Ways to Manage Stress

Being in college, planning a wedding, and having anxiety are all things that cause my stress levels to be higher than they should so these past few months I have tried countless things to help me manage my stress. Since I know so many people experience stress in their everyday lives I thought I would share what has worked to help me in managing my stress.

magnesium supplements

This is the first thing I used to help manage my stress and anxiety. One of the main causes of stress is low magnesium levels because magnesium is the compound that your body uses to regulate stress, so when you have low magnesium you have higher stress levels. By using supplements to replenish that depleting magnesium it causes you to be less stressed. I use the Nature Made Magnesium in 250 mg. When I was consistently stressed I would take one of these every morning and one before bed, but now I just take 1-2 when I feel myself getting stressed or anxious. There are so many brands of magnesium supplements and I did not research which ones were best, I just get these from my local Rite Aid, but they work for me.

Cut back on caffeine

This was one of the hardest for me because coffee is my absolute favorite thing. I got to a point where having 2-3 coffees a day was normal but I realized that it was enhancing my stress and anxiety. Since caffeine is a stimulant, it naturally stimulates your brain and therefore adds to your preexisting stress. For me, I did not cut out caffeine entirely but I did change my routine. Instead of having a cup of coffee in the morning and a cup of coffee in the afternoon, I started only having coffee in the afternoon after eating 2 full meals. This helped the caffeine effect me less because I had a full stomach and I was already half way through my day hence less stress about the day ahead. Keep in mind though, every person is different and I am by no means a professional I am just sharing what worked for me.

Get on a sleep schedule

This is probably one of the most important things I did because it doesn’t just help with stress, it helps with your overall health both mentally and physically. Studies show that adult brains need 7-9 hours of sleep in order to function productively which I know can be hard when you are in school and/or working so that is why a planned and intentional sleep schedule is so important. Sleep is your body’s time to heal so it is crucial that you give your body that time. One thing that helped me was setting a time that was the absolute latest I could go to bed (taking into consideration when I would get up the next day). For me, I like to wake up between 7 and 8am every morning so I told myself that the latest I could stay up was 12 so that I could get a full 7-8 hours of sleep. Once I started sleeping on a schedule and sleeping just more in general I noticed a huge difference in my overall performance and mental health. If I struggle to fall asleep, I will take a melatonin supplement (I use Nature Made Melatonin in 5mg also available at Rite Aid). I really can not stress this enough: SLEEP IS IMPORTANT.

breathing exercises

This one is the most useful for when you are already stressed or anxious. This was actually introduced to me by my Apple Watch series 3, because since it tracks your heart rate, whenever my heart rate starts to increase when I am inactive it prompts me to go through a guided breathing exercise to lower my heart rate. The guided breathing exercise is similar to the breathe in for 4 counts and out for 8 counts approach that is quite common. After a few weeks of this, I was able to sense when my heart rate was increasing even without my Apple Watch and do those breathing exercises on my own which has been very helpful in helping me to control my body and how I react to stress.

Prayer / bible study

I know not everyone on here is a Christian, but this is something that genuinely helps me decrease stress because it reminds me that I can give it to God and trust him to take control of the things causing me stress. By praying and spending time in God’s word I am reminded that God is in control so there isn’t a reason to be worried by things I can’t change. One of my favorite Bible studies that I ever did was about how to reduce stress it was called No Worries. The study went over stories in the Bible of exactly what God says about stress and worry and it is honestly such a game changer for Bible believing Christians. It is such an amazing study and I can’t recommend it enough.

music

This is one that is incredibly simple but it works. Never underestimate the power of just listening to some calming or happy music and just meditating on joy. Some of my favorite things to listen to when I am trying to destress are classical music, worship songs, and any up beat feel good songs. Listening to things like this helps me to refocus and remind myself to choose joy over worry. I am sure you have heard the saying “Mind over Matter” but it really does work, your mindset is everything.

Reading

Last but not least: reading. This is one that I tend to not take advantage of as much as I should because I tend to get distracted or bored easily while trying to focus on reading. Since I started college I have been trying to focus more on reading for pleasure so two of the books I am reading right now are Grace not Perfection which is a book about finding contentment and joy instead of trying to be perfect, and the other is HER which is a poetry book (I linked the Amazon page for both of these books but I actually bought mine both in store at Target if you want to just check your local store). Both of these books have been helping me ease back into reading for pleasure and I love it! I already have some books lined up for once I’m done with these.

I hope this is helpful to you, I know everyone is different so what works for me may not work for you but I hope that at least one of these tips can help you to manage your stress because I am so much happier and healthier now that I have learned how to manage my stress.