article from http://www.chopra.com/ccl/10-ways-to-de-stress-your-mind-and-body

10 Ways to De-stress Your Mind and Body

by: Melissa Eisler

There’s good stress … and then there’s bad stress. Do you know the difference? And how are you dealing yours? It’s important to be aware of what stresses you out, so you can build a relationship with your biggest stressors and manage the way you react to them.

Some stress is healthy … it kicks in to protect you in times of need and gives you a sense of focus when you’re  about to take a test or give a presentation. It motivates you to rise to the occasion. And in times of emergency, stress can actually save your life.

Then there is the type of stress that is harmful. It can cause physical, mental, and emotional aches and pains. It can cause your body and mind to overreact to situations, resulting in digestive problems, weight fluctuation, heart disease, depression, and a host of other issues that no one desires or deserves.

It’s time to manage the good, the bad, and the ugly faces of stress in your life. Here are 10 tried-and-true ways to manage your stress, so you can get on the path to living a healthy and balanced life.

Number 1: Identify Your Stress Triggers

Recognizing the triggers to your stressful reactions is an important first step in managing your stress. True, it might be impossible to remove life’s stresses, but understanding the things that stress you out—and in what ways—is particularly helpful in solving the underlying problems.

What stresses you out? And how do you react to it? There are a host of physical and mental reactions to stress, and everyone reacts differently. Understanding how it manifests in your life is the first step to finding balance.

Read More: Learn about common symptoms of stress, and tips for how to identify your biggest stressors

Number 2: Get Some Exercise

Moving your body is important to combat stressful reactions, and prevent them from arising in the future. When you keep your body in peak condition, you feel lighter and more energized, leaving you prepared to manage life’s stresses.

No matter what your fitness level may be, the central key is simply to move your body every day. Identifying the type or types of exercise that you most enjoy—and those best suited to your mind-body type, or dosha—will be key to developing a regular exercise routine.

Read More: Learn more about how to create the best exercise routine for you

Number 3: Find Stillness Every Day

Meditation is one of the best tools you have to counteract stress, and your brain’s bias to hold onto negativity.

In meditation, your body actually releases stress and reverses the effects of the flight-or-fight response. This response was really intended to be a short-term mechanism to protect you from perceived danger, which rarely comes in handy nowadays. And the stress generated within you from the response can be harmful to your health.

Read More: Find out more about how meditation can help you manage your stress and improve your balance

Number 4: Eat Well

Nourishing your body with the right food will give you the energy you need to tackle what life brings you, including stress.

Every body has different nutritional requirements, and Ayurveda teaches us that dietary plan should be based on an understanding of your unique mind-body type, or dosha. If you’re stressed out, what you’re eating is a great thing to look at, as different doshas are triggered by different foods. It’s important to make conscious eating choices with your unique dosha in mind.

Read More: Learn more about how to eat to find a better balance

Number 5: Sleep to Combat Stress

Are you getting enough Zzzz’s? Restful sleep is an essential key to staying healthy and strong. When you’re well-rested, you can approach stressful situations more calmly, yet sleep is so often neglected or underemphasized.

The key is making sure you’re not only getting enough sleep, but that the quality of sleep you’re getting is restful and restorative.

Read More: How to get a good night’s sleep

Number 6: Hit the Road

Taking annual vacations is really good for you. Ask your doctor: it appears that going on vacation may not be an icing-on-the-cake type of indulgence—it may actually be necessary for good health.

But multi-week, exotic getaways aren’t always an option with the many responsibilities that come with life. Whether you have the time and money to head out on a European tour, or can simply afford a long weekend that’s close to home, yet away from the grind, planning a break is a great tool for reducing stress. Plus, it gives you something to look forward to.

Read More: Find more reasons to plan a getaway to reduce stress

Number 7: Create a Gratitude Practice

Gratitude is a powerful force that you can use to expand your happiness, improve your health, and—you guessed it—helps you cope with stress.

Many scientific studies, including research by renowned psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, have found that people who consciously focus on gratitude, experience greater emotional wellbeing and physical health than those who don’t.

Read More: Learn more about the healing power of gratitude, and how to begin your gratitude practice

Number 8: Create Cushions in Your Calendar

If you’re reading this, you probably have a busy schedule, which is one contributor to stress. When you have a lot on your plate, you end up hurrying through the day and multitasking, which will only exacerbate stress levels.

Creating cushions in your schedule is a good tactic to reduce your risk for stress. Leave yourself enough time between getting from point A to point B—whether getting to and from meetings, classes, or getting from home to work to dinner plans—to help diffuse potential stressors that may arise that are out of your control. For example, if you know that you have to be on time to your 9 a.m. meeting and it takes you 20 minutes to get to work, leave yourself 30 so you don’t have to rush or get stressed out if you hit traffic.

Read More:  Learn more about how to manage your time to manage your stress

Number 9: Say Cheese

No one can deny the mind-body connection. But how much power does the body have over the mind?

Research has found that even a phony smile can help you handle stress. So if you’re looking for a way out of stress, you’ll need to smile more.

Read More:  Learn more about how small changes in your body and facial expressions can impact your stress levels

Number 10: Stop Should-ing Yourself

Do you do things in your life because you want to … or because you should? Are you paying attention to the signs the universe is sending you and the guidance you feel deep in your soul? Because we’re so full of ideas and judgments about what we should and shouldn’t do, we tend to ignore the best advice we get—the guidance from our soul.

Lissa Rankin, M.D. has a lot to say about what you should pay attention to … and what you shouldn’t.

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How do thoughts and emotions affect health?

Emotions that are freely experienced and expressed without judgment or attachment tend to flow fluidly. On the other hand, repressed emotions (especially fearful or negative ones) can zap mental energy and hope and lead to health problems, such as high blood pressure or digestive disorders.

Therefore, it's important for us to recognize and identify our thoughts and emotions, and to be aware of the impact they have—not only on each other, but also on our bodies, behavior, and relationships. As our awareness increases, we find it easier to recognize what we are thinking, how we are feeling, and our attitude towards the experience. We can then choose to adjust our thoughts and emotional responses.

Negativity and physical health

Chronic stress from negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness can upset the body's hormone balance and deplete the brain chemicals required for feelings of happiness, as well as have a damaging impact on the immune system. New scientific understandings have also identified the process by which chronic stress can actually decrease our lifespan by shortening our telomeres (the “end caps” of our DNA strands, which play a big role in aging). 

Poorly managed or repressed anger (hostility) is also related to a slew of health conditions, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, digestive disorders, and infection. 

The importance of positivity

Scientist Barbara Fredrickson has shown that positive emotions have two important effects: they broaden our perspective of the world (thus inspiring more creativity, wonder, and options), and they build up over time, creating lasting emotional resilience and flourishing.

Dr. Fredrickson has spent years researching and publishing the physical and emotional benefits of positivity, including faster recovery from cardiovascular stress, better sleep, fewer colds, and a greater sense of overall happiness. The good news is not only that positive attitudes—such as playfulness, gratitude, awe, love, interest, serenity, and feeling connected to others—have a direct impact on health and wellbeing, but that we can develop them ourselves with practice.

However, in our wish to defend against threat and loss in life, we tend to prioritize bad over good.While this is a tidy survival mechanism for someone who needs to stay hyper vigilant in a dangerous environment, the truth is that for most of us, this "negativity bias" means that we spend time ruminating over the minor frustrations we experience—bad traffic, a disagreement with a loved one—and ignoring the many chances we have to experience wonder, awe, and gratitude throughout the day.

Fredrickson has calculated that in order to offset the negativity bias and experience a harmonious emotional state, we need to experience three positive emotions for every negative one. This, she claims, can be done intentionally for those of us less “wired” to positivity.  These positive emotions literally reverse the physical effects of negativity and build up psychological resources that contribute to a flourishing life.

Forgiveness

The attitude of forgiveness—fully accepting that a negative circumstance has occurred and relinquishing negative feelings surrounding the event—can be learned and can lead us to experience better mental, emotional and physical health. The Stanford Forgiveness Project trained 260 adults in forgiveness in a 6-week course.

• 70% reported a decrease in their feelings of hurt
• 13% experienced reduced anger
• 27% experienced fewer physical complaints (for example, pain, gastrointestinal upset, dizziness, etc.)

The practice of forgiveness has also been linked to better immune function and a longer lifespan. Other studies have shown that forgiveness has more than just a metaphorical effect on the heart: it can actually lower our blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health as well.

Gratitude

Acknowledging the good aspects of life and giving thanks have a powerful impact on emotional wellbeing. In a landmark study, people who were asked to count their blessings felt happier, exercised more, had fewer physical complaints, and slept better than those who created lists of hassles.

Brené Brown has found that there is a relationship between joy and gratitude, but with a surprising twist: it’s not joy that makes us grateful, but gratitude that makes us joyful. 

Emotional resilience

Dr. Andrew Weil describes resilience as being like a rubber band—no matter how far a resilient person is stretched or pulled by negative emotions, he or she has the ability to bounce back to his or her original state. Resilient people are able to experience tough emotions like pain, sorrow, frustration, and grief without falling apart—in fact, some people are able to look at challenging times with optimism and hope, knowing that their hardships will lead to personal growth and an expanded outlook on life.

Resilient people do not deny the pain or suffering they are experiencing; rather, they retain a sense of positivity that helps them overcome the negative effects of their situation. Positive emotions have a scientific purpose—to help the body recover from the ill effects of negative emotions. Thus cultivating positivity over time can help us become more resilient in the face of crisis or stress.

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Expert Contributor: 

 Karen Lawson, MD

Reviewed by: 

 Archelle Georgiou, MD; Kate Hathaway, PhD; Sue Towey, RN, CNS, MS, LP