Throughout the day, your bodies tell you what it needs. Your stomachs will growl, your mouths will yawn or your feet will hurt and you’ll know what it is your bodies need. Physical health is obviously important. If you’re unhealthy, you can’t perform necessary every day tasks. Being tired or hungry can severely impair you in negative ways. However, in the previous article, we discussed how holistic living plays a role in the mind, body, and spirit. It’s important to know your mental and emotional health can affect your body and productivity levels, too. When you have high amounts of stress, it’s easy to develop unhealthy habits to deal with it, but there are more healthy coping mechanisms. With the use of natural remedies, you can reduce stress while creating a more mindful and productive lifestyle.
Use Stress-Relieving Essential Oils
A great introduction to manage stress in a holistic lifestyle is by using stress-relieving essential oils. Essential oils are easy to find and even make yourself. You can make them from the petals, leaves, and stems of a variety of plants, herbs, and flowers. Depending on the type of oil, you can use them topically, internally or aromatically.
Each oil has their own benefits, and there are many that help relieve stress. Chamomile, rose, ylang-ylang, lemon, orange, and bergamot are some of the finest essential oils for stress management. Lavender oil is a great example of an essential oil that is often used for a wide variety of remedies. Although it’s often used to promote relaxation and sleep, but it also has several other benefits, like stress relief and anxiety. To relieve stress, you can put a few drops of them in an essential oil diffuser, or add them to your bathwater. You can also mix it with a carrier oil for massages or make your own lotion!
Daily Habits That Help to Stress Relief
There are several daily routines that will help you decrease stress and fully embrace a holistic lifestyle. Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly can really benefit your stress levels. Changing your overall well-being will not restrict your lifestyle, but help balance the mind and body. A morning stretching routine or relaxing exercises like yoga and tai chi are great ways to begin.
Start incorporating productive daily habits into your routine. Regularly writing in a journal, reading or even turning off your phone are great for stress reduction. Some other habits that help with managing stress include meditating and practicing mindfulness.
The Bad Habits You Need to Break
You might have habits that are harming your health and holistic living by doing the exact opposite that you need. These may appear to be harmless, but they have a negative impact on your stress levels. If you use social media often, especially with mobile notifications on all of your devices, then you may suffer from constant sources of stress. There are many opportunities for more stress with social media. There might be negative or toxic updates. You might start comparing yourselves to others and become envious. Even the news can have a negative impact on your mental state.
Some other bad habits that you should break include emotional or stress eating and any poor sleeping habits. Decrease stress hormones by going to bed at a proper time and avoid phone or stimulant usage before bed. Avoiding people who are toxic to your mental health is also a great way to lower stress and anxiety.
Incorporate Adaptogens Into Your Life
Another natural remedy that helps with stress management is an adaptogen. These are herbal supplements that assist your adrenal glands in formulating our stress response. Sometimes you can’t simply have “less stress,” but the use of an adaptogen you can help support your body in stressful circumstances. Ashwagandha is a popular adaptogen used to combat stress.
Take a Walk Outside and Connect With Nature
Nature has a calming effect on the mind and helps you to focus on the present moment. It can also help to improve moods, anxiety disorders, while also acting as a stress reliever. Aside from stress relief, there are several advantages to spending time outside and interacting with nature. Spending time in nature also allows for physical activity, fresh air, and vitamin D exposure. Trees and plants increase creativity and productivity as well.
Embrace the Inevitable
Unfortunately, stress is unavoidable, but there are ways for you to this handle stress. In a holistic lifestyle, it’s important to find natural ways to reduce stress. These are simple tips, but when done correctly, will make a big difference. Do you think we missed any? What are some natural ways you reduce stress? Drop a comment below!
