By Schuyler Corrigan

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April 22, 2024

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Stress management and self-care do not have to take much time to be effective. Often, the small habits and reactions we implement throughout our day make the biggest impact on our stress levels. For example, we can get upset, stressed, and angry when sitting in traffic or when something starts to burn on the stove. Or we can start to notice our choices about how we react to microstressors and choose a calm response one at a time. This is a challenging self-practice in mindfulness and shifting behaviors, but it can positively impact our daily functioning and mental health. Here are a few of our tips for micro approaches to stress management that you can start to use throughout your week:

 

• Create ‘cues’ during your day to take deep breaths. We carry a lot of stress and tension in our chest, shoulders, and digestive tracts. When we stop for 10 seconds to take a deep breath, it’s remarkable to notice how tight our body is and how much looser it feels after that long breath. Take a deep breath to fill your lungs, hold it for three seconds, then slowly exhale for 5 seconds. Here are a few deep breath cues:
  • At every red light
  • Right after you brush your teeth
  • When you get a text notification from a specific person
  • The moment you start preparing a meal
  • The moment you turn the light off to go to sleep at night

• Notice one stressful trigger during your day and choose to respond a little differently. For example, if you feel stressed when receiving email notifications, when you have to make a phone call, or when starting the bedtime routine with your kids, gently try quieting your thoughts and moving through these triggers with a bit calmer. This can be very challenging at first, but it’s good practice to notice how quickly our body defaults into fight-or-flight mode and how much control we have to change it. Again, choose only one trigger to try moving through differently actively, then the next week, choose one more. 

 

Read more: Taking Care of Parents: Seasonal Stress Support

 

• Spend 5 minutes outside every hour or two, at least. So many of us spend the entire day in front of a screen, and our vision and mental state can feel constricted and frazzled. Step outside to look at the sky, take a long breath, and feel the sun on your face and the fresh air. Again, even a small amount of time to shift our visual perception and feel more expansiveness can relax the nervous system and offer a brief sense of renewal. 

 

• When possible, delegate and step back. Understandably, we feel stressed because we have too much on our plates and sometimes no one else to share the load. However, notice if you take on too much because you want to control the outcomes to your liking. There is a fine line between relinquishing control to gain more time while appreciating the completion from another perspective. Practice with small things first.

 

Read more: Managing Stress While Working from Home

 

If you need support managing stress in your life or the impacts of stress on your health, contact our office to connect with one of our naturopathic doctors. We would be happy to have an in-depth conversation with you about how best to navigate the impacts of stress in your life and offer personalized support. 

 

Additional Information: 

Stress & Health: Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinants