Tips for Relieving Stress & Anxiety

In today’s age of information overload, work, traffic, financial stress and busy schedules, it's only natural to feel stressed out. To make matters worse, your depression and anxiety might be at an all-time high.

According to Global News, about 73% of working adults are stressed out at least some of the time. It's so pervasive that for some of us stress seems like a normal thing, but the truth is that too much chronic stress can lead to or exacerbate some severe health problems, including heart disease, headaches, and stomach problems, just to name a few things.

The good news is there are many ways to relieve stress naturally including acupuncture, massage, and nutrition.

Meditation

It may seem strange to those who have never tried it, but merely sitting quietly for 5 or 10 minutes can do a lot. The truth is that just letting your mind rest and focusing on your breathing has incredible effects on your disposition and body rhythms.

Studies show that only a few minutes of peaceful sitting a day can help to relieve tension, anxiety, high blood pressure, assist with addictions, and much more. In general, it’s a simple and low-cost solution for coping that many people swear by.

Massage

Massage not only offers many physical benefits that you’d expect, such as improved circulation and muscle pain relief. It can also help with both stress and anxiety itself, as well as a range of stress symptoms, such as headaches, insomnia, and digestive problems.

Diet & Food Habits

Believe it or not, our diets can have a massive impact on our emotional and stress responses — and vice versa, of course. When we're stressed, we tend to eat foods that are more likely to add to our stress levels. Alcohol and caffeine, for instance, both seem like they might help to make us feel better, by giving us a "buzz," but they can actually cause us to lose sleep, become more stressed and anxious, and prevent relaxation.

Eating too many processed foods that contain a lot of high-fructose corn sugar as well as sodium and trans fats, only makes our health worse. And some people don't eat at all when they're feeling anxious and stressed, which can alter our glucose response and metabolism.

Acupuncture

Did you know that the traditional Chinese healing practice of acupuncture, which involves the strategic placement of needles to ease pain points in the body, has been shown to help people with many ailments, including PMS, sinus problems, general headaches, and back and neck pain?

Acupuncture is also increasingly being used for stress management and has been proven to lower stress hormones in a study on rats. That and other research points to the healing capacity of acupuncture on many levels.

If we make a firm commitment to incorporate activities, like meditation, healthy eating, and acupuncture appointments, into our routines, we will not only stay healthier in the long run, but we'll also be much more able to cope with stressful events when they do arise.