Natural Ways to Relieve Stress that Actually Work

We all have stress in our lives on some level. No matter what your stress levels may be, dealing with stress is important to both you mental and physical health. You may not be able to change the situation that caused stress, but you can control the way you deal with stress. Research conducted by Atsushi Hozawa at Tohoku University suggests that something as simple as drinking five cups of green tea day could reduce up to 20% of psychological distress.

Reading Can Help Reduce Stress:

Findings by the University of Sussex show that reading even six minutes can be enough to reduce the stress levels to a great extent, and helps the mind to relax. This is because while reading the human mind has to concentrate on reading and the distraction eases the tensions in muscles and the heart. The participants in the study only needed to read, silently, for six minutes to relax and relieve themselves from stress by slowing down their heart rate. Make a habit of carrying a book everywhere you go, in case you get stressed out take a quick read at it.

Vitamin C:

Several studies and researchers have concluded that vitamin C reduced physical and mental responses to stress by milder increases in blood pressure. These milder changes in blood pressure allowed stress hormone levels to fall back to normal much faster. University of Maryland Medical Center suggests that intake of large doses of vitamin C (up to 3,000 mg per day) can reduce stress to a considerable amount.

Get a Dog:

New research from Virginia Commonwealth University concluded that bringing your dog to work could help you to lower office stress, and boosts employee satisfaction. This study was published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management. The people included in the research also mentioned, “having dogs here is great stress relief.”

Laugh Your Stress Away:

A 1989 study in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences says that neuroendocrine and stress hormone levels change during mirthful laughter. You don’t have to bite your nails or pull your hair, all you have to do is laugh. No wonder people said laughter is the best medicine. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic say, “Stress relief from laughter? It’s no joke“. Laughter relieves your stress response and soothes tension.

Time For Some Gardening:

A study conducted in the Netherlands suggests that ‘gardening can fight stress even better than other relaxing leisure activities’. Also, you could get some fresh vegetables and fruits while your stress is getting relieved.

In a BHG.com online survey of 1,340 respondents, nearly 60 percent of respondents say gardening relaxes them. There’s no harm in doing a little gardening if it could cause drastic changes in your stress levels.
Read: 15 Ways To Cope With Stress

Chocolate Reduces Stress:

A study found that people who were highly stressed had lower levels of stress hormones after eating chocolate every day for two weeks. That doesn’t sound like a terrible way to relieve stress at all!

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