Stress Management Techniques

 

Today is a special day for the mental health community as it is World Mental Health Day. I, myself a psychology student have been part of the cause of promoting the message of mental health across various platforms. This blog is also a major part of that cause.

The theme for this year's mental health day is "Mental Health is a universal right." I agree mental health should be accessible to everyone and not just parts of society that can afford it. We see many conversations around mental health but the people who have an access to it are mostly the people who either have the social or economical resources to it. The rest have usually no idea of it as they lack access due to various reasons. An important step for our mental health community is getting these parts of society to join the cause of mental health, as it can benefit them in many ways. 

This Mental Health Day, I would like to discuss few stress management techniques but not just the ones that are often romanticized on our feeds, and the ones that only few parts of the society have an access to, let's dive into ones that all of us can participate in as a society.

1) Moving Our Bodies 

Moving our bodies is one of the most basic and accessible forms of stress management techniques. We don't necessarily have to participate in movements that are too complex, we could something simple as walking. Moving our bodies helps in producing stress relieving hormones including endorphins, dopamine etc. This hormones are enough to uplift our moods. 

How can we include more of exercising in our routines?

Many would suggest that this is impossible but in reality adding exercises to our routines is very simple,  a small 10 minute walk between our meetings, or using the staircase instead of the lift, can help in making a huge difference in our routines. 

2) Venting 

Now this is a method that has so many perspectives associated with it. Some are on board with it, some aren't. But I personally think that venting is a healthy coping mechanism if done properly. For example, if an individual is feeling stressed today then one might just write down their thoughts in a notebook or a journal. That is a good and a healthy way to vent.

Of Course you could vent out to people too but it needs to be in a healthy manner, you need to ensure that the person your venting out to is in the mindset to listen and offer advice. It is understandable that one might not be the mindset to think before venting, but that cannot be the case always, you need to value the person who is listening as well. 

3) Sitting down mindlessly 

I know might sound silly but sometimes you just have to sit down, and not think for sometime. This is form of meditation as well. But sometimes few individuals might be intimidated by the idea of meditation as they think it is a complex process and some might also think it is bogus. Thus instead of suggesting meditation, just ask the person to sit down and not think. Sounds extremely difficult but it is definitely one of the methods that can relax one down.

4) Food and Sleep 

Food and sleep come under the same bracelet according to me as both of this are things that stem from our biological needs. Sometimes all you need is just some amazing, soul healing food or a long nap. There are times that you might not be necessarily stressed but you just feel super tired and just need to re-energize, in those times food and sleep are your best friends. 

5) Positive Self Talk 

One of the most easiest ways to deal with stress is positive self talk. This is a habit that needs to be part of your regular routine, either through affirmations and actively listening and altering the ways you talk to yourself. Adding positive talk to your routine can help you evaluate a situation in a better manner and helps you think in a healthier perspective 

I am ending this blog with only 5 techniques as this blog will become longer and boring. Using these 5 or combination of these 5 could make a whole lot difference to one's routine as it helps one in being more relaxed and dealing with a situation effectively. 

Thank You💗

 -MJM.