How To Reduce Daily Stress and Anxiety

An important part of preventing anxiety or panic attacks is to not let daily stress build up until it overwhelms you. We all have worries and concerns throughout the day, but it’s important to take care of yourself so that you’re able to healthily manage anxiety when it starts creeping up on you.

I am a workaholic by nature so I have to constantly remind myself to stop working in the evenings to schedule an hour or two to unwind. I engage in relaxing activities to calm my mind and mentally prepare myself for the next day.
It’s common knowledge that we should eat right, sleep right, and exercise to manage stress, but here are some other ideas on how to reduce stress.

Disconnect

Walk away from your technology for an hour and live in the present moment. Mute your phone, put away your tablet, and close your laptop. Enjoy a fantastic meal or watch a sunset without posting it on social media. Find a quiet space where you can just relax and reflect on your day.

Self Massage

Massage your own head, shoulders, and neck. A great relaxation technique is to focus on a muscle in your body, tense it up and then relax. You’d be surprise how much tension you could be holding in your body unaware.

Go Outdoors

A typical job can keep you cooped up indoors for most of the day. Take a short walk and get some fresh air. Studies have shown that people have a mood boost and have a decrease in anxiety after walking outdoors. Also Vitamin D helps you deal with stress levels. Vitamin D can be obtained through sunlight exposure.

Write in a Journal

Writing in a stress journal can help identify the regular things that can be causing you to stress. Every time you feel anxious and stressed, write it down in your journal. Some questions to ask yourself when you write are:
What do I think is the cause of my stress?
How do I feel about it emotionally and physically?
How did I act in response to the stress?
Did I do anything to make yourself feel better?

Listen to Music

Listening to quiet, slow music for anxiety can have a relaxing effect on our mind and body. Classical music in particular can have an effect on physiological functions as well. It slows the heart rate and pulse, lowers blood pressure, and can decrease levels of stress hormones. Slow music is also great during meditation as it helps prevent the mind from wandering.

Find Your Passion

Reduce stress by focusing your energy on a hobby. Find what you love to do, and do it!
Ideas for hobbies can include:

  • Drawing
  • Cooking
  • Scrapbooking
  • Planting a garden
  • Reading
  • Coloring
  • Playing a video game
  • Painting
  • Photography
  • Hiking

A good hobby can make you lose sense of time and self, liberating yourself from your everyday thoughts.

Laugh Out Loud

Laughing is good for your health. Laughter lowers cortisol and boosts endorphins, which make you happy. A good laugh will relief stress and reduce physical tension in the body.

Be Grateful

Even if you have stress and feel anxious on a daily basis, there is still a lot you can be thankful for.
Keep a small journal to remind yourself of the positive things that happen on a daily basis. I was gifted a gratitude journal that I write in every night. I write two simple things that I was thankful for during the day (for example, “Thankful for good weather.” and “Burritos”).
When I start to feel anxious, I can look through my journal to remind myself of all the things I was grateful for to put things back into perspective that life isn’t all that bad.

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