April is Stress Awareness Month

April is Stress Awareness Month

April is national stress awareness month. Stress is extremely common and is a normal part of day-to-day life. However, consistent and high levels of stress can be damaging to overall health. Therefore, it is important to know how to combat stress when it does arrive, so you can handle life’s challenges with more ease. Here is a list of things to try:

1. Healthy eating and drinking

• One common response to too much stress is eating. Typically the eating consists of unhealthy food in higher than normal quantities, which isn’t healthy for your system. Therefore, it is important to be mindful of this and continue to put nutritious food into your body. Another common response to stress is to drink alcohol. Although alcohol is not inherently bad, it is not a good coping mechanism for stress or any other mental strain.

2. Exercise

• Exercising on a regular basis has been proven to reduce stress. Exercising doesn’t have to be extravagant in order to have the needed effect. Set time aside to go for a walk around your neighborhood, do a short at home work out video, or anything that gets your body moving. This will help to reduce the stress in your life.

3. Relaxation techniques

• You’ve probably heard it before, but knowing different relaxation techniques is key to reducing stress and anxiety. Therefore, it is beneficial to know and practice these techniques. Anything from deep breathing to meditation will help. There are also a few apps available that can help in this process.

4. Set realistic goals and expectations

• Setting goals that are unattainable can create unnecessary stress in your life. It is okay and healthy to recognize that not everything is attainable. Therefore, it is important to pick goals that are tailored to what is attainable by you

5. Seek out help

• Sometimes the stress gets overwhelming and consuming. If this is the case for you, then don’t be afraid to seek out help on the topic. Day One offers discounted services for such occasions. It is also appropriate to ask your primary doctor for more options and suggestions. Please CLICK HERE to be directed to Day One’s Charitable Mental Health Program application.

You may be wondering, why is any of this important? Overall, this is important because stress is a common factor in everyone’s life, and it is nice to know different ways in order to reduce the effects of it. We are all feeling the effects of stress, whether that be in work, school, families or otherwise. No one should have to suffer alone, and with no tools to help. If you find yourself struggling with the pressure of stress, try out one of these techniques and let us know how it goes!