Stress Kills Happiness – Easy Ways To Destress

It’s hard to be happy when you’re stressed. I don’t have to tell you that. I’m sure you’ve experienced it yourself. Think back on high-stress situations like missing a flight to go on vacation, or when you were planning your wedding and things got overwhelming and started to fall apart. Hopefully, you were able to recover and enjoy your time away or your wedding day, but chances are that you weren’t too happy while you were stressed out. Stress sucks the happiness and joy right out of us. 

It only makes sense then that one way to increase our happiness and our quality of life is to de-stress. Not only is it good for our soul, but it’s also good for our overall health and wellbeing to reduce the stress in our lives. Here are some simple things you can do to de-stress. 

Get Enough Sleep 

An easy way to stress less is to make sure you get a good seven to eight hours of sleep at night. When we don’t sleep well and don’t sleep enough, our bodies are in a constant state of stress, trying to make up for the lack of sleep. (and it really kills trying tp lose any weight!)

Sleep helps us relax and gives our mind time to process everything that’s been happening. Stop and get some sleep. You’ll get more done when you’re fresh and rested and you’ll be less stressed out. 

Move Around And Get Some Exercise 

Without a doubt, the best stress reliever is exercise. Start moving around and burn that stress right out of your system. If you can get outside to work out, even better. The fresh air and sunshine do wonders! Go for a run (if you like to run: I do not), or even just a short walk whenever you’re feeling stressed. For best results, work out regularly! 

Take Some “Me” Time 

There are times in our lives when we have to spend a lot of focus and attention on others. Maybe you are raising a toddler, or maybe you’re working hard to get a new company off the ground. Maybe it's taking care of your parents. Whatever it is, busy times like these that take a lot of our attention and time, it’s easy to forget about ourselves, or put our own personal needs last.

Make an effort to spend at least a little bit of “me” time each day. It doesn’t have to be much. Even ten minutes spent relaxing and doing something completely for you can be a great way to decompress and distress. Anything. Really. It's not selfish, because if you're gone, then no one will do all the things you were doing...

Practice Meditation

Let’s wrap this up with one last technique that can keep stress at bay. Try meditating. Again, you don’t have to spend a lot of time on this. Sitting quietly going through a guided meditation once a day can do wonders. Once you get in the habit of practicing meditation daily, and get better at it, you can draw on the techniques you’ve learned whenever you encounter a particularly stressful situation. You can spend a minute or two in meditation, even at the most stressful time and allow your mind to relax. Trust me, this will come in very handy when life throws you a curveball, or when you’re feeling completely overwhelmed.