5 Simple Tips To Help De-Stress Today

Feeling overworked, overwhelmed or on the fast-track to burn-out? Well stop right there, because this isn’t the set standard, and this isn’t a feeling you should just put up with and accept. It seems like things have changed since the pandemic, with many people going into lockdowns at that time, and being unable to continue down the fast lane prioritising their career and work above everything else, and instead actually being forced to have more time with their family, partner and/or pet dog! That’s right, the standards are seemingly changing where wanting to put at least equal weight on personal pleasures and down-time has become more admirable and widely accepted!

1. Fill Your Cup!

I mean glass actually, or water bottle for that matter! A lot of us forget to stay hydrated throughout the day. Why? Because we are too busy doing the 201 other things on our ‘To Do’ list probably!! Also drinking caffeinated beverages doesn’t help us out too much either. By drinking more water, especially in the morning, rather than reaching for a coffee straight away, you can let yourself wake up more naturally. Don’t forget you are going to be dehydrated after being in bed for hopefully the recommended 7-9 hours right, so surely the first thing you should be doing is reaching for a glass of H2O to get all system’s firing again!?

Not to mention, that hitting yourself hard with the caffeine first thing in the morning might bring on those anxious, stressful feelings as you go from 0-100 with that coffee blast. Why not try to hydrate first with a large glass of water and then wait at least an hour until you decide to have your morning java.

I find it super helpful to have reminders telling me to hydrate throughout the day too. My smart watch does this but you can easily set a recurring calendar invite to yourself or an alarm that does just the same thing. You’ll be amazed at how alert you’ll be feeling when your body and mind has enough fuel to function! When you’re feeling tip top, you’ll be setup to deal with whatever the day throws at you whilst being able to keep your cool much more easily.

2. Get Out More…

No, I’m not judging you! But you really should… Why? Well getting outside and going for a walk has so many benefits! If you’re walking for at least 10 minutes a day you will start to benefit from endorphins (you know… those happy hormones) released during exercise – and you’ll notice even more de-stressing effects if you are able to take your walk in a more natural environment, think a leafy-green park where you feel like you’ve totally escaped the city-vibes.

If you are lucky enough, depending on the time of year and you location, you can also get some vitamin D by being in the sun which can boost your mood too. You can get your vitamin D fix through skin absorption if you are out and about for 30 minutes without sunscreen, but obviously don’t skip this if there is a high UV index or if you will be out in the sun for longer than this, you do not want to risk burning!!

Getting outdoors during your lunch break is also great for splitting up the day, getting away from your desk and ensuring you actually take that break! Yes, I’ve been there and done that! And I can honestly tell you, that the days I prioritised a 30 minute walk rather than continuing on plodding through a pile of work, imy productivity actually increased, and I ended up getting more work done that the times I just gritted my teeth and carried on. Instead, I came back feeling refreshed, happier and worked much faster afterwards, rather than feeling stagnant and slogging along for that meagre 30 minutes where I didn’t seem to feel like I got that much done anyway.

3. Breathe For A Minute

One of my favourite ways to take some time out to focus and breathe is to meditate. I realise it’s not for everyone or can make some people feel more stressed that they aren’t doing it right, or they can’t find a room quiet enough without distractions etc, but really it isn’t the only option. If all you can do today is to stop, close your eyes for a minute or two, and focus on taking some slow deep breaths in for 6 seconds, and then out for 6 seconds. Then please do this for yourself!

You will notice how your body begins to react and slow down and you trick your stress sensors into calming, and relaxing and releasing tensions you are holding throughout the body. If you struggle with meditations or don’t know where to start and would like to begin, then I highly recommend searching for and listening to some guided meditations. You can listen to some guided meditations I have posted here. There are all different ones, ones you can do before sleep, whilst walking, or sitting wherever you like, and it will take the pressure off thinking about what you should be doing.

4. Take Care Of Yo’Self!

No you don’t have to go and book yourself in for a luxury pamper package right now – although I wouldn’t suggest you to not – I know you deserve it!! But let’s get real, short on time, stressed and now need to make extra time to look after yourself too, so let’s start easy.

Fitting self-care into the day should not be a chore! I believe self-care of some kind everyday is essential to our wellbeing. Self-care can look different to everyone. Whether that is putting on that clay face mask that has been hiding at the bottom of your cosmetic collection, massaging yourself with a body oil after your shower, or reading a book for 10 minutes before bed, it doesn’t have to take the world and can make you feel so much better if you continue to build something feel-good into your routine day by day for YOU. Something you enjoy, that will make you happy and bring you joy.

I like to change it up to be honest from making time for some baking which I love, lighting a candle and reading a book, drinking my morning celery juice outside under the sun in my hanging chair, dry brushing my body before a shower, trying a different cafe or cake shop for a little me-time date. These are just to name a couple but yours might look completely different – it’s just an important reminder to prioritise your needs and happiness daily too.

5. Get Some Serious Shut-Eye

Yes, seriously!! Burning the midnight oil and then you get to bed with a very unfunny case of insomnia? No fun at all. I recently recorded a podcast episode on lots and lots of great ideas and tips to help to set you up with a bedroom that feels like a sanctuary, and a sleep routine that would put sleeping beauty back to sleep even after being kissed by Prince Charming! You can listen to this here.

Sleep is so important to our overall health and wellbeing, and it can feel like viscous cycle when we are stressed out and that is in turn affecting our sleep, but then the lack of sleep affects our ability to deal with the stress. Of course if this is becoming an ongoing issue rather than a one-off you should really speak with a registered medical professional like your GP and focus on trying to reduce the cause of the stress if possible and by using stress management coping mechanisms.

Some simple things you can do to improve your sleep though would be to ensure your bedroom is the right temperature. It should be nice and cool, around 18 Celcius. You bed should also be comfortable and you should not be scrimping on your bed, mattress, pillows or sheets! Think of how much time you spend in bed and how the quality of your sleep affects your hours out of the bedroom, if I was going to invest in anything it would be the bed first – and because I love sleep of course!

I personally take a magnesium supplement close to bedtime to help me relax and get me in a calmer state before bed too. There are lots of supplements around that are marketed specifically towards sleep which do a similar job of winding you down and prepping you for a deep and sound sleep. Check in with your GP though before adding in any kind of supplements to your diet.

My other top tips, are to keep the bedroom as dark and as quiet as possible! For me, this means wearing an eye mask that completely blocks out light, but that is comfortable so I can wear it all night through, and is breathable. I also have earplugs handy incase I need them if my partner starts snoring or there is some other disturbance! I like to use silicon ones as I find they are much better at blocking out sound than the spongy ones as they can be shaped and moulded to your ears and seal out the noise.

Staying away from blue-lights AKA screens at least an hour before bedtime is also another of my top tips to getting off to sleep more quickly. I like to wind down with a shower before bed and by reading a book. You can also take additional steps by wearing blue-light filtering glasses in the run up to bed time too, and they pretty much do what they say on the tin and help filter out the blue-lights emitted from screens and reduce the amount of exposure you get that stops you from dozing off as easily.

That’s it from me…

So there you have it, some super simple things you can try today and for the rest of the week, and then you can assess if you noticed the benefits. I’d love to hear your thoughts below, and if you have already tried some of the things I have mentioned above, what you found the most useful? Once you’ve given then a try, you can decide if you want to continue implementing them into your usual routine so you can feel less stressed, more regularly!

Take a moment now, to breathe, and stress less.