Stress relieving activities

You know that exercise does your body good, but you're too busy and stressed to fit it into your routine. Hold on a second — there's good news when it comes to exercise and stress. Virtually any form of exercise, from aerobics to yoga, can act as a stress reliever. If you're not an athlete or even if you're out of shape, you can still make a little exercise go a long way toward stress management. Discover the connection between exercise and stress relief — and why exercise should be part of your stress management plan. Exercise increases your overall health and your sense of well-being, which puts more pep in your step every day. But exercise also has some direct stress-busting benefits. • It pumps up your endorphins. Physical activity may help bump up the production of your brain's feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Although this function is often referred to as a runner's high, any aerobic activity, such as a rousing game of tennis or a nature hike, can contribute to this same feeling. • It reduces negative effects of stress. Exercise can provide stress relief for your body while imitating effects of stress, such as the flight or fight response, and helping your body and its systems practice working together through those effects. This can also lead to positive effects in your body — including your cardiovascular, digestive and immune systems — by helping protect your body from harmful effects of stress. • It's meditation in motion. After a fast-paced game o...

Periodic stress is a fact of modern life. But we need not see stress as something perpetual, punishing, and unmanageable. Instead, by learning to apply some simple techniques and cultivating an interest in activities that facilitate stress relief, stress management can become as mundane and manageable as commuting to work or cleaning your house. Want to know how you can help your clients relieve stress? Read on for an interesting overview of what stress actually is, the good and the bad, as well as simple ways to implement stress relief into a daily routine. Before you continue, we thought you might like to This Article Contains: • • • • • • • • What Is Stress? A Psychological Definition Despite being something most people encounter almost every day, stress is a deceptively complex phenomenon. It is a psychophysical process, meaning that it comprises both mental and physical features and can be experienced and defined in two separate ways. Mental stress Stress as a mental phenomenon is characterized by feelings of negative emotions triggered by the presence of a perceived stressor, which may be an event, another individual, an object, or something more abstract such as a particular thought or a personal trait. The important detail to note here is that the stressor is perceived, meaning that an individual’s prior set of beliefs and expectations about the world are highly influential in their experience of stress. What one individual perceives to be a stressor, another indiv...

With scattered thoughts, sweaty palms, and my heart beating like a drum, I glance at the door and cannot remember anything I prepared. The interview is in 10 minutes, yet I want to run away. Sound familiar? Fear and anxiety lead to stress responses – cognitive, physical, and behavioral. Deeply embedded and automatic, they evolved to provide humans with warnings, guiding present and future behavior while attempting to maintain a relatively stable internal state known as homeostasis (Brosschot, Verkuil, & Thayer, 2016; Varvogli & Darviri, 2011). However innate these responses may be, there are ways to manage the stress you perceive. This article offers our favorite stress-management activities and worksheets to help you deal with whatever challenge lies in your path. Before you continue, we thought you might like to This Article Contains: • • • • • • • • • • • A Note on Stress-Management Approaches Stress, or rather the perception of stressors, can be managed, and there are ways to do so: • Preparation increases our sense of control and improves confidence. • Relaxation reduces anxiety and restores focus. • Maintaining physical health via a healthy lifestyle, balanced diet, and exercise underpins overall mental wellbeing. Another way to manage stress is to reframe our perception of it. Rather than see it as unwelcome and to be avoided, pressure can provide an essential opportunity for development and learning. Viewed as an opportunity to thrive, stress can be the motivation ...