Looking for ways to reduce stress when you’re stuck at home?
Whether you are a home worker, are recovering from illness or injury or any other potential reason (cough big world virus), if you’re spending a lot of your time at home you may find yourself feeling super frustrated, trapped and down.
If you’re someone who is struggling with these feelings, maybe you’ll be pleased to discover that there are a few things you can try to help get rid of those stresses, lift your mood right up, and to help improve your productivity on important tasks that have started to feel overwhelming.
Our Stress Reduction Check List
Try using the checklist below whenever you’re starting to feel like stressful emotions are getting too much to take. Just run through the list below and try the activities one by one, or whichever takes your fancy until you’re feeling a little better.
Try the following to help reduce stresses while stuck home:
Move your Body.
Those who regularly move their body are less likely to experience regular anxiety than those who don’t. Getting your blood pumping releases feel-good endorphins, enhances your sleep quality, and can gradually help to increase your confidence in your abilities.
Light a Candle/Wax Melt.
Certain smells can help to reduce feelings of stress and worry. Lavender, sandalwood, ylang ylang, and geranium have all been known to help.
Cut your caffeine intake slightly. especially after lunch.
Caffeine is a stimulant found in hot drinks like some tea and coffee, and also some foods too. It can also cause an increase in anxiety when consumed in high doses. If you experience symptoms like jittering or anxiety, consider cutting back slightly.
Spend time with or chat with quality friends and family.
Family and friends can offer support in times of need, so it’s important that you keep them close to you, but make sure they’re the ones who really lift you up. Don’t welcome in anyone likely to drain your resources even more! Research has found that spending time with friends can help release oxytocin, which helps in relieving stress.
Laugh.
Spending some time out of your day, doing things to make to laugh can go a long way to relieving your stress levels. It helps to relieve tension by relaxing your muscles and can also strengthen your immune system and uplift you and your mood.
Learn to say NO.
I wrote about this in my Self Care post. BOUNDARIES will make you feel better over time! Learn to say no to things adding stress and overwhelm onto you!!
Don’t Procrastinate
Something else I wrote about in my Self Care post. If you continue to put off doing important tasks that NEED doing, you’ll find yourself getting stressed and overwhelmed when having to scramble to complete those tasks before deadline hits. Instead of trying to rush, make a list of your tasks and do them in order of importance. You’ll reduce your stress significantly and enjoy greater productivity.
Practice mindfulness.
Whether you take yoga classes, do breathwork or try some meditation, if you practice mindfulness and focusing on the present, you’ll likely see a reduction in your anxiety.
Put on some relaxing music.
Certain types of music can lower your blood pressure and heart rate and may be helpful in reducing stress hormones too. Slower-paced, instrumental music usually works well, but it’s about finding music that works for relaxing you.
Practice deep breathing.
The aim of breathing deeply is to slow your breathing and make it deeper. This process will bring more oxygen to your body’s cells, relax your muscles, slow your heart rate, and leave you feeling more peaceful and relaxed.
While stress can easily occur at home, there are methods you can try using to tackle it. Make a habit of practicing these strategies whenever you feel frustrated or anxious, and they’ll soon become second nature.
