Stress can lead to a slew of health issues, like high blood pressure, cardiovascular, insomnia, and anxiety. Sometimes even trying to reduce stress can cause more stress from the process. New studies show reducing stress doesn’t work as well as redefining your connection or relationship with stress. If you only see stress as bad, you will always have issues with it. This is simply because stress is a part of everyday life, no mater how centered or grounded you are. A recent study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that people who thought stress was bad or unhealthy had an increased risk of dying early. The people with high stress who thought stress was a normal part of life had a reduced risk of stress related deaths compared to low stress people that thought stress was really bad for them. Interestingly, Florida University and Stanford showed that people with high stress levels had a more meaningful life. It’s hard to define what’s meaningful, but I wold assume more things you care about.
It would seem from all the studies that worrying about stress can be worse than stress itself.
To help rethink stress, you first need to realize stress is part of a more meaningful life, and worrying about stress will only make you feel worse. You feel stress because you care about yourself, personal standards, the people in your life, and the goals you set to improve. These are some of the core factors for inner health.
Remember, you are feeling stressed because you care or are challenging yourself to be better and grow. Once you realize that stress is a part of improving and doing meaningful things, you can start to except it as something almost positive.
No matter how your relationship is with stress, handling it quickly and productivity is a good thing. As stress comes up, you want to except it as a side effect to something good happening. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t find ways to control it or settle it down. Here is four quick tips for settling down stress.
- Walk away from your environment alone.
- Focus on your breathe.
- Relax and take your mind off of things.
- Have a cup of relaxing tea.
- Workout.
- Go for a walk.
- Watch a movie.
- Go fishing.
- Go swimming or hot tub.
Once you start to see stress as a sign that good things are happening in your life, you can handle it with the right tools and mindset. This way you’ll be free of it’s power over you and live a healthier life.