April Is Stress Awareness Month
Hey there, my friends! I wanted to take some time to chat with you about stress, but first I want to talk about the difference between stress and anxiety. I know that these are two words that get thrown around a lot, but a lot of people don't really understand the differences between them. I know I didn’t, so it’s time for some clarity.
So, what’s the difference between stress & anxiety?
Stress is a natural response to any kind of change, demand or threat, whether it's real or imagined. It can be caused by anything from good changes in our lives, like a new job or new baby, to not-so good ones like a personal relationship issue, work demands, or a financial problem. The physical effects of stress can include things like tense muscles, headaches, and digestive issues, while the mental effects can include feelings of anxiety, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is a more intense and persistent feeling of worry, fear, or apprehension that can be related to a specific situation or can occur for seemingly no reason at all. It's a feeling of being on edge, or feeling of doom, and can cause physical symptoms like a racing heart, sweating, and shortness of breath. Anxiety can also impact our mental health, leading to feelings of restlessness and fear, uncontrollable thoughts of worry, difficulty sleeping, and even panic attacks and phobias. If left unmanaged, anxiety can have a significant impact on our daily lives and overall wellbeing, so it's important to seek professional help if you're struggling with anxiety.
Now that you know the difference I want to talk more about how to manage everyday stress so that it doesn’t overwhelm you to the point of full blown anxiety.
Stress can have a serious impact on our overall health and wellbeing, so it's important to understand how to manage it effectively.
So, how can we reduce stress in our lives? Here are a few tips that have worked for me and my family:
1. Take a break: When you're feeling overwhelmed, take a step back and give yourself a breather. For immediate stress try taking a walk, do some deep breathing exercises or meditation, or just sit and relax for a few minutes. However, if the stress is persistent you might need to look at the bigger picture. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with our responsibilities, work, and personal commitments. If you’re feeling overwhelmed you have to learn how to say no, even the good things.
It’s really okay to NOT be superwoman. You don’t have to take care of everything and everyone. I learned this the hard way myself. I had to step back from my photography business because I had too many other commitments in my life and even though I loved my business it was causing me to be stressed and frazzled all the time. I wasn’t present with my family and friends, my health started to decline, my home was messy and unorganized, I had to say no to things I love, or try to cram them in, and that’s not how I wanted to life my life. So I chose to step back to spend time to prioritize myself, my health, and my relationships with my family. It was a hard choice to make, but once the decision was made I immediately felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. It takes being honest with yourself and asking yourself if you truly can handle everything in your life. You really don’t have to do it all! If I could only give you one tip, this would be it! Slow down!
2. Take care of your physical health: How we eat plays a huge role in our mental health. More and more research is being done on how our gut microbiome affects our mental health. If you want to delve into this topic more I wrote a blog post about how to eat for mental wellness here.
Regular physical activity is also a great way to reduce stress and improve your overall mental health. Find an exercise routine that works for you and that you can be consistent with, whether it's a workout class, a walk around the block, or lifting weights at the gym. But some types of exercise can exacerbate your stress levels, like cross-fit or running, especially as we age, so choose gentler exercises.
Gotta be honest. I’ve never loved exercise and avoided it at all costs. But there was a price to pay for this of course, both physically and mentally. In the last few years however I’ve found that taking time to simple go for a walk by myself was a treat at the end of a hectic day. It was uninterrupted time for myself that I could listen to music, or a podcast, or simply enjoy nature with my camera, or in silence. Lately though I’ve started incorporating strength training into my days and am finding it tremendously helpful for my mental health. It helps me feel better about myself overall, knowing that I’m working on my physical health, plus it’s helping me to sleep better, and that’s crucial for reducing stress and mental wellness overall.
3. Talk to someone: Sometimes, all we need is someone to listen to us. Reach out to a friend, family member, or mental health professional and talk about what's been stressing you out. I’m blessed to have several people in my life that I trust to share my feelings with and help me think and talk through things. I love being able to go for long walks or coffee dates with a friend who will listen, give valuable insights, and even pray with me. If you don’t have someone you can talk to then reach out to a professional because talking to someone is incredibly important.
4. Practice self-care: Self-care doesn’t necessarily mean long bubble baths, face masks and chocolate binges. Self-care is simply making time for activities that bring you joy, like reading a book, or cooking a nice meal, or working on a hobby, or playing music. It also can be making sure you get enough sleep and taking time to practice relaxation techniques, breathing exercises, or prayer.
This also fits in well with the first tip of taking a break. Sometimes we are so overcommitted that we don’t have time to do the things we love. If this is you, then start small. Try setting aside even just one evening, or a a couple hours on the weekend to spend taking care of yourself. Remember, you deserve to prioritize your own well-being.
5. Consider taking supplements: Some people try to self-medicate with substances that can cause more problems, like food, alcohol, and drugs. This not only doesn’t help, but in the long run can cause health problems that will actually make things worse. Instead, try some natural supplements that are powerful and effective. I’ve been taking two very specific supplements this past year and they’ve really made a big difference in my stress levels and overall mental wellbeing.
Happy Juice contains a combination of unique strains of probiotics, prebiotics, and phytobiotics that have been scientifically shown in human clinical trials to reduce tension and improve mood. It lowers cortisol levels, which is your stress hormone, plus it increases the happy neurotransmitters GABA & serotonin. All this plus it improves motivation levels, gut health, and just makes you feel good!! My entire family drinks it every day and we absolutely love how it makes us feel!
Mood+ contains natural ingredients, like ashwagandha, kanna, rafuma, magnolia bark, which are scientifically shown to reduce stress and boost your mood by supporting your body’s natural production of serotonin and dopamine. This means real, significant benefits for your mood, like relief from anxious feelings, sadness, restlessness, and overall stress relief.
I also highly recommend getting personalized supplement recommendations based on your specific needs. If you’ve never taken The Happy Quiz before I’d like to invite you to see where you are at. It’s a simple lifestyle quiz that asks about various aspects of your physical and mental health, such as sleep, stress, mindset, diet, activity levels, and more. Once you’ve completed it you’ll get a score to show you where you are on a scale between languishing and flourishing along with some product recommendations from The Mental Wellness Company, to help you make improvements in the areas you may be struggling with.
