Stress has become a common expression these days. For most of us it starts mounting on Sunday evenings – because it’s Monday the next day and the week ahead keeps us stressed with work demands, business targets and everything around it. Then there are responsibilities at home, personal commitments and a clutter of emotions. Eventually, even the most trivial things look stressful – traffic on the road for example or maybe an extended discussion (that soon turns into an argument).

• One of the leading factors of health issues related to the heart, mind, high sugar levels and high cholesterol is stress.
• How you react to stress is a cause of concern. Negative reactions can kick off health issues; while dealing with stress in a better, positive way doesn’t affect the body in any bad way. There’s a difference between a reaction and a response.
• One of the top most reasons that cause sleep disorders or insomnia is stress.
• Being a control freak, over committing to work, setting high expectations from yourself and from others can be causes of stress too.

A former Buddhist monk, Andy Puddicombe is also the founder of Headspace, an online platform for guided mediation. In the following talk, he stresses on not doing anything at all and how meditation can help calm the anxious mind.

Here are some more every day activities to keep the stress in check. Have you tried doing these?

Yoga and Exercise

“It’s astounding how much one’s stress level goes down with the simple act of switching from skinny jeans to yoga pants.” Very true isn’t it?  Exercising is a good way to take a break from the routine, paying attention to your body and feel good throughout the day.

Perspectives

If you are working on a very very important presentation and the internet goes off, instead of spewing your dissent, why can’t those few minutes be utilized to roll your eyes and do some neck exercise? That’s perspective.

Time Management

Organizing your work and things around is the simplest way to manage time. Everybody stares at their wardrobe in the morning and wonders what do I wear today, but some just need to pick it from a neat laundry while others search hard into a heap of clothes. They are the same people who later can’t find their home keys, get late to office and have to come up with excuses. Keeping the smallest of things in place and handy can save a lot of time and eventually stress.

Stress Refutal

Working in a team where every colleague might have different viewpoints often means more discussions than conclusions and can lead to conflicts. An easy solution here is to stay away from arguments that are futile and do not add to any decision. While work schedules are the biggest reason for stress in cities, team meetings and  interactions are a great way to build patience and increase your reaction time besides once in a while getting to watching your otherwise calm colleagues’ fiery sides!

And guess what, you can even make use of these apps too which are cool stress busters! 

1. Breathe to Relax

As the name suggests, this app helps your body to calm down, by monitoring breathing exercises. It comes fully equipped with tools to record your breathing time and the know-hows of doing it.

2. Attitude of Gratitude Journal

Being grateful has recorded positive effects on the body and life. In the daily rush of life, we forget to be thankful for the simplest things and this app is a brilliant way to keep a check on your pot of gratitude! All it requires is to record the things that you are grateful for, at the end of each day. And you’ll see how your life changes in a good way with such simple steps. Try it!

3. Happify

Happify is an app that encourages you to stay happy every day. It has different activities that cover various areas like fighting negative thoughts, keeping still, listing down good things and the likes. We’re pretty sure this will be an instant bout of happiness!

4. Worry Box

The concept of this app is simple and absolutely straight forward. Lock those worries inside a box and manage them better by listing the ways in which you can deal with them. Apparently, it has helped a lot of users to manage anxieties well.

5. Personal Zen

The app aims for good mental health by making the users focus on specifically designed games. The app is based on scientific research and has recorded levels of reduced stress and increased mental happiness.

And finally some golden words by William James – The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. Do share with us your ways to curb all things stress.