One easy way to reduce the amount of stress in your life is to establish fun habits that relieve tension and completely change your emotional state. Here are five such stress relieving habits. Pick a few of these and try do to do them at least once a week.
==>Habit #1 – Listen to Music Exclusively for at Least 15 Minutes
As a society, most of us have really lost touch with truly enjoying music. Music is played in the background in cars, in bars, in offices, in coffee shops; but when’s the last time you sat down deliberately to really savor some music, much like you’d savor a glass of French wine?
Find somewhere private where you won’t be disturbed for at least 15 minutes. Get a good pair of headphones or a nice sound system and just listen to some music you enjoy. Really soak in its nuances.
==>Habit #2 – Get a Massage
A good massage can reduce a lot of stress. A great massage and leave you feeling like a completely different person.
Find a good masseuse and get a massage once a week. A great massage can cost anywhere between $50 to $150 per session. While not cheap, many business people treat this expense as a necessary business expense rather than a personal leisure, as it contributes so much towards their personal productivity.
==>Habit #3 – Take a Relaxing Bath
Perhaps even a bubble bath.
Warm water releases neurotransmitters in your brain that cause relaxation and relieves stress. A good bath daily or a few times a week can really help change the amount of stress you feel.
For even more stress relief, try soaking in the bath for a while, then doing a 1 minute rinse in cold water then soaking in warm water again.
Cold water constricts the blood vessels and shocks the system, increasing heart rate. When you soak back into warm water, the constricted blood vessels will expand, which results in more blood flow to all the muscles in your body and your brain. This increased heart rate and increased blood flow can help reduce a lot of stress.
==>Habit #4 – Play a Mentally Stimulating Game
Chess. Sudoku. Crossword puzzles. Scrabble. Go.
These are all games that engage the brain and can really “suck” you in. They’ll take you out of whatever is troubling you and get you fully engaged into a task completely unrelated to work, family, relationships or life in general.
Getting away from your problems is a great way to reduce stress. Unfortunately, taking a vacation to the Caribbean’s every weekend just isn’t feasible. But playing a mentally engaging game for just a few minutes a day certainly is.
==>Habit #5 – Journaling
Writing down your thoughts, emotions and stressors can relieve a lot of that sense of being bottled up. A lot of stress doesn’t actually come from events themselves, but from holding the stress in inside.
Writing it down can help you feel like you got those things off your chest, even if you don’t share it with another human being.
Try journaling daily for a week to see if it changes how you feel.
These are five easy, enjoyable and affordable (except maybe the massage) habits you can develop to help relieve stress.
