Strategies for Reducing Stress in your Life

Stress is a toxic condition that negatively impacts an individual's mental and physical health. Doctors and other medical professionals have attributed many serious illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and obesity to stress.

Hence, it is imperative that every individual define a strategy for reducing their daily level of stress. By doing so, each individual will live not only a healthier and longer life, but a life that is filled with a higher level of fulfillment and happiness. Below is a list of a few strategies that can be incorporated into virtually anyone's life to reduce their daily level of stress.

Schedule Your Tasks

With most individuals living a life that is very fast paced and hectic, just thinking about all the items that must be tended to in a day, a week or a month is enough to raise a person's stress level. One strategy for reducing stress in an individual's life is to schedule the items that must be completed based on their importance, level of urgency and consequences. For example, most individuals have a job at which they work.

It is extremely important that the individual go to work each day and that they arrive on time and complete the work that needs to be completed each day. Each individual needs to define a strategy that supports the time that an individual is at work.

For instance, if an individual has children that they need to assist in getting ready for school in the morning, and pick up after school, then they need to define a strategy that supports these items and provides a high level of confidence that the strategy will operate correctly day in and day out.

In many cases, it may be advised that the individual break the tasks into manageable pieces and address them throughout the day and week. For instance, an individual may find that they have a high level of stress associated with moving to a new apartment or home.

One strategy may be to break the entire process of moving into a new apartment or home into smaller tasks and define a timeline for addressing each of the associated tasks. For example, an individual may schedule the forwarding of their new address and getting their utilities connected at their new residence for Monday during their lunch break.

Furthermore, the individual may schedule the moving of their personal belongings to their new residence on a day where they do not work at their job. By breaking larger tasks into smaller action items and then prioritizing the action items based on importance, urgency and consequences, an individual will increase their level of confidence, control and the belief that they can complete the tasks.

Concentrate on One Thing at a Time

Not only is it unproductive to try to simultaneously work on several tasks at the same time, this approach also contributes to increasing the level of stress in an individual's life. Most individuals tend to feel out-of-control when they have too many action items and not enough time to complete any of them.

In other words, once an individual gets to the point where they are juggling too many action items and not completing any of them in a timely manner, the individual's stress level begins to rise.

It is highly recommended that each individual try to make an effort to clear their mind, concentrate, and focus on a sub-set of all the tasks that they need to complete. For some individuals, this may mean focusing on one action item at a time, and for some individuals it may mean focusing on 3 or 4 items instead of 8 to 10 items.

In addition, creating a schedule for all of an individual's action items can be an excellent strategy. For example, an individual may schedule their grocery shopping for every Thursday after work, their laundry for every Saturday morning, and their fitness routine for every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during their lunch break. By doing so, the individual will be able to reduce the stress level associated with each of the action items and simply perform the tasks at their predefined and scheduled timeframe.

Delegate Responsibility

Embarking on an action item list that is larger than an individual can reasonably accomplish is a surefire way to increase the stress in your life. One strategy to accomplishing large action item lists in an efficient timeframe is to delegate several of the action items to other individuals. For instance, delegate certain action items associated with your home environment to your spouse and/or children. In other words, if one of the children is old enough, have them mow the yard, do the laundry, clean the dishes or vacuum the house. Likewise, it is important that an individual work with his or her peers at work to ensure that the workload is adequately assigned to reasonably level the workload among the individuals involved.

In some instances, it may be beneficial to solicit outside assistance for action items such as child care, lawn service, pool service and house cleaning.

Take Small Breaks

Taking small breaks throughout the day goes a long way toward reducing an individual's level of stress. In other words, each individual should take a few moments to relax the mind and the body throughout the day. By doing so, the individual will allow their mind and body to calm for a brief time before jumping into the next task.

One of the primary reasons for stress in an individual's life is that they feel that they have a seemingly endless list of action items that need to be completed. An appropriate strategy might be to take a short nap, take the time to sit down for a nutritional meal, read a chapter from an interesting book, participate in a yoga class, or take a short break and meditate.

Exercise Regularly

In addition to the purely physical benefits of exercise, exercise also positively impacts an individual's mental health and stability. Exercising regularly promotes improved sleep patterns, increased levels of energy and stamina, higher levels of self-confidence and self-esteem, and an increased level of mental centering and calmness. In addition, exercise releases endorphins that calm the mind and create an overall sense of well-being.

Consume a Healthy Diet

Just as with any living creature, a healthy diet is imperative to your good health. The food that an individual consumes must provide the fuel for all bodily functions that occur. Several studies have shown that children in school that consume a healthy breakfast perform better on tests and have an increased attention span when compared to children that do not eat breakfast.

The human body is designed to optimally function, both mentally and physically, when it is fed with highly nutritious and healthy foods. The importance of this strategy for lowering an individual's stress level cannot be overstated.

Define a Quiet Time

Another strategy for creating a living environment that reduces an individual's stress level is to define a couple of time intervals each day where you can slow down and relax. For some individuals, this may mean taking a hot bath in the evening. For others, it may mean practicing yoga three or four times a week. Still others may find that relaxing and listening to their favorite music or reading a book creates an environment of calmness.

When it comes to defining what types of activities you enjoy and consider to be relaxing and calming it is completely up to you. The overall objective is to create a lifestyle where you have time, on a regular basis, to actually partake in those activities. In addition, remember that the activities that you choose should be designed and targeted to relax both your mind and your body.

Although stress sometimes seems to have become unavoidable in modern life, there are several strategies that an individual can employ to reduce their personal stress level. Our hope is that this article has provided a few strategies and tips that each and every individual can incorporate into their personal life situation and, in the end, find that their life is filled with good health, fitness and mental well-being.