What does your stress feel like? Is it a weight on your shoulders? A nervousness in your gut? A pounding in your head? What causes these feelings of stress? Work deadlines? The busy schedule that comes with being a mom? The pressure to make everyone around you happy and comfortable?
Believe it or not, you can reduce your stress levels, no matter what is causing them, and mitigate the stress symptoms that are bringing you down. Read on for nine mood busting tips that will help you take control of your mind, body, and soul, control your stress, and carry on with confidence.
- Deep Breathing. Breathing exercises are one of the most effective ways of learning to quiet your mind, calm your racing heart, and lower anxiety levels. When you feel your stress levels escalating, take a five-minute break and focus on your breathing. Place your hand on your belly, and slowly inhale through your nose and then exhale through your mouth, feeling your breath move from your abdomen to the top of your head. This simple exercise can help you learn to control your anxiety levels and reduce feelings of stress.
- Meditate. Meditation has been proven to help ease anxiety and improve your mood. Even a few minutes per day of quiet, inward reflection and focused breathing can help train your brain to better manage stressful moments when anxiety flares.
- Exercise Regularly. A regular fitness routine, especially one that involves cardio or yoga, can help you reduce stress. It may seem like the last thing you have the energy to do after a stressful day is haul yourself to the gym, but in reality, a quick sweat session can reduce stress, release tension, and help calm your nerves.
- Maintain a Healthy Diet. Well-nourished bodies are better able to cope with stress. Your diet has a profound impact of your mental and emotional health. If you smoke, regularly consume alcohol or illicit drugs, over-consume sugar, and/or drink caffeine, consider cutting back on these stress-boosting diet factors.
- Rely on Your Social Network. We don’t necessarily mean Facebook. When times get tough, reach out to the family and friends in your life who you can rely on for emotional support. Unburden your worries on a sympathetic ear. Talking through your problems can help you see solutions to your stresses and find your internal calm. Face-to-face support is always better and encourages you to get out, get moving, and enjoy a change of scenery.
- Stick to a Regular Sleep Schedule. Sleep deprivation can leave you feeling agitated, restless, and stressed the next day. Make sure you get enough sleep—whatever the right number of hours is for you—to allow you to wake up feeling refreshed, comfortable, and ready to take on the day.
- Find the Humor. The act of laughing helps your body fight stress and is an inexpensive, and effortless way to reduce stress. Put on your favorite comedy or get together for a girls’ night out. What’s most important is that you give your stress somewhere to go by emitting it as laughter.
- Sing and Dance. Music can have a powerful effect on our emotions. Crank up your favorite tunes and sing, or dance. Movement and song can help release tension, give you a reason to smile, and help you focus on less emotionally strenuous factors in your life. If you prefer soothing music to upbeat music, consider a playlist of classical tunes, or ocean sounds. Listen to it while you relax quietly, focusing on your breathing and heart rate.
- Manage Your Time. One of the biggest stress factors that many people face is an overburdened schedule. Remember that it’s okay to say no to requests and invitations. Rather than packing each and every day full of work, volunteer shifts, social engagements, and favors to others, make sure each day includes a period of time that is just for you to ensure self-care and a daily moment of stress-free mental and physical rest.
Remember, your mood can be controlled by you and the decisions that you make to choose a healthy life. Don’t feel overwhelmed if you’re wondering where to start. Choose just one of these mood-busters, and then add more to your daily routine one at a time until you feel you have taken control of your stress factors. Remember, you can always talk to your doctor. He or she can give you advice for how to further manage the stress factors in your life so you can be the best version of you for your family, your friends, and yourself.
More
Stress. Just hearing the word can conjure that knot in your stomach, sweaty palmed, anxious feeling. Stress is more than just a mental state. High levels of ongoing stress can cause serious physical effects on your body. For many women, stress symptoms include headaches, fatigue, chest pain, sleeplessness, and stomach aches. While life’s stress triggers are not always in our control, managing stress is in our control. Follow these ten simple steps to reduce stress and stay healthy.
- Focus you breathing. Breathing from your diaphragm helps bring oxygen to your blood, which can instantly produce a calming sensation. To focus your breathing, place your hand on your abdomen and inhale slowly through your nose, making sure that you can see your hand move out as your abdomen expands. Hold your breath for a few seconds, then exhale slowly. Repeat until you feel you have achieved your desired level of calm.
- Exercise regularly. Your body will be better able to physically battle stress when you keep it in fighting shape.
- Eat a healthy diet. The foods you consume can do a lot to mentally and physically prepare you for life’s stressors. A diet high in processed foods, saturated or trans fats, and sugars can amplify your body’s physical reactions to stress. A healthy, balanced diet will help counter the impact of stress by strengthening your immune system and lowering blood pressure.
- Just say no. Avoid smoking, alcohol, and recreational drugs. These chemicals can accentuate stress hormones and further damage your body’s protective immune system.
- Give yourself a mental break. When you begin to feel overwhelmed, and especially if you feel the physical signs of stress coming on, like a racing heart or a headache, physically separate yourself from whatever situation is causing you stress. Take a walk outside, sit quietly for five minutes, or go someplace where you can gather yourself and refocus on what truly matters.
- Seek soothing sounds. Research shows that listening to calming music can reduce feelings of anxiety, lower blood pressure, and slow your heart rate. Tune in to classical music, nature sounds, or whatever your favorite style is that puts you in the mood to smile.
- Get plenty of sleep. When your body and mind are over-tired, it can be more difficult to focus, manage your time effectively, and make good decisions – all stress triggers. Make sure you are getting at least six hours of sleep every night, no matter what is on your “to-do” list.
- Meditate. For many, meditation is an effective technique for calming the mind, lowering the heart rate, and refocusing priorities. Meditation emphasizes the power of positive thinking, which is another important trick for managing high stress levels.
- Build an emotional support system. Whether you just had a bad day, or you are coping with a life event that has raised your stress levels over time, everyone needs someone they can turn to for emotional support. Identify who in your life you can rely on when you need help managing stress. It may be a spouse, sibling, best friend, life coach, or religious leader.
- Laugh. Laughter is an important stress-reducing technique. When you find you need a mental break from stress triggers, turn your attention to something that will make you laugh. Flip on your favorite comedy, scan some funny online videos, or play with your toddler.
No one can fully protect themselves from life’s greatest challenges, but by understanding that you can control how you manage your stress, you can feel confident that you can successfully manage whatever life events come your way.
More
Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong? Your car won’t start, it starts to rain and you don’t have an umbrella, you forget your coffee or your lunch or you can’t find your keys… of course you have. We all do! But next time your day starts to go wrong, try one or more of these proven ways to boost your mood and make you feel better instantly.
- Turn on Some Tunes. Whether on your car radio or your iPod, put on some music and dance or sing along! (yes, you can dance in the car. Carefully.) A 2003 study in the journal Psychology and Education found that people who listened to music of any kind were instantly happier, calmer and more relaxed. If you’re stressed, music can calm your nerves—literally! It’s the music itself—not the lyrics—that affects mood. So listen to something with an upbeat rhythm and melody.
- Do Unto Others. Try doing something nice for others. Buy a cup of coffee for the person behind you in line at the drive-through, donate to a cause or volunteer your time. Spending as little as $5 on someone else can help you experience increased feelings of satisfaction, according to a 2008 study in the journal Science. And when researchers analyzed 37 studies on volunteering, they found that people who offered their time had a better sense of well-being, were happier with their lives and were less likely to feel sad and anxious.
- Get Outside. Even when the weather is lousy, spend at least five minutes outdoors to help chase your blues away. Appreciate the sun, the snow, the rain or wind, whichever you’re experiencing. And if at all possible, take a quick walk. Research has proved that performing a low-intensity workout outside for even just five minutes can raise your self-esteem and mood levels. Take a walk around the block to calm down and get a positive outlook on life.
- Look Through Pictures That Will Make You Smile. Believe it or not, researchers from the United Kingdom found that looking at happy photos beat out chocolate, wine and watching TV when it comes to lifting your mood. Go through your Facebook feed or go through old photo albums to reminisce over happy times in your life.
- Take a Break From the World. Have you ever meditated or done yoga? If not, try! Sometimes, to boost your mood, you just need a quiet place to breathe. And study after study has shown that meditation can ease anxiety and increase positivity in your mood. Regular yoga practitioners have been found to have higher levels of depression-fighting neurotransmitters. Both practices require you to turn off the outside world to focus on your breaths and your thoughts, which may help you rationalize and rebalance after something has thrown you for a loop.
Chouchani, Sayega and Bagnarello MD cares about your overall health including your mental health. If something feels off or not right, please discuss it with us at your next appointment or make an appointment today.
More
There’s no getting around it: if you’re a mom, you’re going to have stress. Yes, you love your children, but the pressure of taking care of another person’s needs all day long—and sometimes part of the night—can drain you of energy and make you feel lousy. Here are four things you can do to reduce your stress and feel more in control:
Stop trying to be a “perfect” mother.
Between TV, magazines and websites like Pinterest, mothers see images of immaculate, perfectly organized houses and clean, smiling kids. Instead of trying to replicate that false perfection, try a few shortcuts:
- Cut down on laundry by letting your kids stay in the same clothes all day, even if they get a little dirty. Obviously, there are some stains you don’t want your child to wear all day, but a little juice, food or dirt never hurt anybody.
- Use paper plates and cups to save time and water usage. This means fewer dishes to wash and more time you can spend on the fun aspects of motherhood.
- Allow your house to be a little messy. Every bed doesn’t need to be made, every toy doesn’t have to be put away, and not every floor needs to be swept 20 times a day. Kids make messes, and that’s okay.
Realize that you’re not alone.
Go to any search engine and put in the search term “online motherhood support groups.” Pages and pages of results will pop up. The Internet can be a great source of support, advice and commiseration, which you can get on your own time, on your own terms. There are also real-life support groups in most towns, like MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), Mothers of Twins, Parenting without Partners and more. Look for groups in your area and try to attend some meetings, so you can connect with others who are in the same boat.
Know where to go for help.
Nobody has all the answers about motherhood, but again, the Internet can be a great resource. If you do join an online support group, you can ask questions of your fellow members. Or there are plenty of websites out there that can answer any question you might have—no matter how weird it seems to you, chances are somebody has asked it already. If your question deals with a health concern, call your pediatrician’s office, of course. And if she’s available, you can always ask your own mom or your mother-in-law.
Take some time for yourself.
This is probably the hardest one for most moms, but one of the most important. If you’re feeling exhausted, upset, resentful or anxious, you’re not going to be the best parent you can be. Whether it’s something as simple as a 20-minute soak in the tub while listening to music, a walk around the neighborhood, coffee with a friend or something more ambitious like taking an exercise or yoga class, you need a break from the pressures and responsibilities of being Mom, 24/7.
From all of us at Chouchani, Sayegh and Bagnarello, have a happy, healthy Mother’s Day. If you or someone you know is looking for a top OB-GYN practice in Buffalo, please give our friendly staff a call today.
More
