STRESS AWARENESS: 5 Tips to Reduce Stress

According to the National Institute on Health, April is National Stress Awareness month. The purpose is to bring awareness and attention to the negative impacts of stress (National Stress Awareness Month). Stress can be daily or due to life circumstances, we can experience an increase for a variety of reasons. Many times, we do not have control over the events that cause our stress. We all experience stress in our lives, but what defines stress and how does it affect our overall health?

According to Drs. Amelia and Emily Nagoski, authors of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, the first step is to separate the external stressors in our lives from our bodies natural and automatic reaction to the stress (Completing Our Body’s Stress Response Cycle ). Stressors are internal or external events that automatically send signals to our body to response according to our automatic response. Stress or stress reaction is a response to a perceived theat. We cannot always control or change the stressors in our life, but we can improve how we response and manage the stress we feel.

When life gets hard, here are five areas to focus on to reduce the negative impact of stress in your life no matter what you are experiencing. Sleep, social connection, movement, nutrition, and self-compassion.

One of the main ways our body processes stressful life events is through sleeping. Sleep is essential and not enough can impair our learning, memory, and cognitive abilities (Why We Sleep). Sleep can boost our mood and increase our emotional and physical health. Try setting a regular bedtime routine for yourself, changing your settings on your phone and or smart watch to go on sleep mode about an hour before bedtime can help send the message that it is time for rest. Blackout curtains and white noise machines or apps can also help with light and sounds that affects our sleep quality. Taking a hot bath or shower can also help prepare our body and mind for rest.

Human beings are social creatures by nature. We are designed to be in relationship and connection with others. Social connection allows us to process our feelings as well as feel less isolated when we are experiencing an increase stress in our lives. Spending time with friends, family, or community groups such faith groups is a great way to increase your social connection. It might be helpful to find an online or in person support group or forum centered around your specific experience. Being with other people in a time of need can help reduced loneliness and isolation.

Walking, biking, yoga, swimming, and Zumba are just a few of the endless ways to move your body and process stress. Movement helps us digest adrenaline and stress hormones as well as resets the brain (Completing the Stress Cycle). Finding a regular exercise routine that works for you can help reduce the negative impacts of stress. Try experimenting with different types of movement, do you prefer being outside or inside, alone or with a group?

By practice nutrition by addition, especially when experiencing extra stress in life can help increase our overall health and wellness. This model aims to add nutritional value to meals rather than take away or restrict (Nutrition By Addition). By adding more fruits, vegetables, proteins etc. to our daily diet we can enhance meals and increase nutritional value (Nutrition By Addition). For example, a bagel for breakfast, nutrition by addition would keep the bagel and add fruit for vitamins and minerals and fiber, some protein- hard boiled eggs or yogurt. While keeping the bagel for complex carbohydrates, we can add more nutritional value to the meal to help keep us full and satisfied for longer and meet more of our nutritional needs. Hydration is also very import to our health. If plain water is not your favorite, try adding fresh fruits like lemons, limes or strawberries to your water, fresh mint taste great as well!

Finally, self-compassion, one of my favorite tools! According to Dr. Kristen Neff, self-compassion is about turning compassion towards our self, by being kind and understanding rather than harsh and critical. By giving yourself support and encouragement, research has shown that self-compassion is one of the most important sources of increasing coping and resilience. Being kind to ourselves can significantly improves our mental and physical wellbeing Self-compassion. If we want to motivate ourselves to change, self-compassion is our best tool. Try practicing being non-judgmental towards yourself and your feelings, observe them and name them without calling them good or bad. Try talking to yourself as you would a friend.

You can take the self-compassion quiz on Dr. Neff’s website and measure your current self-compassion and learn where you can improve. Her quiz focusing on the four areas of self-compassion which included self-kindness verses self-judgment, common humanity verse isolation and mindfulness over identification (Self-compassion). She breaks down self-compassion into these three areas to measure which areas of self-compassion you can improve.

The National Institute has a stress screener which might help measure your stress levels as well as name areas to focus on if you are trying to increase your coping strategies around stress. This quiz covers areas of eating, sleeping, digestion, social support, exercise, substance use, physical health, mood, and energy. This tool can be used to see how stress may be affecting your overall health and wellness and where you can make small changes.

Now that you have learned about 5 ways to reduce your stress, pick one area to focus on and see if you can make small improvements and notice any changes. By separating our stressors from the stress and working on making small improvements, we can reduce the negative impact stress can have in our lives. Sleep, social connections, movement, nutrition, self-compassion are critical parts of our overall health that are affected by our stress levels and responses to stress. Turning our attention towards the areas of our life that we can control when things feel out of control can make a significant difference in our lives and overall wellness.

Resources

National Institute on Health Stress Screener

https://mhanational.org/get-involved/stress-screener

Self-Compassion Test

https://self-compassion.org/self-compassion-test/

References:

“Completing Our Body’s Stress Response Cycle | UK Human Resources.” Hr.uky.edu, hr.uky.edu/thrive/11-17-2020/completing-our-bodys-stress-response-cycle.

Farrow, Olivia. “Nutrition by Addition.” Dietitian Success Center, 15 Feb. 2024, dietitiansuccesscenter.com/nutrition-by-addition/#:~:text=What%20is%20Nutrition%20by%20Addition. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.

“National Stress Awareness Month.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 24 Apr. 2023, hr.nih.gov/working-nih/civil/national-stress-awareness-month#:~:text=April%20is%20recognized%20as%20National,component%20of%20a%20healthy%20lifestyle.

Readingraphics. “Book Summary – Why We Sleep (Matthew Walker).” Readingraphics, 31 Dec. 2019, readingraphics.com/book-summary-why-we-sleep/?ref=StoreYa&utm_source=stry&utm_medium=trafb&utm_term=&utm_campaign=storeya60&gad_source=1. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.

“What Is Self-Compassion?” Self-Compassion, self-compassion.org/what-is-self-compassion/#the-elements-of-self-compassion. Accessed 17 Mar. 2024.

https://www.ohsu.edu/sites/default/files/2022-04/A4%20-%2004.15.22%20Completing%20the%20Stress%20Cycle%20Handout.pdf

By: Jenna Najjar, LCSW