PEAKLIFE

Here are some simple things that should be adapted in our day to day lives, to keep ourselves calm and focused. Practicing them regularly keeps stress at bay and helps you lead a healthy life.

Focus on your breathing

This is a simple, yet powerful technique used in many cultures around the world and often a key point of meditation. By focusing on long and slow breaths, you can disengage from the more stressful and anxiety-inducing thoughts brought on in the day.

By breathing deeply, you fill the lungs, something we often don’t do in our day to day lives as most of us execute shallow breathing. The full breath allows for an increased oxygen exchange which in turn slows the heartbeat and reduces blood pressure, making you feel relaxed.

Meditation

Meditation is not just for Buddhist monks and can be a great technique in relieving the stress of daily life as well as being a great technique for helping you achieve peaceful sleep.

Focusing on your body and breathing and clearing your mind of all thoughts is a proven activity for relieving stress. Even if you only have a few minutes, this is a technique worth practicing with more and more scientific backing being brought to light proving its effectiveness in helping with anxiety and depression.

Exercise

Exercise has many well-known health benefits not just for the physical body but the mind as well. When we exercise our body releases endorphins which give us a ‘high’ making us feel good and calming us down. Doing regular exercise has been shown to reduce the level of stress hormones in the body and slow down the heart rate making it a great technique for relaxation.

Something as simple as going for a short jog or walk will leave you feeling healthier, happier and take your mind off the stress of your day allowing you to relax.

Listen to music

Music is a powerful tool, when listening to it you might often note the effect that it has on your mood. If you’ve had a stressful day, sticking on calming melody is a simple relaxation technique that will reduce your stress level.

A good song can bring back happy memories of transport you to a different and more calming place in your mind. Music therapy is becoming more and more accepted among the medical community as a productive way of improving patient’s mental health through reduced levels of stress and anxiety.

A cup of tea

This one might seem a little ridiculous or clichéd but sticking on the kettle and having a nice cup of tea can do wonders to relax you.

UCL have even done a study that showed black tea could reduce the stress hormone level in the body. The study showed that participants who drank tea were calmer in stressful situations than the participants that had had no tea but had a placebo instead.

There are some different teas you can try if black tea is not for you may people also swear by the calming effect of teas like green tea and camomile tea.