8 Strategies for Quick Stress Relief

Society’s stress levels are on the rise, which can keep us from feeling and performing at our best. Not only that: chronic stress also puts us at a higher risk of both mental and physical health problems. There are many tried and tested ways to manage stress, including yoga and meditation, exercise, medication and therapy, to name a few.

However, we aren’t always afforded time to address our stress and need solutions that offer some instant relief. The quick stress relief tips outlined below can help you to stay calm, focused and constructive when you need to take immediate action against stress.

Addressing stress is not a one-size-fits-all solution; you may need to experiment with different techniques and ways to relieve stress to find what works best for you.

Recognize that You’re Stressed

It may seem obvious, but sometimes our stress levels have us running on autopilot and we don’t pause to notice that we’re in a stressed state. Taking a moment to observe ourselves is the first step towards quick stress relief. Look out for tense muscles, a tight stomach, clenched hands or jaw and shallow breathing.

Take 10

Taking regular breaks throughout the day is one of the simpler ways to relieve stress quickly – temporarily resting the mind, shifting our focus and giving the central nervous system a chance to calm down. Breaks as short as 10 minutes have been shown to both provide quick stress relief as well as improve mental health.

Recruit Your Senses

One of the most effective ways to relieve stress in live time is to engage the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste or smell. The senses that have the most beneficial effects will differ person-to-person, so take some time to explore which sensory experiences work best for you. Recruiting sight could include using plants or flowers to brighten up your work space, surrounding yourself with colors that positively stimulate you, or keeping photos of loved ones or happy memories close at hand. Glancing at these in stressful times can have an instantly soothing effect.

Garnering quick stress relief from smell could include lighting a scented candle, using essential oil diffusers or roll-ons, or spritzing your favorite perfume or cologne. Cuddling a pet, massaging your hands or neck, or rolling your feet over a golf ball are different ways to incorporate touch into your quick stress relief strategy. Recruiting sound could include listening to your favorite music or playlists specifically designed to help relax you (such as whale or ocean sounds or binaural beats), or enhancing your work space with wind chimes or a water fountain. When it comes to taste, dark chocolate has been shown to regulate levels of cortisol (our stress hormone), while eating crunchy raw vegetables has a calming effect by creating sensations that draw you out of the mind and into the present.

Chew Gum

Ironically associated with a more casual attitude, chewing gum may help to lower your anxiety or ease stress. Some schools of thought believe the benefits of this quick stress relief strategy come from enhanced blood flow to the brain, while others think it’s engaging the senses with smell, taste and movement that helps you to relax.

Keep Smiling

It turns out the old adage that suggests we “grin and bear it” may in fact be a helpful strategy for quick stress relief. A genuine smile that recruits the muscles around your eyes and mouth has been shown to help reduce the body’s stress responses, regardless of whether or not the smiler feels happy. Once a short-term stressful situation has ended, smiling can also help return your heart rate to normal quicker.

Reboot Your Breathing

The breath is closely linked to our state of wellbeing or stress. Slowing, deepening and regulating the breath during periods of stress can curb the body’s “fight or flight” response, helping you to relax. Try taking deep inhales followed by slow exhales of equal or longer length while mentally or verbally repeating a word or mantra that calms you, such as “relax” or “I am safe”. You could also try yogic pranayama breathing which involves inhaling through one nostril then exhaling out the other.

Write it Down

Jotting down thoughts and feelings can be a powerful emotional outlet and one of the more accessible ways to relieve stress quickly. Regardless of whether you prefer paper and pen or typing on your phone or laptop, channeling your thoughts this way may serve not only as a form of quick stress relief, but as a gatekeeper of your reactions to others as well.

Drip Cold Water on Your Wrists

There are major arteries right underneath the skin of both the wrists and the earlobes. Dropping cold water onto these areas can serve as an effective strategy for quick stress relief.

Hopefully a few of the quick stress relief strategies listed above help you to keep calm in challenging situations. It is important to reach out to a healthcare provider if stress is affecting your daily functioning, impacting your physical or mental health or generating new or unusual symptoms.