10 Simple Ways to Tackle Stress in Your Life

Lack of Self Care in our world is a real problem….

As a society, we just do not know how to slow down…. alarm clock goes off, we rush to work, get the kids to school, clean the house, make dinner, and so on… and then we hit a brick wall and veg out on Netflix … Anyone else guilty of that?...

We all know that Stress has a HUGE impact on our Health

Let’s break down what physically happens when you're stressed?

Your adrenal glands go into overdrive and your cortisol levels go up. High levels of cortisol cause the body to scavenge for protein to convert into glucose to provide energy for your brain to deal with the perceived stress.

Any type of stress will cause the adrenal glands to react, and your cortisol levels go up!

When cortisol is produced too frequently, it can have negative health consequences such as feelings of fatigue, difficulty maintaining healthy weight, and even heart health. Stress definitely affects our physical health in a big way.

Have you heard of CortiStop? CortiStop is designed to address your body's reaction to the cortisol produced when under stress. It has herbs and essential oils that help to NATURALLY balance the stress response by calming the body and lowering cortisol levels. As cortisol declines, strength and energy return, and the body moves back to a state of equilibrium. Which is what we want!

Now that we know what happens when we are stressed... Let's answer the question... "What is Self Care?"

Usually we picture a bubble bath, a massage, a pedicure… which all sound lovely!!!...but....

I’m not sure about you, my life is pretty busy, and those are things that I usually don’t make time for in my typical day. And Self Care is something that we need to be doing everyday.

Self Care is more about giving your mind time to pause.

Do you ever jump in the shower or lay down to go to bed and your mind is running 100 miles an hour? Your body has stopped moving, but your mind is still going.

If you can relate... here are 10 ways to stress less and incorporate self care into your everyday life

Put your phone down; take a phone break…. If you are feeling stressed or anxious, I promise that looking at the drama on Facebook or Instagram is not going to help. Take an hour or two to not worry about those calls, texts, or notifications.

Deep Breathing- Most of us are shallow breathers. Practicing good breathing is so good for your overall health. Deep Breathing is something that I love to do when I feel like I’m starting to stress out. I even have my kids do this when they are getting big emotions. Bonus, grab an essential oil and put a drop in your hands; cup your hands over your face and deep breath.

Gratitude - Start or end your day by writing down three things that happened in the last 24 hours that you are thankful for. It is amazing how taking a few minutes to focus on the small things can give you a whole positive outlook on your day. I loved how this helped me so much; I created a gratitude journal of my own. Check it out HERE

Sleep - Getting a good nights sleep is the best type of self care! When we don't get a good nights sleep, we don't feel good, and struggle to stay motivated throughout our day. A few sleep tips - turn off screens an hour before bed time, read instead of watch tv before bed, turn on your diffuser at bed time with your favorite relaxing essential oils.

Gut Health - 90% of Serotonin is produced in the gut! Serotonin is your feel good hormone! So when you have lots of your happy hormone pumping, you definitely feel better and that for sure is self care.

Dr. Uma Naidoo has a great book called "This is your brain on food". She shared a study of a group of people that for 4 weeks were treated with a probiotic. The study showed that these people had similar results to those treated with Prozac. That is mind blowing! If someone had the choice of taking Prozac vs. a probiotic, of course they would want the probiotic.

And 70% of your immune system is in your gut, so that’s another reason that gut health is so important.

So for all the things we do that damage our gut health, it is so important to build it back up! Enzymes and probiotics! Click HERE to read my full blog post on how your Gut Health affects your Mental Health.

Journal- Stop and write down your thoughts. It is amazing how getting things out on paper can release stress.

Go for a walk, enjoy some quiet time in the fresh air.

Guided meditation & prayer - Have you tried to have some quiet time and your mind starts wandering to all the things on your to do list? Guided meditations have been something that I have found to help my mind calm down in the evenings. There are some great Guided meditation podcasts; Abide is a great faith based one that is one of my favorites to listen to at bedtime.

Detox Bath - When you do have time for that bubble bath, elevate it a little bit by adding some Epsom salts and your favorite essential oil. Epsom salts have magnesium, which is great for your overall health, but is also very relaxing. Get a scoop of Epsom salts and drop a few drops of your favorite essential oil, then dump in the warm bath water.

Nutrition - When you don’t feel good, you don’t feel happy. When your body is not getting the right nutrition that it needs, you don’t feel good. We all have nutritional gaps, that when we fill them with good quality nutrition, it makes all the difference! Start adding in more fresh foods; less boxed. HERE are a few of my fav Nutrition easy buttons.

Start incorporating some of these into your life and see how much better you feel. Small changes can make a big impact.