Divorce can be a testing time, and while you wait for me to get back to you, here are my six steps to help when feeling stressed.
1. Exercise
Position physical exercise into your day as it is very effective in relieving stress. Even just going out and getting some air or activities like going for a walk can really help. Adriene yoga is good too - especially her exercises on how to calm your mind.
2. Eating healthily
There is a growing amount of evidence showing how food affects our mood and how eating healthily can improve this. You can protect your feelings of wellbeing by ensuring that your diet provides adequate amounts of brain nutrients such as essential vitamins and minerals, as well as water and mood foods such as raspberries and blueberries. Healthline has a great feature on foods that can boost your spirits.
3. Being mindful
Mindfulness is an approach much talked about of late. It involves paying attention to our feelings and thoughts in a way that increases our ability to manage situations and make wise choices. So, try to practice mindfulness regularly - it can be done at any time. Research has suggested that it can also reduce the effects of stress, anxiety, and problems such as insomnia and low moods. The Be Mindful website features a great course on how to get better at this.
4. Getting good sleep
Lack of sleep is a common problem when you are stressed, and this then impacts on our ability to make decisions. The best way to improve your sleep is by amending your environment - a cold room really helps. And if you can't sleep often it's better to get up instead of worrying all night long. Small changes to your pattern will always help. For full details on tips on getting a good night’s sleep read my blog post here.
5. Reducing Caffeine consumption
Caffeine is a stimulant found in coffee, chocolate, tea and energy drinks. If you take it in high doses it increases anxiety, especially as people have different thresholds. If you notice yourself getting anxious or jittery cut back.
6. Writing things down
A good way to handle stress is by writing things down - be it what's causing your stress or what you are grateful for. Gratitude often helps ease and alleviate stress and helps you to focus on the more positive things in life. Wiki how has a great guide to journaling
I'll be in touch very soon
