The Most Effective Ways To Reduce Stress

Increased stress is responsible for a whole host of health-related concerns and most of us are all too familiar with the negative impact that stress has on us, not just physically and mentally, but emotionally as well. Removing stress completely is an impossible feat and truth be told, stress in small doses is actually beneficial to us as human beings. The problem lies when we stay in that heightened, stressed-out state for long periods of time, not knowing how to turn cortisol up and down, like the volume of a podcast.

In this article, I’m sharing a few of the most effective ways to reduce stress naturally. First though, it’s important to understand what’s going on inside the body to be able to increase & decrease cortisol …

Our sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is responsible for turning on the “fight or flight response”, just as our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) turns it off. The PNS helps the body conserve energy and rest. 

To reduce stress naturally, you need to know how to downregulate your SNS and upregulate your PNS - 

Upregulating the PNS is so ridiculously simple. The problem though, is that it’s almost too simple that we don’t take it seriously and we certainly don’t do it enough. You can fire up your PNS through diaphragmatic breathing - the longer & slower the exhalation, the better the PNS engages. So if you breathe in for a count of 3, you want to exhale for at least a count of 6 - double the length of time it took to inhale. Today, most adults are running around shallow breathing meaning that our chests are the only part of our body to expand when breathing in. If you stop and watch a baby or child breathe, you’ll notice that their belly inflates as they inhale - this is diaphragmatic breathing.

There are many ways to essentially downregulate your SNS. The 2 most effective are 1). by limiting your caffeine intake and 2). to explore your perception of pressure. 

Exploring your perception of pressure refers to the fact that we’ve made emails, replying to text messages, running late, cooking meals for our loved ones and even grocery shopping pressure … is this really pressure though?! Having perspective and a sense of gratitude is one of the most effective ways change what you consider to be “stressful”, which in turn affects your stress response. Can you flip your perception of pressure and practice this flip as much as possible? Rather than seeing grocery shopping as a negative experience that chews up valuable time & energy and constantly shows up on your to-do list, can you start to think - I’m so grateful to have access to an abundance of nutritious food to fuel my body well? Instead of reluctantly opening your emails, can you appreciate the fact that we have amazing technology in place that allows us instant access to people worldwide?

In society today, most of us feel stressed, not because of stressful events but because we’ve made almost every event stressful because of the way we’ve perceived/ thought about it. Exploring and become aware of your own perception of pressure is a great way to downregulate your SNS.

Some other helpful considerations are -

Replace Coffee with Matcha/ Decaf Coffee

Matcha contains l-theanine - a rare amino acid that promotes relaxation, supports the adrenal system and the way your body reacts to stress. Both Matcha & Decaffeinated Coffee still contain caffeine, however the amount is a lot less than a standard shot of coffee.

Eat An Anti-Inflammatory Diet

An anti-inflammatory diet consists mostly of plant-based foods, lean proteins, healthy fats and support your diet with good supplements such as turmeric, ginger, vitamin C and probiotics

Swap High Impact Workouts for Low Impact Workouts

High impact workouts are a sure-fire way to increase the cortisol in your body. Exercise is a form of stress on the body, so if you’re already feeling burnt out and stressed, choosing low impact movement such as Low Impact Workouts, Pilates or Yoga is an effective way to reduce inflammation, water retention and the lower belly bulge.

Unplug From Technology

The constant texts, emails, phone calls and notifications actually release cortisol by keeping our brains on “high alert” and increase your feelings of distraction which I’ve just shared is a type of perceived ‘pressure’ for a lot of us. 

Get Enough Good Quality Sleep

Adrenal glands recover best when we go to bed between 9 and 10pm. This helps to avoid the late evening cortisol spike. 

Tidy Your Environment

Again another form of perceived pressure for a lot of women is an untidy environment. Organise work & living spaces to be clutter-free. Remove some of the load from your brain. Plan your week ahead using a planner, prioritise your tasks & aim to focus on one at a time. Finally, ensure you are delegating tasks if ever feeling overwhelmed.

In summary, the most effective ways to reduce stress are to upregulate your PNS through diaphragmatic breathing as often as possible throughout the day, whilst downregulating your SNS by limiting your caffeine intake and exploring your perception of pressure.