Feeling stressed? 5 minute stress relief tips you can try right now
If you’re feeling stressed right now, you’re definitely not alone. According to a 2018 study 74% of Brits were so stressed they felt unable to cope or completely overwhelmed. Given all the uncertainty and negativity occurring around the world and being displayed on our TVs and phones around the clock, it’s unlikely that this figure will have gone down. I’m sure you’ve experienced your fair share of stress in the last few years and stress can affect so many aspects of health. So, I’m going to share my five top tips to help you feel less stressed in just five minutes.
Before we do that, we’ll take a look at stress in a bit more detail. I know you know exactly what it feels like to be stressed, but what is stress exactly?
What is stress?
Stress is any kind of disruption that takes our body out of balance and causes the stress response. Stress can actually be positive or negative, but we tend to think of negative causes of stress. Our bodies are constantly dealing with internal and external stressors to help keep us in balance.
We often describe stress in a negative way, but the flip side to this is positive stress, or eustress. This is the healthy response to stress, like when you take on a challenge that leaves you feeling exhilarated or excited. Opinions are mixed about this type stress and it’s impact on the body. In this blog, I’m focusing on the negative side of stress, because, if you’re anything like my coaching clients, this is the one that will be affecting you.
How does stress affect your body?
Our bodies can’t tell the difference between various types of stress and react in the exact same way, whether it’s physical, emotional, nutritional or any other kind of stress. So, whether we are running away from a sabre-toothed tiger, as our ancestors may have been, or we are running into the office when we’re late for work, our body reacts in the same way. As you probably know, the fight or flight response is crucial to our survival. Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, stress hormones are released into our blood stream, our heart rate increases, our liver excretes glucose and sends it to our arms, legs and heads, so they are able to deal with the danger threatening us. Our body is literally getting us ready to run away from the danger or fight for our life. When the danger has passed our body metabolises the stress hormones and starts to move back into the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as rest and digest.
When our fight and flight response is triggered occasionally and we spend plenty of time in the rest and digest state, as our ancestors would have done when they were recuperating in their caves after the hunt, this isn’t an issue. It’s how our bodies are supposed to work. The problem is that many of us spend a lot of our time feeling stressed meaning that our sympathetic nervous system is activated more often than not.
The link between stress and weight gain: What you need to know
One significant way that stress affects our weight is by impacting our behaviour*. When we’re stressed we’re likely to:
· Exercise less
· Sleep poorly
· Adopt poor nutrition habits
You can probably relate to this from your own life. How often do you come home after a stressful day and think, “Sod it, I can’t be bothered to cook, I’ll just open some wine and order a takeaway”.
I know I’ve definitely done that. Stress keeps us from getting to sleep in the first place, as we lie awake worrying about the events of the day or what’s to come the following day. If cortisol is active in our body late at night it can affect the quality of our sleep. This means we are likely to wake up feeling stressed and stuck in this vicious cycle.
Adrenaline is the hormone that helps our body to get ready for fight or flight. Cortisol is secreted after a stressful event to help our body deal with the stress. When cortisol is triggered in the long-term it affects almost every part of our body and can increases the chance of digestive issues, heart disease, weight gain and obesity*.
Chronic stress also affects our metabolism and can lead to overeating, especially sugary, processed or high carb foods which can also lead to weight gain.
Five ways to lower stress in just five minutes
It’s not all bad! The good news is that activating our parasympathetic nervous system and getting back to that rest and digest state doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming. Here are my top tips for reducing stress. They are small, simple actions that can be done anywhere to help you feel relaxed in no time**.
Natural stress relief: activate your body’s rest & digest mode
Get out into nature. Getting outside into nature has been shown to lower stress levels, reduce depression, boost our immune system and when we exercise outdoors vs indoors, evidence shows we tend to keep going for longer. If you have a garden or a park nearby, just a few minutes outside can make a huge difference. Sit down, put your ‘phone away and focus on your surroundings.
2. Deep breathing for stress relief: A simple technique you can do anytime
Take a deep breath. Do you ever find yourself thinking, “I haven’t got time to breathe!” If you’re wondering where you’ll find the time to fit in even a minute of breathing, don’t worry. Why not focus on your breathing while you’re doing something else? You could do this while your watching TV, when you’re stuck at traffic lights or while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil. That way you don’t have to find extra time in your day, but you’ll still get the benefits. Deep breathing is great way to activate our parasympathetic nervous system, let your body know that it’s safe and help us to relax.
3. Exercise and stress: Quick movements to help you relax
Move your body. Exercise and getting out of your head and into your body is one of the best ways to reduce stress levels. If you feel like you don’t have time to get to the gym or fit in a “full” workout, you probably do have 5 minutes. Take the stairs instead of the lift, find a 5 minute workout on YouTube or even sticking on your favourite song and having a good dance. It all counts.
4. Gratitude journaling: A 5-minute habit to reduce stress and improve sleep
Write a gratitude journal. Take 5 minutes before you go to bed to write down 3 things you are grateful for. This can be a super effective way of helping you to focus on the positives from the day and shifting your mind away from anything negative that may have happened. Reducing stress levels just before bed can also help us to fall asleep more easily and improve the quality of our sleep.
5. Boost your mood instantly: Do something you love for 5 minutes a day
Do something you love, anything at all, as long as you enjoy it. For at least 5 minutes every day, do something you love without distraction. It could be reading, listening to music, colouring, sewing, crochet, drawing. It doesn’t matter what it is, what matters is that you enjoy it.
All these tips can be done in just five minutes, so you’ll be able to fit them into your busy day, no matter how much you have going on.
Give these stress management tips and let me know, in the comments, which one was most helpful for you.
*From a study at the Carnegie Mellon University in 2014
** Some of these tips are taken from Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s fabulous book, Feel Better in Five. If you’re looking for more small, simple tips to help manage your stress then I highly recommend it.