Six steps to control and manage stress

Step 5

Exercise

 Make time for moderate exercise and a pleasure in life. Set a limit on what you can do every day, combining, your daily tasks, by adopting healthy habit, and scheduling fun activities into your day.

When you are stressed, probably exercising is the last thing you feel like doing. However, exercise is a powerful tool for dealing with stress. In fact, studies show that regular exercise can be as effective as antidepressant medication. It increases energy levels and decreasing feelings of fatigue. Go on. Break this vicious circle.

Scientists have not figured out exactly: - why exercise is such a potent anti-stress, but evidence suggests that physical activity increases mood-enhancing neurotransmitters in the brain, raises endorphins, reduces stress, and relieves muscle tension – all things that can have a positive effect on stress.

To get the best benefit from exercising, aim for 30 minutes of exercise per day. However, you can start small. Short 10-minute bursts of activity can have a positive effect on your mood. Here are a few easy ways to get moving:

-      Take the stairs rather than the lefts

-      Park your car in the farthest parking bay to your destination

-      Take your dog for a walk

-      Pair up with an exercise partner

-      Walk while you are talking on the phone (if convenient)

-      Exercise at least twice a week, 

Meditation is also an effective way in reducing stress. Its techniques can help you to be aware of the cause of your guilt, your stressor, and develop ways to detach you from your symptoms, and prepares you to focus your attention on thing you want to do.

In addition, aerobic and yoga poses can help relieve feelings of stress. Try downward-facing dog or legs-up-the-wall pose (you can find these poses on yoga websites). Two other aspects of yoga — breathing exercises and meditation — can also help people with stress feel better.

As a next step, try incorporating walks or some other enjoyable, easy form of exercise into your daily routine. The key is to pick an activity you enjoy, so you are more likely to keep up with it.

People who are stressed might not like being active. However, make yourself do it anyway (ask a friend to exercise with you if you need to be motivated). Once you get in the exercise habit, it will not take long to notice a difference in your mood.

The following exercise tips offer a powerful prescription for boosting mood as an antidepressant (see appendix 8 for more details):

 -    Ten minutes walk can improve your mood for two hours.

-     The key to sustaining mood benefits is to exercise regularly.

-    Choose activities that are moderately intense.

-   Aerobic exercise undoubtedly has mental health benefits, but you do not need to sweat to see results.

 Find exercises that are continuous and rhythmic (rather than intermittent). Walking, swimming, dancing, stationery biking, and yoga are good choices.

 Start slowly, and do not overdo it. More is not better. Athletes who over-train find their moods drop rather than lift. It is not just a matter of getting blood flowing, though that is part of it. However, getting outside and getting sunlight and fresh air is important because it is refreshing and gets more oxygen to your brain.

 

Please refer to the next Blog for the next step