Learning to manage stress is a balancing act, and when that balance is off, it can affect your mind and body, and almost every other aspect of your life. Stress is responsible for letting us know when so many things are going wrong in our lives, or just feel off. Not being able to sleep or eat? Oh, it could be stress. Having constant migraines and not being able to complete your to-do list? Probably because of stress. Having unexplained changes in your weight and random bursts of anxiety? Looking a lot like stress. While you can’t always control the situations that happen to you, you can control how to respond to them. Most people would be surprised at the many different habits there are to help lower stress levels and live in a more overall calming environment.
Setting Your Intentions
One of the most common factors that lead to stress is having too many things to do at once, and not enough time to organize yourself. In these situations, we recommend setting and writing down 2-3 small intentions for the day. You can set these intentions in the form of results so that you can see what the outcome will be and envision yourself accomplishing it. What do we mean by that? Well, instead of writing “I will get groceries after I finish work” write down something like “I will have a nicely prepared ravioli tonight and a fridge stocked with my favorite foods. In this case, you can already see what the end goal is and, as quirky as it sounds, it makes you more aware of what it is you really want to accomplish. It’s also important to really understand how much you can get done in a day. This is why we recommend starting off by writing 2-3 smaller tasks, and once you do this daily and learn how to manage time among all of them, you can add more to your list. Setting powerful intentions allows you to take control of the day and be confident in your abilities to accomplish your goals, alleviating stress, and diminishing anxiety.
Prioritize Self Care
There’s a saying that goes something like if you aren’t taking care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else. Sleep, rest, eating a balanced diet, and taking breaks will improve your focus and concentration, enabling you to complete your work more efficiently. While it is easy for us overachievers and go-getters to over-commit, this might set us up for diminishing returns in the long run. If you have too much on your plate at one time, not only are you not able to accomplish them all, but your relationships around you might suffer as well. In order to be a better friend, mom, brother, dad, sister, and person, we must do things that allow us to re-energize and feel good within ourselves. Once we have this, we are able to show up as the well-rounded and accomplished person we want to be.
Supplementation
Natural supplementation, including herbs and spices, is another tool at your disposal. For starters, ashwagandha is a plant that has been an integral part of Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. It is what’s known as an adaptogen, which means it’s believed to help your body adapt to stress.
Benefits: The science behind ashwagandha for its role in combating stress is promising, and there’s reason to think it might also be useful for improving sleep. In a study published in September 2019 in the journal Medicine of Baltimore, 30 adults were given 240 milligrams (mg) of the extract a day, and 30 were given a placebo [1]. After two months, those who’d taken the ashwagandha reported feeling less anxious and stressed. BioSchwartz Ashwagandha Root Extract can be taken as a capsule or opened up and poured into your morning coffee or nightly tea. Whatever the occasion, this ancient medicinal herb might be an easy and effective way to decrease your stress levels and boost your quality of life
Magnesium is another supplement that can help improve quality of life because it is a mineral the body uses to regulate dozens of processes, from the functioning of nerves and muscles to the synthesizing of bone.
Benefits: So far, research points to magnesium as possibly being helpful in people who have mild anxiety. A review of 18 studies published in May 2017 in the journal Nutrients found that magnesium supplements may improve stress and anxiety [2]. Although it is found in many vegetables and nuts, many of us aren’t getting enough of it, according to the National Institute of Health. If you opt for a supplement, BioSchwartz Magnesium Bisglycinate comes in easy-to-swallow mini capsules while still being heavily potent with countless minerals and benefits. Our Nighttime Stress Relief also contains high levels of magnesium with melatonin and 5-HTP for added benefits.
Finding the best stress relief strategies may take some experimenting, and at first it might feel a little bit uncomfortable as you are doing things that will involve changing your current routine. The way I like to think of it, however, is implementing some form of these habits will improve your overall well-being. If you can manage your stress and turn your thoughts into positive ones, the bad deals won’t seem so unbearable. While once-in-a-while stress is inevitable, it's important to keep looking for the tools that will help you manage life's inevitable ups and downs in a healthy way.
