5 surprising ways to lower your stress levels
A modern person’s life can be very stressful. There are always a number of things that are weighing on our minds that we simply cannot get rid of until we deal with the issues. Unfortunately, some of those issues that cause us so much stress are not 1-day fixes and could take weeks or months to deal with.
Over time, the stress accumulates and gets worse as time goes by, thus making us a lot less effective at getting rid of it. Basically, we succumb to the stress and have less energy and willpower to deal with what’s causing us so much stress.
Most people try to ease it through eating, drinking coffee, grabbing a glass of wine before bed but unfortunately in most cases this fails. People still stay stressed out after their temporary fix wears off.
For this reason, we show you 5 surprising ways you can lower your stress levels. Remember, the key to lowering your stress is to always be exposed to stress-reducing environments. You’ll understand soon enough what we mean.
Surround yourself with calm colors
Colors have a direct effect on our moods. The color an office or a room you are sitting in during the day will determine the type of mood you will be entering and leaving that room with.
In most cases, people sit in dull rooms with colors like white, grey, black or sometimes something very dark. The dark theme signals to your brain to start accumulating melatonin in preparation for sleep. This causes you to be extremely tired by the time it’s even 17:00. You see, brightness is extremely important for our brains, as it biologically signals it to stay awake and alert.
Staying in rooms that are colored slightly brighter is always a good idea, but don’t overdo them. For example, sitting in a navy blue, dirty yellow, grass green, and dirty pink room will help you stay much more positive and awake, thus taking your mind off of the stress and focusing on something else.
Create an aromatic environment
Have you ever longed for that sweet smell of the pavement after it rains? Maybe you’ve longed to smell a flower or to just smell a newly mowed lawn. It’s obvious that our brains react differently to various smells. The smell of nature helps us relax on a completely different level.
Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to have the smell of rain or cut grass on a daily basis, but having the smell of flowers is still possible.
Research suggests that having several kinds of flowers dotted around the office or house is a great idea. The best one to go for is lavender. The color palette and the aroma this flower has is definitely going to brighten up your day and keep you at your best.
No better way to get rid of stress than just pure aromatic relaxation.
Play some non-competitive games
Games are a great way to get your mind off of what’s causing you stress. However, you need to be very particular about what type of game you would want to play. It’s only natural to believe that games are created for our entertainment, but some of them can be extremely frustrating.
The best way to lower your stress level is to choose a game that’s either significantly easier than you’d want in a more focused state of mind or has absolutely no skill barrier whatsoever.
Games that have puzzles, platformers, strategy and etc are not recommended for people with high-stress levels.
One of the weirdest things that some researchers found out a year ago was that gambling games tend to be one of the best anti-stress games to play whenever you feel overwhelmed.
Naturally, this sounds absurd when you look at it the first time, almost half of the stress that’s plaguing Aussies has mostly to do with new online casinos in Australia and pretty much everywhere else in the world as well.
But, it turns out that playing a specific gambling game that does not require any type of skill whatsoever, helps our brain produce dopamine, which is essential when dealing with stress. However, it’s paramount that you don’t overdo it, or else you may get addicted. A game or two during lunch break could help you pass the time and enjoy it a bit, but playing for more than an hour is already a problem.
Work out
It may be surprising (even though that’s the point of the article) that putting stress on your muscles takes the stress off your mind, but that’s the trick. By focusing on working some of your body parts out, you help the brain produce endorphins, which make you a lot more resistant to pain. However, another great feature of endorphins is that it makes us extremely focused on one thing and one thing only. And that thing happens to be whatever you are doing at the moment, which is working out.
So there you have it, by placing your muscles in a stressful situation, you alleviate the stress from your mind.
Play with a pet
Our pets are some of the most adorable creatures on this planet and the moment we see them all we want to do is love them and pet them. That’s your brain pretty much telling you that it’s an amazing idea to spend time with an animal that you’re keeping at home.
The absolute best way to alleviate stress is to simply sit down on the couch with your best friend (yes you will have to allow them on the couch this time) and simply pet them until they fall asleep. You can be a bit more active by playing with them, or a lot more passive by scrolling some social media while petting your dog, or cat, or even a parrot.
The thing is that the fuzziness of our pets gives us a big hit of dopamine, thus making us a lot happier. Furthermore, most of our pets (especially dogs) can feel when you’re feeling stressed and would be a lot calmer and submissive when you try to pet them. That’s why they need our protection so that they can help us refrain from stressful thoughts. Sign your pet up for Bivvy pet insurance! Check out Bivvy at Bivvy.com to get to know about their affordable packages.
If you don’t have a pet, then having a ball or some hand toy is also enough to help us refrain from stressful thoughts.
