06/09/2017
Ways to relieve stress when you have a busy lifestyle.
Find Some Quick Stress Relievers
There are some quick ways to feel better without taking hours you don't have to do so. Stress relief strategies such as breathing exercises can help you to turn off your body's stress reaction so you put a halt to chronic stress and can get back to your busy life.
- Take a Walk.
Exercise can be a great stress reliever in itself, as it helps you blow off steam and releases endorphins. Taking a walk when stressed can bring you the benefits of exercise, both short-term and long-term, and it provides the bonus of getting you out of the stressful situation.
- Take a Breath.
Getting more oxygen into your body and releasing physical tension are two ways that breathing exercises can benefit you, and you can do them anytime or anywhere, even if your demanding situation isn't letting up.
- Take a Mental Break.
If you can steal away a few minutes of peace, visualizations and guided imagery are a wonderful way to restore peace of mind. With practice, you can easily access your "happy place" and quickly feel more calm when stressed.
- Reframe your Situation.
Sometimes we intensify our experience of stressful situations by the way we look at them. If you can look at your situation differently, you may be able to put it into a different perspective--one that causes you less stress.
Get More Sleep In Your Life
When your schedule's busy, sleep is often the first thing to be cut back, either intentionally or by default. This is unfortunate because it can leave you feeling lethargic and lead to errors that take more time out of your day to correct. It's important to safeguard your sleep, and how to actually get the sleep you need. Power napping is a great way to supplement your night's sleep if you just can't clear your schedule for a full 8 hours per night.
Build Quick Exercise Into Your Schedule
If you're feeling lethargic, a little exercise will actually leave you more energized, not less. While busy people have a hard time fitting exercise into the schedule, there are some tricks that can help you get the exercise you need without spending hours at the gym, such as breaking up exercise into smaller chunks and spacing them out during your day, when you may naturally have time available.
- Save time by bringing workout shoes to the office and walking during your lunch break.
- Carrying a pedometer that measures how many steps you take in a day doesn't automatically get you extra exercise, but it helps you track your 'daily step count', and keep your mind on how much you're physically moving, and that alone can be a motivational tool to help you move more.
- Find a sport you like, and take a class.
- Do yoga in the morning. You can sneak in a good workout and score the serenity and other benefits yoga provides at the same time.
- Several mini-workouts can be as effective as one big one. If you have a busy schedule, you may find it much easier to split your workout into smaller chunks. If your work day is long, breaking up the day with several 10-minute workouts can even wake you up and make you more productive.
- If you're busy, you may feel you can't afford to spend time exercising. But the truth is, you really can't afford not to. Not only will exercise give you more energy to accomplish things and help you relieve stress, it can improve your overall health in important ways.
Develop a "Can Do" Attitude
Much of your experience of stress hinges on your attitude and what you tell yourself about your situation. For example, learning how view stress as a 'challenge' rather than a threat can leave you feeling more energized. When you believe you can accomplish whatever you try, you're much more likely to reach your goals than if you have a negative attitude. A positive outlook can energize you. A can-do spirit can supply you with the momentum you need to get through the difficult parts of your day and cost more happily through the fun parts. It's been proven by research that optimists and positive thinkers are more productive, enjoy better health, are less weighed down by stress, and are generally more successful in life.
Learn To Say No
People have different reasons for being busy, but many people find themselves busy no matter what their circumstances because they have trouble saying no to other people's demands on their time. If this describes you, I have a simple, three-step plan for getting better at saying yes to a freer schedule and saying no to other people's demands on your time.
- Be firm, not defensive or overly apologetic, and polite. This gives the signal that you are sympathetic, but will not easily change your mind if pressured.
- If you decide to tell the person you'll get back to them, be matter-of-fact and not too promising. If you lead people to believe you'll likely say "yes" later, they'll be more disappointed with a later "no."
- If asked for an explanation, remember that you really don't owe anyone one. "It doesn't fit with my schedule", is perfectly acceptable.
- Remember that there are only so many hours in the day. This means that whatever you choose to take on limits your ability to do other things. So even if you somehow can fit a new commitment into your schedule, if it's not more important than what you would have to give up to do it (including time for relaxation and self care), you really don't have the time in your schedule.
Reference: http://stress.about.com/od/lowstresslifestyle/tp/busy_lifestyle.htm
It seems in recent years being busy has become the rule rather than the exception. The following are ways to get more energy, relieve stress, and find extra time in your day--a must for busy people everywhere!
