As we grow as professionals and people in this world, Stress be it mental, emotional or physical is bound to catch up with you. There is a definite need to address this build up and it takes a lot of practise to manage stress so that one can save oneself from physical manifestations of high levels of Stress bottled up in brains and hearts.

There are few things which, I had picked years ago after reading books, observing people and talking to my mentors and well-wishers. One thing, which I have realised and would like to make everyone aware is that, there is no one-way to do it. One must analyse the sources of stress and tackle them in their own way. The sooner you figure out, happier your life could be. The following article is going to give you some pointers (not exhaustive nor preaching) which one could try to manage and sometimes escape from stressors of our mundane life.

Fake it Till You Make it

It seems there is some science behind the idea that you can “fake it ‘til you make it”. Smiling is a way to relieve stress and it works by convincing your body that you aren’t stressed at all. When you smile, you create the face shapes we naturally make when we’re happy. When you’re faking it, you trick your brain into reducing your stress levels. While it’s not recommended to hide your feelings, sometimes, you just have to get through it.

Many studies have proven that when we smile through stressful situations the intensity of our stress response reduces. It is especially beneficial for our cardiovascular systems, including the heart. So wear a Smile 🙂

Socializing with wearing a smile not only helps you but also helps the one watching you relieve certain amount of stress.

Spend time with a Baby

This realisation came to me when I became father. Watching my baby play without any worry about the world. The smile he gives when he sees me not only melts your heart, but also reassures you that ‘Everything is going to be Okay’. I think that’s why babies are born with beautiful heart and soul.

Having said that, I have tried with other kids watching them in play areas. Their smiles, laughter and banters relieve a lot of stress from your body. I think that is one of the key reasons why women have longer life expectancy than men. Naturally, they do spend more time with them.

Do Some Chores

Deep down, we all know that procrastinating only creates more stress, but it doesn’t stop us from doing it. Research has now shown that putting off tasks is bad for our health! Cleaning can be a great way to relieve stress. This study recommends washing dishes. Despite finding it hard to motivate ourselves to do it, once we start cleaning, our stress levels do decrease rapidly.

Scientists believe this could be down to the repetitive nature of the movements that cleaning requires. When we repeat an easy action over and over again, we start to do it on autopilot, allowing our minds to switch off and rest.

Sometimes, the world can seem a little out of control. Scientists have suggested that cleaning and organizing our own spaces can help us to feel some element of control. Finding a sense of control is a good way to relieve stress.

Being with the Nature

We all know that being in nature is a great way to relieve stress, but studies show that simply being in the presence of a plant is good enough. Having plants around makes people more productive, positively enabled and feel more focused on their work. They even recorded participants’ blood pressure lowering in the presence of plants.

A study has also been carried out into the effects of plants on hospital patients’ healing. The presence of plants in a medical environment improves patients’ well-being and does help to speed up recovery. Even seeing photos of plants relieve stress.

So, next time if you feel stressed out try reaching out the nearest park or a garden or even beach to calm down your nerves.

Listening to Classical music

Classical music be it Western or Indian, has helped me tremendously to manage my stress levels. Classical music which has been around for centuries generally uses natural instruments. These instruments reverberate with natural frequencies which have calming effect on our brains and hearts. Popularly, Classical music is recommended to pregnant ladies for calming their babies and themselves. For me, I have grown to appreciate Yanni, Mozart, Beethoven Choir music or even good classical AR Rehman tracks depending on my mood to calm the heat down.

Develop a Hobby

Easy said than done, developing a hobby and investing your limited time and energy is also one way to look at stress management. I try using it from time-to-time basis. As hobby, I like to travel long and distant places with flair of collecting art from the streets. This helps to take the focus off from the daily problems and helps me alleviate the mental energy to come back and perform better to address my shortcomings in life.

In conclusion, what I can say is the sources of stress in your lives are going to be there. They are not going anywhere, it is better to accept them and learn to deal with them accordingly. Some of the sources you can escape but some you cannot. The ones which you cannot are the ones most troublesome for your metal and physical health. As I said earlier, there is no one prescribed way for it. Invest time and energy to figure this aspect of your life.

Nihit Mohan