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3 Quick Ways to Reduce Stress in Your Body
Because our bodies are excellent at holding onto stress
One of the worst things about stress is that it often feels insurmountable.
It feels like that because we want it gone all at once.
But our stress has acclimated over time. We didn’t go from 0% stress yesterday to 100% stressed today.
Doing small things to help reduce stress is more beneficial.
Even if it feels like it doesn’t matter. Hint: The small things do matter!
The more stressed we are, the more we tend to hold it in our bodies.
When I’m really stressed these are my 3 go to tips to help my body relax.
Does it make my stress disappear? No, however it does help me get through the day and be able to fall asleep at night.
- 3 deep breaths and slowly release them.
The Why: Taking 3 deep breaths allows you to briefly slow down. Which allows you to get more oxygen into your whole body. Which helps you feel more relaxed.
2. Drop Your Shoulders
The Why: We tend to store stress in our shoulders and unconsciously raise them up. Making our bodies tighten up. When we release or drop our shoulders we are allowing our bodies to relax
3. Unclench your hands at night when you’re in bed
The Why: By opening your hands up you are allowing your hands to go into a more natural relaxed state. Which sends signals to your brain to rest, and relax, so you can fall asleep.
If you don’t feel an immediate difference doing any of these items, that’s okay.
It might take a few times before you retrain your body to relax.
When I was overwhelmed with stress, I didn’t even realize I had rolled my hands into balls at night.
Admittedly it took me several nights before I could keep my hands flat instead of rolled.
I had to consciously open my hands several times.
But once I could, I noticed an immediate difference on how relaxed I was at night.
Give yourself grace as you work to reduce your stress.
If you found these tips helpful, sign up for self-care, well-being Monday Quick Wins. Where you get 1 quick tip to do each Monday morning in under a minute. No frills. No Fuss. No multiple emails. Just 1 email every Monday morning to start your week off right.
