Stress Management Tips For A Healthier You: Winning The Stress Battle

Fighting stress with a healthy life style may be what you need to keep you emotionally and physically healthy.  There are many ways of fighting stress.  You can eat healthy foods, stay away from sugars and saturated fats.  You can make time to exercise every day, even if it means marching in place during commercials or turning on dance music while you are doing housework.  Taking time to relax your body and mind, and getting the proper amount of sleep are good ways to combat stress.  What are some other ways you might reduce the stress in your life?

Work on healthy relationships.  Family and friends are important to your mental health.  Feeling isolated can contribute to stress symptoms and reduce the ability of your body to fight infections or disease.  Talking to a family member, trusted friend, pastor or counselor can help you discover the root of your stress.  It can also help talk through the feelings and emotions that are tied to stress.  Find a support group or special friend who will help talk you through your fears and anxieties.  If you don’t have anyone available, search for a support group or a therapist to help you deal with your stress.

Manage both your time and your money.  Writing a budget and sticking with it will decrease your stress level.  If you know where your money has to go, or where it has gone, you will find you have a more peaceful frame of mind.  Avoid credit card use if possible.

Manage your time as well.  Don’t let all the things you have to do overwhelm you.  Break large tasks into smaller more manageable sections.  Make a list and cross off the items you have completed.  Set goals both for the immediate and for the future.  Without goals how will you know if you have reached them?

Do not use alcohol, drugs or tobacco products.  These three items can only add more stress to an already stress-filled life.  Alcohol and drugs can lead to poor judgment, risk taking, injuries, and trouble with the law.  Tobacco can cause poor sleep habits, reduce your body’s ability to resist infection, and hurts your over-all health.  It makes your mouth taste like an ashtray to your significant other, and makes your fingers and teeth turn yellow.  Some people see tobacco as a stress reducer; instead it increases stress by making your body less healthy.

Take time for your spiritual side.  Find a personal meaning to your life.  That doesn’t mean blindly following church rules or attending church out of fear of social reprisals.  IT means having a personal relationship with your spiritual self.  Praying and meditating to your God or Higher Power will give you the extra strength to fight those things that stress you.  Spirituality and trust in a Supreme Being can be very helpful in managing stress levels in your life.  Praying and just talking to God can help control your stress levels.