Health and Well-Being: Is There a Difference Between ?
Health and well-being are buzzwords that have never been more prevalent than they are today. These words are often used together and have become fairly synonymous over time. Are health and well-being the same thing? If not, how do they intersect, and what are the foundations for good health and well-being? Let’s unpack the details below.
What is Health?
When looking for definitions of health and wellbeing, health is considered a state of being, where both mental and physical elements of the individual are without disease or injury. Physical health refers to living in a body that is capable, strong, and free of illness. Mental health refers to those same things, but in context of the mind. When you are mentally healthy, you are able to navigate life successfully, managing setbacks without debilitating stress or sadness. Together, mental and physical health influence all aspects of your life. In recent years, broadening definitions of health have contributed to this inclusion of better understanding mental health, and the recognition of public mental health as something integral to public health overall.
What is Well-Being?
Firstly, the concept of well-being sits outside the medical model of health. This is because to be with or without well-being is not considered a diagnosis. Well-being can be broadly defined as the maintenance of physical, mental and emotional stability and balance: feeling good and functioning well, rather than simply being free of illness. Identifying a state of physical and mental well-being points to the many varied subjective elements that are at play in individuals. For this reason, it is broadly accepted that there is both objective and subjective well-being.
Objective well-being is usually based on measurable human needs and rights, such as physical health, education, safety and food security. Subjective well-being – also called personal well-being – is measured by an individual’s report of aspects of their life, such as their emotional state, life satisfaction, and meaningfulness of their life.
How do Well-Being and Health Affect Each Other?
Health and well-being are intricately connected and are hard to separate when determining cause and effect. When physical and mental well-being suffers, it can negatively affect health, and vice versa. For example, stress can impede well-being, which in turn may increase your risk of chronic illness – poor physical health. Conversely, the presence of physical illness may negatively affect your overall well-being, even contributing to mental illness such as anxiety or depression. Again, the reverse can also be true: depression may cause physical symptoms in some people, such as a change in weight, gastrointestinal issues, or sexual dysfunction. The bottom line? It is impossible to maintain peak physical and mental health when well-being is suffering, and vice versa.
5 Quick Tips to Improve Health & Well-Being
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) developed the “Five Ways to Well-being” framework in 2008. This set of evidence-based actions to improve the mental health and wellbeing of the whole population is broadly recognized by governments and organizations and used in many different applications promoting good health and well-being.
The five instructions included in this framework are:
Be active: This includes participating in physical activities around you or finding a method of moving you like enough to practice daily or regularly.
Take notice: Being aware of what happens around you and engaging all your senses helps you to feel present. Trying something new each day can help to keep you stimulated and more likely to focus on the current moment, rather than ruminating about the past or future.
Give: Identifying those who need support, offering love and care where you can, and treating others with respect can enhance personal feelings of well-being.
Keep learning: Having a growth mind-set fosters curiosity and positive feelings. Do your best to learn something new each day, staying informed, emulating mentors and enquiring about and learning from the experiences of others around you.
Connect: As social creatures, we need to prioritize interaction with others. This could include nurturing deep relationships with friends and family, joining social clubs, as well as seizing the opportunity for positive interactions with new people, even in passing.
More than simply just “nice to have”, good health and well-being are essential elements for personal fulfilment and human functioning. A foundation of mental and physical wellness contributes positively to every area of your life, promoting stability and resilience. Growing your understanding of both physical and mental well-being and health can help you learn to generate more of it in your life.
5 Signs of Good Emotional Health
Modern life is full of economic, societal and familial pressures that didn’t used to exist. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by day to day living, and emotional health can help you keep things on an even keel. Your ability to handle your daily responsibilities and relationships is influenced by your levels of mental stress, and managing them better can support you in staying healthier and happier long-term.
Research shows that emotional health is a skill. There are steps you can take to build emotional wellness, and how you react to feelings or experiences can change over time.
What is Emotional Health?
Emotional health or emotional wellness refers to a person’s ability to manage their thoughts and feelings daily throughout life’s many ups and downs. Having good emotional health doesn’t mean you don’t feel sad or angry, but you can process and respond to those emotions in ways that help rather than harm you.
Good emotional wellness plays an important role in your self-awareness, resiliency and overall sense of well-being, as well as how you respond to and are perceived by others. It can influence your view of people and the world, as well as how you respond to feedback or criticism.
Emotionally healthy individuals have control over their emotions, share feelings appropriately, bounce back from setbacks, and can generally cope with life’s challenges.
Self-Esteem and Emotional Health
Self-esteem is a crucial element of mental and emotional well-being. It refers to one’s confidence in their own worth or abilities, and is based on opinions or beliefs about the self. Low self-esteem is associated with mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety, and symptoms of poor physical health too. Working on building self-esteem can have a positive knock-on effect on emotional wellness, and vice versa.
Signs of Poor Emotional Health
- Ongoing fatigue and low energy
- Sleeping too little or too much
- Overeating or undereating
- Battling to maintain personal hygiene and care
- Feeling anxious or irritated with loved ones
- Letting work performance suffer
- Physical symptoms of mental stress such as heart palpitations or high blood pressure
- Compromised self-esteem or self-confidence
5 Signs of Good Emotional Health
Self-Awareness:
Individuals who are self-aware are able to view their actions from a perspective outside of themselves. They perceive themselves accurately and understand how their behavior comes across to other people.
Emotional Flexibility:
A person’s ability to deal with mental stress or discomfort is known as their emotional agility. Those with less of it may repress emotions, ignore them or be reactive to them. Those who are more flexible are better able to accept their feelings and adapt to challenging circumstances. They are also less likely to resort to unhealthy behaviors and coping mechanisms.
Strong Coping Skills:
When emotional wellness is high in an individual, they tend to have a battery of healthy skills to help them cope better, such as relaxation techniques, getting support from friends, pausing to rest, and finding time for hobbies.
Relationship Boundaries:
Regulating your emotional health requires having boundaries in relationships: personally, professionally and in your community. Being able to say no without being guilty, letting go of relationships that don’t serve you and communicating boundaries to others are all signs of emotional health.
Living with Purpose:
Purpose looks different to different people and refers to an individual’s drive and passion to pursue certain goals. Rather than simply existing and moving through the motions of each day, those who live with purpose have chosen a direction for their life that feels meaningful, and around which they shape many of their choices and decisions.
Having good emotional health doesn’t mean you feel happy all the time. It means you are in control of your feelings and behaviors and can keep problems in perspective. If you are emotionally healthy, you are able to cope well in challenging situations, but also know when to seek help from others. Developing your emotional health can have a reciprocal positive effect on self-esteem and improve the quality of your relationships with others.
Important Ways to Improve Mental Health
World Mental Health Month, held annually in October, is a stark reminder that not only are mental health issues pervasive worldwide, but they are on the increase. Mental health plays a major role in influencing your overall health and general wellbeing, and learning how to improve your mental health can contribute significantly to a more satisfying and productive life. Exploring ways to improve mental health can also increase your resilience to everyday stressors.
Review Your Mental Health State
Learning how to recognize coping mechanisms specific to you can help to improve mental health. Try writing down your feelings each day for a week. Find a quiet spot free from distraction, where you can reflect on your day. Here, you can highlight the intensity and frequency of any negative feelings you experienced. Ideally, reviewing your mental health will become a daily habit in the future.
Early warning signs of compromised mental health may include:
- Sudden shifts in emotions (mood swings, feeling depressed, irritability, sudden anger)
- Recurring fears and anxieties
- Increased social withdrawal and isolation
- Apathy: loss of interest or enthusiasm for activities previously enjoyed
- Significant increase in the use of alcohol or other addictive substances
- Feeling overwhelmed or finding it hard to complete your daily responsibilities
- Unexplained physical symptoms, e.g. headaches, stomach aches, or muscle tension
You may find:
- You do not exhibit any early warning symptoms and feel confident that you are coping. However, an absence of these mental health symptoms does not automatically imply good mental health. You will still benefit from trying to improve your mental health: the goal is to maximize your wellbeing.
- You are experiencing anxiety. Having one or two of the warning symptoms is not a diagnosis of a mental condition, but may possibly indicate a need for further evaluation. Try to identify what is triggering these negative emotions. Learn about ways to improve your mental health and practice them regularly.
- You are experiencing several symptoms which are persistent and are resulting in considerable impairments in your relationships with others or your ability to function at work. You should consult a medical health practitioner. If you have suicidal thoughts or intention, or thoughts of harming others, seek professional help immediately.
Important Ways to Improve Mental Health
Learn to let go of things you cannot control
There are many things you cannot control, change, or influence, such as government policy, the weather, or the feelings and behaviors of others. Try blocking out the effect of these uncontrollable events on your emotions. It will help free you to focus your energies on the things you are able to influence.
Make relationships a priority
Social interaction is considered to be a basic need, just like food and water.
Meaningful relationships contribute to your sense of belonging, your contentment, and even your longevity. Make time to maintain and increase your face-to-face connections with others: reconnect with old friends, or meet up regularly with current friends. This extends to strangers too; exchanging pleasantries with those who come across your path also fulfills your need for interaction. Family and friends double up as a source of emotional support too: reach out to them when you feel overwhelmed.
Care for your body
Be physically active
There is a significant correlation between mental health and physical health: an improvement or deterioration in one can lead to an improvement or deterioration in the other. Regular exercise can boost your mood, your energy levels and your general wellbeing, and help you to sleep better too. Find activities you enjoy and consider exercise within social groups such as walking clubs, Pilates, or team sports, which are often more motivating and pleasurable.
Maintain a healthy diet
There are important physical benefits from following a nutritious diet. It helps you to maintain a healthy weight, bolster your immune system, and live longer, by preventing chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. It can also improve your psychological wellbeing.
Get quality sleep
Both quantity (seven to nine hours) and quality (uninterrupted) sleep are imperative. Regular, quality sleep restores your energy levels and your mental capacities, and is necessary for coping with daily stress. Practice sleep hygiene, e.g. no screen time two hours before bedtime and keeping your bedroom dark and quiet during sleep.
Find purpose and meaning in life
Purpose is what motivates you to take on each new day. It encompasses what you care about, what you want to achieve, and how you are going to reach your goals. Having purpose and meaning also improves your mental health and thus your ability to manage stress. Find purpose by identifying things you care about, reflecting on your core values, recognizing your strengths and talents and drawing inspiration from people that you admire.
Learning effective ways to improve your mental health need not be over-complicated. Start by selecting a few strategies that you feel might work well for you and then commit yourself to improving your mental health by incorporating the strategies into your daily routine.
Importance of Mental Health
Not everyone has a full understanding of the concept of mental health or the importance of mental health in helping you deal optimally with life’s challenges.
Learn more about the importance of mental health below to better understand its implications for health and well-being.
Understanding the Importance of Mental Health
Mental health refers to how effectively you are able to use your cognitive abilities to manage all facets of daily functioning, e.g.
- Making informed decisions
- Regulating your thoughts, emotions, feelings, and behaviors
- Interacting with others, intimately and socially
- Setting and achieving goals
- Learning and working productively
Recognizing the importance of mental health is an important contributor to leading a meaningful and productive life.
What is Mental Illness?
When a condition arises that impairs your ability to function productively each day, it is referred to as a mental disorder, mental condition, or mental illness. It can affect anyone at any time, at any stage of life, and may be short-lived or chronic. The importance of mental health becomes more apparent when realizing that the influence of a mental disorder is not limited to an individual, but may spread to others, e.g. family, friends, work, and even the community.
Some mental illnesses may present as physical problems (e.g. headaches or stomach pains), while depression and anxiety can increase the risk of physical conditions (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, or stroke).
Mental disorders include:
- Anxiety disorders (including panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias)
- Depression (bipolar disorder, and other mood disorders)
- Eating disorders
- Psychotic disorders
- Personality disorders
Prevalence of Mental Health Issues
Mental illness is prevalent world-wide. Many of those experiencing mental illness do not seek help, largely due to stigma associated with the disorder.
The importance of mental health has been highlighted by a large-scale study covering 29 countries world-wide:
- One out of every two people in the world will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime.
- Mental health disorders typically first emerge in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood.
- The three most common mental health disorders among women are:
- Depression
- Specific phobia (a disabling anxiety that interferes with daily life)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- The three most common mental health disorders among men are:
- Alcohol abuse
- Depression
- Specific phobia
Mental Illness: Development and Intervention
Understanding how mental disorders arise and evolve leads to an appreciation for the importance of mental health.
They do not usually arise from a single cause but from complex interactions between biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. These are called risk factors. A mental illness can be triggered by a stressful event or develop gradually in stages.
The Phoenix Recovery Center in Utah describes mental illness as a progression through four stages:
Stage 1: Initial Symptoms (Warning Signs)
The first signs of mental illness can be difficult to recognize. Symptoms may include:
- Difficulty sleeping
- Struggling to get out of bed in the morning because of mood
- Loss of interest in things you usually find enjoyable
- Inability to perform usual daily functions and responsibilities
- Decline in school or work performance
- Worrisome thoughts, tension, insecurity
- Wanting to be alone: withdrawing from family and friends
Stage 2: Symptoms Intensify
Symptoms become more obvious and stress on the individual escalates. Resulting implications may bring more awareness to the importance of mental health.
Strategies that focus on self-care can be employed: taking time to do things that help you to increase energy, live well, and improve both physical and mental health. Even small, regular acts of self-care can have a big impact on daily functioning.
Strategies include:
- Eating a balanced diet and staying hydrated
- Taking breaks and time for yourself
- Getting a good night’s sleep
- Opening up to friends or family members who can provide emotional support and practical help
- Exercising regularly
- Practicing gratitude, i.e. reminding yourself daily of things you are grateful for
- Exploring relaxation or wellness programs, or apps
- Trying to understanding what causes or triggers mild symptoms and what coping techniques work for you – everyone is different
As the stress intensifies, individuals may be motivated to indulge in more destructive behaviors, e.g. substance abuse (alcohol/drugs), self-medication, sexual acting-out, or gambling. Seeking treatment during the first two stages is more beneficial, before symptoms start to interfere substantially with one’s life.
Stage 3: Symptoms Disrupt Daily Life
The symptoms of mental illness occur repeatedly and start to become so severe that the individual is no longer able to function effectively. Without treatment or intervention, there is a danger that the disorder can become damaging in the long-term.
Stage 4: Presence of Severe Symptoms
This is the most severe stage, when an individual’s mental illness can become life-threatening. Moreover, this is a stage when the person is most likely to cause self-harm (e.g. suicide) and display aggression towards others.
Seeking help at this stage is imperative and can be life-saving. It is never too late to seek treatment.
Nurturing Good Mental Health
Maintaining good mental health can have a protective effecton one’s general wellbeing – underscoring the importance of mental health. More specifically, good mental health not only reduces the risk of mental illness, but may also result in more favorable outcomes, if and when treatment is sought.
How to Relax in Under 5 Minutes
All individuals are prone to stress. When it hits, it helps to have a go-to bank of quick-acting tools for relaxation. While a primary objective of learning how to relax is obviously feeling better, there are important benefits for your overall health and well-being too. When you know how to relax your mind, you are able to think more clearly under pressure, better resist future stressors, have a more positive outlook and healthier body, and even reduce your long-term risk of related health problems, such as chronic illness or heart disease.
If you want to learn how to relax in five minutes or less, give the suggestions below a try.
Find Some Alone Time
If you are with company, taking time out to manage your feelings alone can be a helpful first step. When you feel overwhelmed with stress, don’t be afraid to seek out some space away from others. That could be finding an empty conference room in the office or simply excusing yourself to use the restroom in social settings. Thereafter, you can give yourself a few minutes to simply close your eyes, try some deep breathing with a focus on long exhales, listen to a short meditation via a wellness app, or splash some cold water on your face or wrists.
Don’t be Fooled by Faux Relaxation
Be honest about the effects of certain behaviors when exploring how to relax. You may turn to activities that appear to be relaxing but leave you worse off overall, such as ticking away time passively watching TV, blowing off steam with substance abuse, or mindlessly scrolling through social media.
Take a Tech Break
In fact, temporarily stepping away from tech can be one of the more powerful tools for relaxation, even if only practiced briefly. Turning off email and app notifications, skipping TV in favor of reading a book, or staying off your phone an hour before bedtime can help you feel more relaxed overall.
Get Your To-Do List Under Control
It can be hard to know how to relax if you aren’t clear on what you need to do next. Avoid stress getting the better of you by creating a realistic and prioritized to-do list. Having a clear grasp of what tasks there are at hand can quickly help you feel more in control and stop you from spiraling into a state of stress.
Keep Relaxing Snacks on Hand
Snacking on certain foods can serve as one of your tools for relaxation when stress hits. Explore ingredients with anxiety-busting properties, such as chocolate, honey, green tea, and more.
Put Your Head Below Your Heart
Keeping your head below your heart has a restorative effect on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). If you need to know how to relax your mind and body quickly, place your head between your knees or stand with your head and arms hanging towards your toes. This will help diminish your body’s fight-or-flight response to stress.
Try an Express Massage
Massage is recognized as a way to counteract stress. Even briefly massaging a small part of the body such as the hands can have a relaxing effect. Rub your favorite cream into both hands, then slowly massage every joint as well as the webbing between each finger. You can also try clenching and releasing your fists, then flexing your wrists. If your neck is tight, try some acupressure: press your fingers firmly into the two divots where your neck muscles attach to your skull and hold for 15 seconds.
Squeeze a Stress Ball
Just as the name implies, a stress ball can help you manage angry or anxious emotions by squeezing it. Add this into your office arsenal of tools for relaxation so you always have it on hand when you need to figure out how to relax fast.
Put Your Feet Up
Yoga’s “legs up the wall” pose sends immediate rest signals to the brain, activating the body’s “rest and digest” parasympathetic nervous system response. This helps to slow your heart rate, decrease blood pressure and relax the mind and body in a short amount of time.
Hit Reset
Abruptly changing your environment or train of thought is a quick and effective way to help you relax. There are a number of ways to do this: blast loud music in your ears, move into another room, step outside, stand up, perform a few jumping Jacks, listen to a 5-minute ted talk, do a crossword, or smell something strong and pleasant.
Figuring out how to relax your mind quickly is personal – the same tools for relaxation don’t work for everyone. Experiment with a few of the suggestions above and observe what happens in your body as you do. The good news is that learning how to relax with these techniques is low cost, poses little risk, and can be practiced almost anywhere.
How to be Happy in Life
It may feel like happiness is something that just happens to you, but in reality, you have more control over your happiness than you may think. Taking time to identify the areas of your wellbeing that are in your control, then outlining key strategies and principles to steer them in your chosen direction, can help you to foster lasting happiness in your life.
The Modern Day Dilemma
For those who are currently struggling with happiness, the structure of modern society may have a part to play. While finding things to make you happy may be a central concern for most individuals, it is not a central concern for most societies, which prioritize things like wealth, success and power ahead of health and happiness. Another disconnect may be internal, since individuals are notoriously bad at predicting what will bring them long-term happiness according to Robert Waldinger, MD, a Harvard psychiatrist, co-author of The Good Life and current director of the Harvard Adult Development Study, the longest-running study of happiness in the world. The good news is that you are able to influence many factors affecting your happiness: about 40% of them, according to Dr. Waldinger. He continues, “And what you do with that 40% can determine 100% of how you feel about your life.”
Here are a number of deliberate actions and changes to your daily routine to consider if you want to learn how to be happy in life.
Smile!
The phrase “fake it till you make it” applies here. Whether or not there are legitimate things to make you happy, try smiling – into a mirror, at others, or even just sitting at your desk. Smiling causes the brain to release the hormone dopamine, which makes you feel happier and motivated.
Start Cultivating a Positive Mind-Set
It may sound like trite advice for how to be happy in life, but simply deciding to view the world through a more optimistic lens can help you be more open to positive outcomes. Tuning into difficult feelings rather than ignoring or avoiding them, looking for things to make you happy, and noticing when things are going better than you think can all have a positive effect.
Look After Your Body
Unsurprisingly, the state of your body – home to your mind and emotions – plays a huge role in how to be happy. Stick to a nutritious diet high in healthy fats, proteins, micronutrients and probiotics, and low in sugar and processed foods. Prioritize regular exercise, especially types that elevate your heart rate, for an instant mood boost, and ensure you get enough quality sleep each night: between seven to nine hours.
Nurture Meaningful Relationships
The quality of people’s relationships with one another and within their communities is typically the highest predictor of their happiness. They also tend to live longer. Connections don’t need to be deep or long-term to provide joy either, if they are rooted in kindness. In addition to prioritizing your most important relationships and surrounding yourself with those who uplift and support you, exchange pleasantries with strangers, hold the door open for others or make a meal for an elderly neighbor.
Learn to Manage Stress Effectively
Stress is an inevitable part of life, but how you manage it plays a pivotal role in how to be happy. Develop effective stress management strategies, such as deep breathing exercises, meditation, setting boundaries with others, or delegating tasks. By mitigating stress, you create space for happiness to flourish.
Practice Gratitude Daily
Recognized as one of the simplest and most powerful “how to be happy” strategies, identifying things and people you are grateful for can provide an instant happiness boost. Training yourself to notice the good in your life will make you less likely to compare yourself with others. Using a gratitude journal daily is a good place to start.
Make Your Home Happy
A cluttered or disorganized space can contribute to feelings of unhappiness and overwhelm. Conversely, a comfortable, orderly home gives you a positive base to start from and return to each day. Take an easy step towards how to be happy by making small, beneficial changes to your home.
Set and Pursue Meaningful Goals
People who have a growth mind-set or a sense of purpose and direction are typically more satisfied with their lives. Explore what motivates and energizes you, stay focused on goals you have identified, engage in activities that bring you joy, be open to trying new things, and take positive risks to feed your happiness long-term.
Embrace Mindfulness and Presence
Most of your stressful thoughts, rumination and regret takes place solely in the mind. Stepping back into the body and fully engaging in the present moment is an essential practice to avoid anxiety and depression while fostering feelings of happiness . Avoid mindless scrolling on your phone, and try meditation, deep breathing, yoga, or any activities that engage the five senses.
Learning how to be happy in life is not a one-size-fits all process. Give some of these habits a try and experiment with different activities and behaviors to see what resonates best with you.
8 Way How Music Reduces Anxiety
Anxiety is what you feel when you are tense, afraid or worried. It can be experienced through both your thoughts and feelings, as well as physical sensations. While anxiety can be a natural human response, sometimes symptoms can be acute enough to qualify as a generalized anxiety disorder. This may include constant worrying that is accompanied by difficulty concentrating or an ongoing sense of dread.
Many are already aware of music’s ability to impact their mood, so it is perhaps unsurprising that it has been found to calm the body and mind in a number of different ways.
So, how does music reduce anxiety? Here are a number of ways in which using music to relieve stress and anxiety can be effective.
Cortisol Reduction
The body responds to stressful situations by releasing hormones like cortisol. While this is helpful in the short-term and in the face of physical threats (such as jumping out the way of a moving car), cortisol can also be released chronically in response to mental stressors such as a break up or losing your job. In these cases, excess cortisol is not only unhelpful, it also increases your anxiety levels and can lead to physical issues such as a compromised immune system and excess inflammation.
So, does music reduce anxiety through cortisol reduction? The short answer is yes. Listening to music has been shown to decrease cortisol production, which can help reduce the body’s fight-or-flight stress responses and subsequently minimize feelings of stress.
Increase in Dopamine
Music can help boost the feel-good chemicals in your brain. Listening to or making music activates the reward center of your brain, releasing dopamine: a neurotransmitter associated with reward and motivation. When pleasure responses such as these are increased, feelings of stress and anxiety conversely diminish.
Calming of the Nervous System
If you are wondering how music can reduce anxiety, some of its power can be found in its rhythm. The tempo of music you listen to can affect your breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. Quicker musical beats can be energizing, while slower music, with a BPM of 60 to 80, can moderate your physiological responses to have a more calming effect.
Non-Verbal Release
Individuals sometimes need to express emotions or compressed energy. This is particularly needed when experiencing an extended fight-or-flight state, which may produce symptoms such as tense muscles, sweating and a quickened heart rate. How does music reduce anxiety in this regard? Creating, listening to or moving to music can help expel stored stress from the mind and body when language isn’t enough.
Rooting You in the Present
Rumination – worrying about the same events in your past or future over and over – is a key player in stress and anxiety. These thoughts can make you feel as if you lack control, as the mind tends to feel calmer in situations where some level of control is possible. Using music to relieve stress and anxiety helps pull the mind out of its overthinking state. Listening, dancing or clapping to music brings the body into the present, which in itself can help reduce stress, as well as allowing you to have agency over your body.
Form of Distraction
Does music help reduce anxiety simply by serving as a distraction? Well, listening to and interpreting music is a complex process in the human brain, and it also triggers a pleasure response. For these reasons, it serves as an absorbing activity, allowing the brain to focus on music signals and naturally exclude other thoughts, including sensations of stress and anxiety. A musical distraction is more calming than others because of its finite nature: a song has a beginning and an end, whereas other activities such as scrolling through social media are endless and therefore still stress-provoking.
Bolsters Creativity
When you’re anxious, your nervous system shifts into its reactive fight-or-flight mode, and out of its creative gear. Engaging with music helps shift the body back into its default rest-and-digest mode, which allows for more feelings of relaxation as well as focused and creative thought.
While music can be a powerful tool for shifting and regulating emotional states, it is only one of many ways to address stress and tension.
If you are relying on music to relieve your stress and anxiety, consider activities such as exercising, reducing substance use, medication and different modes of therapy, which can also help you address your symptoms.
12 Products for Stress Relief
Stress is your psychological or physiological response to situations that you find overwhelming. It is an evitable part of life that is almost impossible to fully remove, and even positive situations such as moving house or getting married can be sources of great stress.
It is important to find strategies and products for stress relief that help you to cope better with ongoing stress.
This list of stress relievers for adults provides options for you to consider that may positively impact your overall well-being.
Weighted Blankets
One of the more popular products for stress relief in recent years, weighted blankets can help to calm you down by activating your parasympathetic nervous system. This lowers your heart rate when you’re feeling stressed and provides “pressure therapy”, similar to the feeling of being held, hugged, or swaddled. Weighted blankets can be helpful to those with anxiety, sleep disorders, ADHD, or autism.
Adult Coloring Books
No longer only for kids, the benefits of coloring books are earning them credibility as stress relievers for adults. When used as products for stress relief, coloring books can help you to creatively channel anxiety. A simple act like coloring helps to direct focus into the present, subsequently calming the mind and relaxing the body. Engaging in hobbies such as knitting or putting together puzzles works in the same way.
Aromatherapy Diffusers
The olfactory system – responsible for your sense of smell – is a powerful tool for influencing the nervous system. Thanks to the powerful mood-enhancing effects of essential oils, aromatherapy diffusers double up as products for stress relief as well as an easy way to add beautiful aromas to your home. Aromatherapy recruits essential oils in different modalities for their therapeutic benefits. When inhaled, scent molecules within essential oils travel into the amygdala – the brain’s emotional center – from olfactory nerves. Essential oils such as chamomile, lemongrass, lavender, and bergamot may help you to relax and reduce stress.
Essential Oil Rollers
If you want to recruit the benefits of essential oils but don’t have access to a diffuser, essential oil rollers make excellent portable products for stress relief. Rollers containing essential oil blends can be applied to the back of the neck, earlobes, temples, or wrists, to help ease tension and stress.
Epsom Salts
Magnesium is an important mineral that helps to produce mood-elevating serotonin in the brain. Replenishing depleted levels of magnesium in the body can help create feelings of relaxation and calm. Epsom salts are often used as products for stress relief thanks to their high magnesium content.
Fidget Toys
If you battle to sit still when nervous or stressed, particularly when you’re required to be stationary, such as in Zoom meeting, you may benefit from a fidget toy. No longer only for children, fidget toys are proving themselves effective as stress relievers for adults. All generating pleasant but purposeless/mindless activity with the hands (think of clicking a pen or squeezing a stress ball), these toys can help to calm you when your mind is stressed.
Journaling
Forming a writing habit either daily or when you need to express emotions can help you process worrying thoughts and reduce stress. Some people find it helpful to “mind dump” before bed, writing down anything that may be concerning you about the next day or future.
Herbal Teas
Herbal teas that are free from caffeine are widely regarded as effective products for stress relief. Ingredients such as valerian root, passion flower, chamomile, or lemon balm are known for their calming properties while sipping on tea can also help regulate the breath.
Cooling Masks
Some people may feel as if they’re overheating when stressed, or their tension may induce headaches. If you experience these sensations, a cooling mask can help you unwind, as well as soothe tired eyes.
Meditation Apps
If you frequently experience restlessness, rumination, or racing thoughts, you may find meditation apps to be one of the more effective products for stress relief. Amongst its many benefits, including improving immune function and slowing mental aging, meditation can help quieten your mind and lower stress.
Massager Tools
Often only considered as a luxury activity, different types of massage can also relieve tension in tight muscles and reduce levels of cortisol in the body. Different massage products for stress relief may appeal to you more, such as headscratchers, spiky massage balls to use against your own body resistance, massage guns with multiple vibrating rollers for a more powerful massage or foam rollers to loosen tense muscles all over the body, including the lower back and tight hip areas.
Stress Gummies
There are a number of supplements that have been designed to assist with stress relief, including palatable stress gummies. Featuring different combinations of calming ingredients such as hawthorn, l-theanine, ashwaghanda, and GABA, gummies are an easy form of stress reliever for adults as well as kids.
Ongoing stress can interfere with both your physical and mental well-being. Take time to address your symptoms, uncover the root causes of your stress, and find strategies to manage it effectively.
How to Calm Down from Anger, Anxiety or Overwhelm
Getting worried or upset from time to time is part of the human experience. But sometimes those feelings can take over and it may seem like you’re not in control of your reactions.
If you’re feeling angry, anxious, or overwhelmed, it can be difficult to know how to calm down. Having a few calming techniques on hand can help you manage your feelings better in the moment. Some general strategies include focusing on your breath, meditating, moving your body, getting fresh air, or resetting your mood by listening to music.
If you want to learn how to calm yourself down, consider adding these calming techniques to your toolbox.
Identify Your Stress Response
When you’re angry, upset, or overwhelmed, your “fight-or-flight” stress response often kicks in. This is when anxiety can turn into panic attacks or anger might escalate into uncontrollable behavior. Understanding more about your personal response to stress can help you learn how to calm down and manage your reactions better. Internally, we all respond the same: blood pressure rises, the heart pumps faster, and muscles restrict. But externally, stress may manifest into different reactions.
If you become withdrawn, spaced out, or depressed while under stress, you may have an under-excited stress response and benefit from stimulating or energizing stress relief activities. If you feel completely “stuck”, your mind draws a blank, and your body shuts down when upset, you may experience a “freeze” response that is best processed with physical movement and a focus on the body rather than thoughts.
If you tend to become agitated, angry, or overly emotional, calming techniques like those suggested in this article may suit you better and help you learn how to calm down.
Label the Feeling
Taking the time to identify exactly what you are feeling (e.g. “I’m not just upset, I am frustrated”) may both help you to express it more healthily and reduce the feeling due to you processing it better.
Try a Quick Distraction
Fully absorbing yourself in another activity can provide an important reset if you’re feeling overwhelmed and need to know how to calm down. Small strategies such as leaving the room or counting backwards can be surprisingly effective calming techniques. If you have the time, this popular sensory exercise can help regulate your nervous system in addition to serving as a distraction. Using your immediate surroundings, name five things you can see, four things you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste.
Ask Yourself Key Questions
Some grounding questions in a critical situation could be instrumental in teaching yourself how to calm down. These could include, “Will this matter to me in a week’s time?” or “Does this deserve the level of reaction I am giving?” or “Will I let this circumstance/person disturb my peace?”
Giving the situation a “reality test” can help you side-step the irrational behavior that often accompanies anxious or angry feelings.
Chew Gum
You may not feel like eating when upset, but chewing gum can be a useful anti-anxiety or anger strategy. It has been found to help tune out external stressors and inhibit the proliferation of stress-related information in the brain.
Sigh Deeply
Focusing on the breath is a staple for managing stress, anger or anxiety, but you aren’t always afforded the opportunity to do so. If you’re short on time or in the middle of a conversation but need to know how to calm down, swap mindful breathing for a mindful sigh: breathing in slowly, mentally counting to ten, and then sighing fully through the mouth to refocus.
Relax Your Body
A tense body contributes to mental stress and vice-a-versa. Try adding progressive muscle relaxation to your quota of calming techniques. Lie down on the floor or sit back in a comfortable chair. Keep feet uncrossed and hands relaxed at your sides. Start by clenching your toes momentarily, then releasing them. Slowly work your way up and through the body, clenching and releasing until your whole body feels relaxed. Stress and tension can also cause the shoulders to tense up around the ears. Throughout the day, focus on drawing your shoulder blades together and dropping them down the back.
Utilize Pressure Points
Massage and acupuncture are highly effective tools when considering how to calm down anxiety or anger. However, these may be too time-costly if you’re looking for fast-acting calming techniques. Recruiting pressure points can help you manage overwhelming feelings. Try focusing on the area between your wrist and hand where creases form. Press down with your thumb for two minutes to help relieve tension.
Learning how to calm down in stressful situations can take time. If you are struggling regularly with overwhelming feelings, chat to someone you trust or try a cognitive behavioral therapy session.
8 Foods That Reduce Anxiety
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health conditions, taking many different forms such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, or phobias. It is generally characterized by continuous feelings of worry, tension, and nervousness, and symptoms can become severe enough to interfere with daily life.
Anxiety can be managed through medication, psychotherapy, and lifestyle changes. In addition to staying physically active and getting enough quality sleep, taking in plenty of nutrient-rich foods that reduce anxiety can serve as a powerful contributor to managing symptoms.
If you want to learn more about the best foods for anxiety, here is a list of recommended ingredients to add into your diet, generally containing anti-inflammatory properties, antioxidants, healthy fats, plus key vitamins and minerals.
Oily Fish
Fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, and trout sits high on the list of foods that reduce anxiety. They are rich in omega-3s: fatty acids that have a strong correlation with cognitive function and mental health thanks to their potent anti-inflammatory properties. Salmon is also high in an amino acid called tryptophan, which has been associated with lower anxiety levels. Both salmon and sardines are amongst the few foods containing vitamin D, where lower levels are associated with mood disorders such as anxiety.
Avocados
The high vitamin B content in avocados earns them a ranking amongst foods that reduce anxiety. Foods rich in B vitamins have been linked to lower feelings of anxiety, and a single avocado contains multiple B vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6 and folate.
Eggs
Free-range eggs (the yolks, specifically) are another great source of vitamin D when seeking out foods that reduce anxiety. They also contain mood-regulating tryptophan.
Nuts and Seeds
Thanks to their rich and varied supply of nutritious ingredients, different nuts and seeds offer nutrients that make them some of the best foods for anxiety and stress. Cashews are rich in zinc, where deficiencies have been associated with anxiety, while Brazil nuts are high in selenium – an ingredient that may lower anxiety by reducing inflammation. Both pumpkin and chia seeds are listed amongst foods that reduce anxiety due to their rich supplies of magnesium: a mineral that may help regulate emotions. Pumpkin seeds also contain zinc as well as potassium, where deficiencies are associated with high levels of cortisol.
Dark Chocolate
Often renowned as one of the best foods for anxiety, dark chocolate contains a wealth of anxiety-busting ingredients. These include antioxidants, tryptophan, and minerals such as magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese. Low levels of these minerals have been associated with increased symptoms of anxiety.
Yogurt
Yogurt contains healthy bacteria known as probiotics. Sources of nutrition that contain probiotics are generally recognized as foods that reduce anxiety. Including yogurt and other fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchi, in the diet supports the gut microbiome, which is known to be closely connected to the brain – including emotional wellbeing. In addition to probiotics, prebiotics – ingredients that fuel probiotics in the gut – are also considered to be foods that reduce anxiety. You’ll find prebiotics in high fibre foods such as oats, barley, bran, fruits, vegetables, and beans.
Chamomile & Green Tea
In addition to eating more foods to reduce anxiety, there are certain drinks you can try too. Chamomile is widely regarded as a calming tea that promotes sleep, potentially due to anxiety-lowering antioxidants called flavonoids. Green tea is also packed with antioxidants that not only help to reduce inflammation but may reduce symptoms of anxiety in those with stress-related conditions. One of the main active ingredients in green tea, l-theanine, is an amino acid that interacts with the body’s neurotransmitters and may lower anxiety.
Turmeric
Those exploring the best foods for anxiety often seek out ingredients with powerful anti-inflammatory properties such as turmeric. The active ingredient in turmeric, called curcumin, is responsible for reducing the inflammation and oxidative stress that is often increased in those with mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.
If you are struggling with anxiety and stress, it is important to seek the guidance of a healthcare professional. While adjusting your diet to include more foods that reduce anxiety may prove helpful, nutritional strategies should be seen as a complement to conventional treatment methods rather than an alternative.