Want to relax more and feel better? Here are some great tips to do so.
- Wake up early
Consider waking up earlier that everybody else in the house and before you have to start dealing with the demands of the day. Prepare yourself a warm, relaxing cup of coffee or tea. All this will help you to relax your mind and body, think about the day ahead, and collect your thoughts.
- Indulge a little
While eating as an escape is not recommended, scientific evidence shows that an average-sized dark chocolate bar eaten daily over two weeks can help reduce your stress hormone levels and make you feel calmer.
Foods rich in complex carbohydrates, calcium, or healthy fats have been found to be beneficial to your mental health.
Starchy vegetables, pasta, and whole-grain bread have plenty of complex carbohydrates that increase your energy levels and stimulate the release of serotonin in the brain, which produces a calming effect.
To increase your calcium intake consider foods like soy products, leafy vegetables, and milk. Calcium is beneficial in alleviating anxiety and tension.
Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids like seeds, nuts, and fish can help keep your stress hormones under control.
- Breathing exercises
Perhaps the easiest way to relax and calm your mind and body is breathing – exhaling longer than you breathe. Take a 5-second deep breath, hold, then exhale for 7 seconds. Do this about twenty times in a row. Doing so initiates a chemical change in your brain that slows down your heart rate.
If you are feeling tired, doing this action in reverse (inhaling longer than you exhale) will help give you a boost of energy. Besides breathing exercises, you can also consider other activities like yoga and meditation. CBD Supply UK stock a variety of CBD to help with anxiety.
- Get physical
According to scientific evidence, physical exercise stimulates the release of endorphins which induce a positive feeling in the body. Something as simple as a 10-minute walk a day helps to improve your heart rate, lower your stress levels, and make you feel better overall. You’ll also benefit from a bout of fresh air and sunshine.
- Laugh it off
There is nothing as stressful and frustrating as dealing with uncontrollable children or pets. Perhaps your dog is barking incessantly at some unforeseen threat or your child is throwing away food, and you are just about to lose your mind. But rather than reacting to your immediate feelings, you can take a step back and just laugh it off. Laughing is known is to lower stress and anxiety. Try to find humor in the absurdity of the moment.
- Document the moment
Another way to avoid reacting to your emotions is to document the moment. Use your cell phone to take a video or picture of the madness. This will give you time to calm down first and also capture a humorous moment that you can laugh about later.
But of course, you will need to act fast and take necessary action if someone is hurt or is in trouble.
- Set aside some “me time”
If your children are active throughout the day and are no longer interested in naps, you will need to set some ground rules establishing a mandatory quiet time during the day. Here, they can play with quiet toys, lay down, or go through some picture books. Utilize this time to calm down, relax, and recharge yourself.
- Stay positive
Dinner time is one of the best times to discuss the best things that happened during of the day. Here, every family member is free to talk about their day. Try to identify at least three positive events. Sometimes we tend to overlook all the great things going on in our lives and those of our loved ones and focus more on the negative ones. Talking about positive experiences will help lower your stress levels and keep you optimistic. In addition, it will benefit everyone to hear about each other’s good happenings in their life.
- Think back to great moments
Reminiscing the “good old days” is one of the best ways to calm your thoughts. For added impact, take out and go through an album containing old photos. Seeing your kids as toddlers or yourself with friends in college is sure to make you smile, laugh, and cal down.
- Engage in some fun activities
You can consider setting aside time for games or some fun family activities after dinner. Not only will these activities help strengthen your bond with the children, but will also help to keep your mind off stressful thoughts. Games and fun activities are much more beneficial than slumping on the sofa watching TV.