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Everyone experiences stress in
his or her lives. Whether it is
last minute cramming for
exams, running late for that important
business meeting, arguing with
the girlfriend, or even getting
plagued with an impossible yearning
for 25 hours in a single day – keeping
pace with the treadmill of life is
difficult, if not impossible.
Stress induced from a fast paced life
is capable of bringing out the good, the
bad, and the ugly in individuals. If you
haven’t yet developed a mechanism to
tackle stress, then it is time you did.
Here are 10 Steps to Reduce Stress:
Recognize your stressors:
What puts you on edge? Being
late, having to multi-task, disagreements,
the weather, traffic
jams, etc! If you can identify your
stressors then it will be easy for
you to devise strategies to deal
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Schedule your day: The number
one cause of stress is a lack of time.
Make sure you have plenty of time to
get to where you need to go. A problem
most of us face is that we try to
do too much, in too little time. We
tend to over book ourselves, run
late, and panic. There is no harm in
postponing things that can be done
tomorrow. You don’t have to finish
everything today itself. The idea is to
manage your time efficiently.
Prioritize: By prioritizing you can
avoid forgetting about important
responsibilities or errands you may
have. Be sure to complete your most
important tasks at your earliest convenience.
Do not procrastinate
about finishing the urgent work.
Instead, save the less urgent tasks
for a later time, and focus more
quality time on the important tasks.
Move It: Get up and exercise!
Exercise relaxes tense muscles and
helps you sleep better. Repeating
the same motions for a period of
time can have a very relaxing effect.
This includes exercises like swimming,
walking, running and
cycling. Plus, exercise never hurts
your appearance.
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Zzzzz: Research shows that the
average adult needs approximately
8.1 hours of sleep every night.
How
do you compare? To sleep better,
avoid stressful activity for at least an
hour before bed, avoid late night
meals and drinks (we know what
indigestion and having to go to the
bathroom does to our sleep), and
hold off on the evening cup of coffee.
Instead, listen to some calming music
or read a book before hitting the
sack. No better way to start a busy
day than with a good night’s rest.
Breathe: Deep breathing is a simple
stress reliever that has various
benefits for your body, including
relaxing muscles, oxygenating the
blood and calming your mind. All
you have to do is sit or stand in a
relaxed position, inhale slowly
through your nose counting to five
in your head, and exhale through
your mouth counting to seven.
Repeat several times. Try it now!
You’ll feel a difference immediately.
Yoga and Meditation: Meditation
and Yoga are excellent stress
busters. You should avoid falling
under the impression that activities
like yoga and meditation are for
women only! Macho icons such as
Shah Rukh Khan and George
Clooney are avid practitioners of
Yoga and meditation. Enroll in a
class, it will come as a welcome
break and if you get lucky you might
even bump into a female who is
deeply into yoga and meditation!
Take A Break: Allow yourself a
break once in a while. Avoid working
through lunch and pushing
yourself to the limit. Working continuously
without ease is detrimental
to the mind, and ends up making
it more difficult to function.
Focusing on a problem for hours
makes your mind dull and raises
your stress level. It is better to take
a short break and tackle the problem
with a fresh mind. Five minutes
won’t kill you. Sometimes all our
brain needs is a refresher so don’t
be afraid to take a breather. Hell, go
on vacation if need be.
Laugh: Turn that frown into a
smile. Laughter takes the focus
away from the negative emotions in
life. Our response to stressful events
can be improved if we view something
as a challenge rather than a
threat. Laughing helps guide the
positive perspective, and also releases
some of the "happy" chemicals in
our body. Smiles and laughter are
contagious also, so if you are laughing,
and those around you are
laughing, then your environment is
automatically more relaxed.
Sex: The ultimate stress buster
is having healthy sex with someone
you love. When you reach
orgasm you release endorphins
that help create a sense of wellbeing.
Endorphins are nature’s
own painkillers. So the next time
your lover says she's not in the
mood be sure to tell her all the
scientific advantages.
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