels) as you absorb vitamin D from the sunlight and connect your soul to nature. Try creating a wildflower garden by planting the wildflower seed labels from our range of products - it's a wonderful project that can benefit you and our pollinating insects.
Take a bath!
A soak in a nice hot bath while reading a book can really help to reduce your stress levels and any tension in your muscles. Practice a little self-care with a gorgeously scented soap bar made with essential oils, and exfoliate your skin to give yourself a body polish. Clean and healthy skin will make you feel great and help to lift your spirits.
Eat healthily
Processed foods are typically made with artificial ingredients that dampen our mood, overload us with sugar and carbs, and generally make us feel a bit 'meh'. To help reduce the negative effect stress can have on your body and mind, eat a healthy balanced diet and try to avoid eating fast food too often. Swap chocolate for fruit and get your day off to a healthy start by replacing a fry up with oats, yoghurt and nuts.
Practice self-care
We all lead busy lives and often forget to take a little time out for ourselves. Just 10 minutes every day practicing a little self-care could work wonders for your stress levels and help to balance your anxiety. Try taking an evening shower while you enjoy the calming experience of an aromatherapy shower steamer to help clear your mind before bedtime.
Try face yoga
Take just 10 minutes out of your day and try out some face yoga techniques. Face yoga is a great way to soften and relax your face muscles, relieving tension and helping you to feel at peace. It's also known to help smooth out frown lines on the forehead and helps to prevent the skin from sagging. Go give it a whirl - you'll be amazed at how relaxed you'll feel after just 10 minutes of face yoga.
Take a screen break
Being 'available' online or at the other end of the phone 24/7 can send your anxiety levels soaring. The stress associated with the constant stream of notifications, emails, and phone calls can keep your mind and stress levels on edge. Try not to be a slave to your phone by taking screen breaks regularly, or replacing screen time with a walk.
Light a candle
Research has shown that the scents from essential oils can clear the mind and relieve stress. Pair essential oils up with a natural wax candle and you have a wonderful aromatherapy experience that's incredibly calming for both the mind and spirit. Lavender essential oil in particular is well documented for its ability to relax the mind and can help you drift off to sleep easier, and help you to enjoy a restful night's sleep.
Reduce your alcohol and coffee intake
Caffeine, energy drink, cola and alcohol can aggravate anxiety levels. In studies, caffeine can actually help to lift your mood when taken in moderation, however, you can have too much of a good thing it seems, and if you are sensitive to caffeine or drink too much of it you could start to suffer with anxiety attacks and headaches.
Likewise, too much alcohol can induce feelings of depression, anxiety, and even aggression due to the chemical changes that happen in your brain when having a drink. Often, people use alcohol as a mood-booster or to mask certain feelings or situations they're not comfortable with, but sweeping deep-down anxiety under the carpet won't help long term. If you are affected by issues that are having a damaging effect on your mental health there are a number of organisations such as MIND that can offer support and guidance.
Spend time with people you love
Take an hour or two a week to spend time with friends or family who make you smile. Enjoy a chat and a giggle over a board game, video chat, or a game of cards and fill your mind with positive thoughts.
