It’s no secret that stress has countless negative effects on our minds and bodies. Since stress is inevitable at some point in life, the question then begs itself, how does one naturally relieve stress?!

We are huge proponents of having favorite go-to stress relievers in your back pocket that help you. The easier they are to defer to, the better, because when you’re stressed, the last thing you need is to learn a new tactic. 

Let’s take a look at some of our team’s handy stress relievers:

1) Exercise: 

Exercise releases endorphins, endorphins make you happy… Legally Blonde anyone?! You know the rest :) But really, movement does release natural endorphins in your body which can help tremendously with stress. 

We find that the best way to relieve stress with exercise is by picking something you don’t have to think too hard about. 

If you’re feeling stressed, try a workout class where you can just enjoy the experience (even if that’s from your living room these days). Another one we love is a good walk or jog with good music or an audio book. Tune in to the beats and tune out the stress! Try to avoid putting unnecessary goals within the workout too. For example, start small - maybe the goal is to just do 10 minutes of movement. Period. Remember, we are trying to relieve stress, not add any more!

2) Clean Eating:

As they say, you are what you eat! If you want to feel good mentally and emotionally, feed your body quality foods! 

Even if, in the stressful moment, you think that junk food is going to be the cure, we have found that it’s likely not going to do the trick. Instead, try to whip something up that is going to nourish your mind, body, and soul! 

Plus, added benefits of doing the cooking yourself: taking your mind off the stress in your life to focus on the cooking, feeling accomplished while enjoying the fruits of your labor, and reducing stress! Win-win-win!

3) Mindfulness: 

There is no right or wrong answer here but we do encourage you to know what type of mindfulness is right for you and your stressful moments. Yoga? Great! Meditation? Great! Laying silent in a dark room? Great! 

In any case, we do recommend that you hone a stress relieving technique that requires little to nothing from you. Allow yourself to learn to destress in situations that reduce stimulation. Although we already declared that we love using things like exercise and cooking as stress relievers, we also acknowledge that it’s good to have options for stress relieving that are less stimulating. 

Yoga, meditation, laying still, singing, etc does not need to be the right answer for you but we do encourage you to explore different anti-stimulation options to find one that is the right fit for you! You will know it when you find it because you will feel it! 

4) Singing:

OK, we, by no means, think we are the next American Idol but hear us out… 

This one isn’t necessarily best in public situations but we do love a good jam session at home or in our cars. Put on some feel good music that you know the words to and, belt it out!

We strongly prefer it in the privacy of our own homes/cars because it allows you to get into the tunes, put a little passion into it, and have no worries about who is listening! Trust us, you don’t need to be the most skilled singer for this one to make you feel happy and relaxed. 

5) Dancing:

On the note of the arts, have you ever spent time dancing around without a care in the world? No, just us? Ok, well come along…

We LOVE this stress relieving tactic because it naturally pairs perfectly with singing. For safety reasons, we do not recommend this one in the car though, just do it at home :) 

Throw on the same tunes you like to sing to and let loose! If you’re really feel daring, sing and dance at the same time! If you’re worried about looking and sounding silly, don’t! You will look, sound, and feel amazing at the end of this little dance session. Oh, did we mention dance is also great exercise so, I guess what we are saying is that dance seems to be a triple whammy on relieving stress! Go get ‘em! 

6) Reading:

A good book is so good for helping to take away the stresses of life! We do recommend staying away from self help books. Don’t get us wrong, we love a good self help book but when we are feeling stressed, it doesn’t feel like the best thing to reach for. Let’s not focus too much on how to “fix” ourselves while we are already feeling stressed.

Rather, try a fun fiction book. Getting lost in a great storyline is so much fun and allows your mind to turn off from the running to-do lists that otherwise are constantly spinning in our minds. Give your brain another task, like reading, and oftentimes, we find the stressful things we were worried about seem so much smaller coming back to reality out of a good novel! 

We feel an ICONIC book club coming from this one… Please do share any of your favorites! 

7) Bubble Bath:

In most cases being “in hot water” is a bad thing. In this case, sign us up! Draw a hot bath, throw in bubbles, grab some water and maybe even a good book (see above) and hop in for some good old fashioned relaxation! 

Try to draw your bath when you don’t have obligations on either end. There is no need to take a bubble bath and have yourself rush out to go somewhere/do something. That seems counterproductive :) 

8) Turn Off Technology:

We love a good text conversation, social media session, or FaceTime as much as the rest of you but there is a time and place for everything. 

For better or worse, being on your phone can add more stress than it’s worth. Seeing emails pop up if you’re stressed about work is going to add to your stress. Turn off your phone, turn off the tv, and find something to do that does not rely on technology. Trust us, that new meme, your favorite tv show, and your text messages will be just fine to wait! You can give yourself the gift of something as small as 10 minutes away from technology if that’s going to help you destress! 

Give some of these a whirl and let us know what works for you! Also, if you have any favorite stress relieving tips we don’t already know about, please share back with us. We’d love to learn how you choose to recharge when you’re feeling stressed!