7 Tips for staying cool under stress

This may seem like it wont do much but it is a huge factor towards combatting stress. We’re not saying you should go out and buy the latest supplement, but making sure you have all the nutrients your body needs will calm down those stress chemicals in your body when the going gets tough. Not to mention, you feel great when you have eaten healthy all day.

Stress can cause a build up of adrenaline in your body. Adrenaline is what gives that “Tense” feeling of being stressed. This is not the same as the “Adrenaline rush” you feel when you go bungee jumping, but it is more of a constant elevated level. Exercise is brilliant because your body is designed to burn adrenaline when you exercise. This is due to the fight or flight response. You don’t have to run a marathon, but anything that gets the heart rate going will help.

A big part of dealing with the stress is trying to not sweat the little stuff. The trouble here is that if you’re stressed you’ve already sweat the little stuff. You need to change your thinking. Try accepting the things you can’t control.

Taking some “you time” at the end of the day not only decreases your stress levels, but it helps you sleep. We all know how stressed we get when we haven’t slept enough so this is the one / two punch for stress. Try turning off the TV, putting down the phone, reading a book, taking a bath or doing something manual.

We can’t stress this enough, its the quickest way to go from super stressed, to somewhat calm. If you manage to keep a routine of regular exercise, it will do great things for your mental and physical health.

These are a bit more advanced. Russian scientists did a lot of research on how to deal with the stresses their soldiers went through. They found that one of the most effective ways for their soldiers to deal with stress was to have a short hot / cold shower (called a ‘contrast shower’) To have a contrast shower, start with the hot water like you usually do, then turn the hot water down so the shower is cold. Once you feel you can’t deal with it anymore, you can turn the hot water back on. Start off slow and work up to longer and colder periods of time. You’ll feel so refreshed once you get out.

This may sound a little out there, but regular meditation has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to combat stress. There have been numerous studies showing the many many health benefits of meditation and its ability to combat stress. Bust open youtube, put in some headphones and give it a shot.