Hi, Welcome my lovely readers to my another new article. I’m Bee, a Pharmacist, Psychological Coach, Writer and Designer. While, Being engaged in so many activities and responsibilities everyday, I am always prone to get stressed. However, I always check and keep my stress level and stress hormone on balance cuz this is what I am always on the lookout for. 

Even though within these  busy schedules and stressful day to day events i go through my lifestyle and discipline and routine are well rounded with wellness and recovery, but my mind is prone to overthinking ,overdoing or worrying too much and so on. 

And for that reason I have developed a stress resistance routine and activities and ways to manage everyday stress which will work as a protective shield for my physical and mental health. 

Today I am going to give you guys some of them from me and there will be 12 efficient ways to reduce stress and find inner peace within yourself. 

So, if you are looking for something which will help you to keep your stress hormones in balance and your mind race to calm down in a practical way, this article is perfect for you. 

Some people might argue with you that stress is a good thing and stress can make you achieve your task better, well not everything is suitable for everyone. Specially for me, i chose to live life (not without stress free) but keep the stress away from my area. I don’t want stress to be a part of my day to day life at all and I wanna find my inner peace. 

Stress had been my enemy since Im a kid, I don’t know why but I was bombarded with so many things going on with my life and had so stressful daily life as well on top of that and I did not have the knowledge and understanding to recognize the warning signs and symptoms which stress and its negative consequences was bringing to my life. Since then after when i started to grow up as an adult and became more mature and mindful and then Once I learned some basic simple learnings for managing stress, I was never the same person then. I found inner peace and also became more equipped with battling the stress and managing them effectively. Because truth to admit , we can never stop the stress from approaching us cuz the sources of stress will never be off, but we can control how much it can get through us and how much we can reduce it from our physical system. Which is my actual point for writing this article. 

I have to tell you all in advance that managing stress is not that much difficult or too many impossible things to do, don’t freak out , it is easy and by maintaining some simple positive routine and discipline, you are set to go. 

So, let’s get started, I will go point by point but you don’t have to be sequential at all, whichever steps looks much easier to start with for you first, start with it. 

1. Take Hot and Cold Long Shower:

Might sound weird at first, yes I know, I am a weirdo but this first point is scientific and effective. Your shower has to be long and you have to take a cold shower followed by a hot shower. Let me make it more simple, the most  important contributor to stress in our life is our own mind, it showers us with overthinking tendencies and the tendency to become impatient. Then comes the external factors like -daily life, lifestyle, environment, surroundings, life’s certain situation and I can go on and on. So, naturally the appropriate technique will be to restore the mind by slowing down and stop overthinking, stressful impatience tendencies. 

And for that purpose which comes this first point about taking hot – Taking Hot and Cold Long Shower. This strategy works in a very effective and magical way. 

In science, having hot and cold showers is called hydrotherapy which is used to reduce the stress of the patient who is suffering chronic stress. The mechanism is simple, it works in both psychological and physiological states. 

When our body receives hot water then our blood vessels increase their diameters, i mean they get expanded. Which comes with a result of having a good increased number of circulation. And the more circulation in this regard, the more relaxation we experience. It helps to reduce muscle stress and tensions also. 

Whereas, on the other hand cold showers make our blood vessels shrink, for a short period of time of course. It reduces inflammation and when the body temperature returns to normal level, we experience a blood circulation rush into our body cells which flush out the stress hormones and give us a refreshing feeling. It helps keep our heart rate in a healthy state.

This hot and cold shower effectively reduces anxiety and stress and improves our overall mood and mental and physical wellbeing. It also releases good hormones and reduces stress hormones. 

2. Nothing is Better than Exercise for Better Mental Health:

When our mind is overburdened with a huge amount of thoughts and stress, it is the least choice for us to do exercise to reduce stress and achieve balance in our mental health condition. However, exercise is the key to reducing stress hormones (cortisol) and boosts the secret of endorphin hormone which helps reduce stress and improve our mood. In your home you can do a lot of exercise without any equipment in your free hand, for instance: yoga, aerobic dances, stretching, other bodyweight exercises and meditation. If you can make time to go gym that’s also good but it is not necessary, I personally love doing workout at my home and it is fine. When you engage in physical activities our brain shifts its energy and focus from burning them in overthinking towards burning stress hormones from the muscles and body overall. Body functions become activated and thus your brain can relax for a moment by not thinking anything at all during those exercise times, and it is so relaxing.

3. Enjoy your favorite Dish:

Ordering a takeout or cooking it by yourself is your favourite dish and then enjoy it with loved ones or alone , no matter how you do it, it is one of the best methods for reducing stress and increasing immediate happiness within yourself. Because by cooking you focus on the preparation and divert your mind from stress overthinking into perfection of your food, then enjoy the nutritious food with its flavor and aroma, it’s awesome. Both ways you won. Also if you wanna share it with our friends and family, you will also have a good time with them and thus deleting your stress and bad thinking from your systems. You can have a cup of tea and coffee afterwards and enjoy your evening with content and contemplation of this day with happiness and fulfilling feelings. 

4. Try Reading a Good Book:

As Marcus Tullius Cicero said – “ A room without books is like a body without a soul. ”

When we read a good book , we give our soul a chance to enjoy the luxury of escaping the problems and sufferings into a different world. And each time the words of books resonate with us as if it is written in the words such as you find yourself into another world within those words.

If you are not in a mood to digest any wise words or something like that then you can choose to read some non fiction books which will give you motivation. 

Also try to read books which are full of positive attributes and have potential to improve your personal self and productivity and mood overall. 

5. Have Some Coffee:

While too much is bad many of us don’t like it, but the cold hard fact is coffee contains a chemical compound called caffeine which helps to boost serotonin hormone which is called “ love hormone “, you know what i am talking about it right? Your body will feel the loved feeling with a cup of coffee, it also improves focus and gives comfort for our mind. 

Many research has been conducted to find the effectiveness of caffeine for reduction of stress hormone cortisol from the body, and it has been seen in scientific results that caffeine helps reduce the level of cortisol hormones in our body, which results in stress reduction and elimination. 

6. Practice Daily Gratitude:

Practicing everyday gratitude routine is quite a healthy habit to reduce stress and  improve mental health and enjoy fabulous life. When you practise gratitude your mind  focuses on the abundance of your life which are around you instead of the scarcity. 

When your brain shifts focus from scarcity to abundance then you naturally feel rich inside and your brain itself start to kick the love hormone secretion (serotonin) and start deleting stress hormone cortisol from your system. 

We all are blessed in many ways which we tend to ignore and instead choose to live a life which is unfulfilling and ungrateful to ourselves. 

When we are grateful for the things we have, we will have more blessings and abundance in our life, and eventually these will reduce the stress and anxiety from our life. 

7. Go out in the Nature:

Going out in nature and spending time there significantly reduces stress and anxiety and also it helps in finding inner peace within ourself. The calmness and peaceful environment into the woods , forest or national park is amazing to reduce cortisol hormones in the body, reduction of cortisol means reduction of stress as we spoke earlier. The air and sunlight also helps to reduce stress and bring inner peace into us, sunlight exposure into our skin increase production of vitamin d and serotonin secretion got increased, serotonin is love hormone and vitamin d is essential vitamin for not only healthy bone and teeth but also vitamin D helps reduce stress and boost good mood in us. 

There goes your scientific facts, now let’s say how doesn’t feel calm and relaxed with the sound of flowing water, trees, birds, and smelling of the woods and unknown wild flowers aroma? We all do. Go there and visit the wild animals also, their presence will make you forget your burden and negative thoughts. You will be able to reconnect with yourself, and find confidence that “your problem/ worries is not bigger thing than you let it grow big inside your head”  Those nature, big trees, big bison and elks and waterfalls, they all had to go through difficulties, but they didn’t stop being themself, so why would you? Remember, nature is the best healer.

8. Cutting off Digital Connections:

Taking a break from all social media and all digital devices are essential for stress management and a healthy mind and body. We got bombarded with notification and so much impulse in our mind to check that new reel and so on and on, then the electromagnetic reaction from these devices into our body , it’s too much stress and anxiety igniting factor if you continue exposed to this. 

Take a day off and just turn off all notifications except keep open only emergency phone calls on and that’s it! Your brain will detox yourself, you can take 1-2 days dedicated to this digital detox at the beginning, and then as time goes, you can increase the time period of digital detoxification. Your brain will find more clear vision and forward moving ideas and thoughts , stress level will significantly reduce cuz the core reason for today’s anxiety most of the time comes from digital devices (emails, notification, other social media etc.) and you will appreciate you more rather than comparing yourself to others over their newest post, you will find more happiness for being yourself instead of constant comparison and “feeling of having less “ syndrome. 

9. Clean and Organize your House and Room:

Now a days many therapist suggest cleaning house or scrubbing the tiles of washroom for stress relief, sounds weird but however it is in fact can be a doorway to relieve frustration and getting clean bathroom at the same time. 

As I have previously written, moving your body is the best way to let go off the stress and organizing your home , bedroom and washroom is super nice and gives a sense of calmness and serenity. When you have not perfect but organized room, you will have good mental clarity to focus and enjoy quality sleep and equally reducing the stress and reclaiming the inner peace.

Remove all the unnecessary things from your room and keep the important ones at your reach. Organize your table and also why not organize your phone and desktop home page?

10. Preparing an End of the Day Self Care Routine:

End of the day self care routine means, wherever you  have finished a day whether it is good day or bad day, a productive day or unproductive day, you should have a set of self care routine for the end of the day before you go to sleep. I will help you to give some ideas to decorate your own self care routine at the end of the day, but before that think for a moment, when you have a huge stressful day or something like this, and before going to the bed if you have those stressful memories and thoughts in your head, you can never have a good night sleep and no good night sleep means no good health and no inner peace. You will start the day with low energy and low self esteem. 

By designing and adapting a regular end of the day self care routine before going to bed, you will be able to charge your mind and body properly and can have a positive morning in the next day and stress will go away and calmness will be experienced inside of your head.

Few things you can do at the end of the day when you go back to your room at night before bed- 

• Take a shower with hot and cold water wand use rosemary oil perfume after bath
• Do a proper skin care of you
• Eat nutritious dinner but not heavy dinner
• Practice gratitude in bed (remember 1 thing you are grateful which happened to you today)
• Do some light journaling of your bedtime thoughts
• Make the room dark and stay away from the blue light before sleep

If you can properly follow this bed time self care routine, you will be so surprised to see the result or outcome from these simple chores.

11. Enjoy your favourite Show, Movie or a Documentary:

Some people might disagree with this but watching documentaries online or watching your favorite shows or movies is a good way to reduce stress and calm the mind. I personally watch my favourite channels on YouTube and enjoy the documentary (travel, food, places, things, nature and so many other genres) and other travel shows in order to reduce my stress and bring calmness in my mind. It works so effectively which is why I could not stop resisting myself to share with you all this method. Yes you can do movies or shows you like, though i don’t watch movies everyday or week, but i don’t miss my favourite content creators documentaries each day. I don’t spend too much time doing so though, but keep a budgeted time for this. Cuz this is for me and my mental health support and stress relief. And you can take advantage of it too. 

12. Journaling Everyday:

Look, I am a big fan of this habit, journaling. It is such a soulful activity which connects your subconscious mind into your conscious mind and body. Journaling works as a healer for your worries and negative thoughts. It helps us to attain the power called introspection. Journaling is also a form of self love. You will be getting mentally strong everyday if you start journaling and it will dump all of your negative thoughts and increase your positive mindset. You will also be able to focus on what is important in your life rather than losing time and energy which matters nothing to your life. 

This fantastic habit will nurture your personal potential and works a vital factor for your personal growth and wellness of yours thus relieving you from stress and negativity and bring inner peace to your life. 

13. Engage Your favourite Hobby:

Spend your time with whatever hobby you love and you have, whether it is painting, drawing, cooking or doing garden and stuff like that. Because when you are under heavy stress and negative thoughts, then these feelings can be easily forgotten by doing something which you always enjoy- like your hobby. You can be a singer so sit down to your piano and start playing, you can be a singer start singing. You will forget about the stress. But forgetting things will not solve the issue which i understand but you will have positive energy and mindset to battle those negative things- which is most important. You might love reading books so 30 minutes a day reading books will give you so much good vibes and energy that you will absolutely forget the stress you have been suffering. Do whatever you enjoy doing, it could be meeting friends and cousins or relatives and spending time with them as a hobby. Your stress will be gone. You don’t need to deal with negative thoughts that lead to stress. 

14. Practising of Creative Visualization Method:

In your mind , imagining some positive pictures and outcomes of any scenario or being creative while visualising your thoughts in your mind with peaceful dreams and desires – is known as creative visualisation and it has a good impact on reducing stress and anxiety. 

It switches our focus from a negative thoughts into something positive and we will be busy in our mind creating creative positive visualizations which will make our brain forget to worry and think about stress and so on.  Also it enhances relaxation process in our brain and our body follows the same pathway and our blood pressure and stress level are reduced to normal. 

Though it is pretty uncommon nowadays, it is a smart way to battle stress. And you will feel that your productivity and creative skills also will get enhanced. 

Final Thoughts

Stress is a part of our daily life , it will come and let it come, don’t be afraid. Now you have the skills to battle it with more effective ways and now you have the confidence to reduce stress easily and get back to your normal self with a little bit of discipline and some sacrifices. I hope this article will help you and if you enjoy this kind of article please let me know and leave your comments, share this article with your loved ones in all your socials. It will help my website and me to grow at the same time. Stay blessed till the next article.