Stress-free Living: Benefits of Reducing Stress

Do you live a stress-free life?

Have you ever tried to understand the causes of your stress and eliminate them from your life?

Most people say they are stressed out and feel the pressure crushing them every now and then. It is an overall experience, given that we live such a busy and monotonous life. Besides, awareness about mental problems like stress, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, insomnia, and many more is almost nonexistent in several parts of the world. People still consider these issues hallucinations, thoughts conjured up suddenly, and so on. But that is not the truth.

If you are feeling stressed out, you can also see the impacts on your physical health. For example, you won't be able to sleep for five or six hours, let alone a deep slumber for eight hours. Similarly, you might get silent panic attacks when stressed out, your heart rate will increase, your oxygen count may drop by two or three percent, and so on. So, it's evident that stress is not the manifestation of your thoughts or anything else. It is as accurate as fever, stomachache, headache, and other body symptoms you see due to other diseases.

Can stress be eliminated from life?

Yes, you can eliminate stress from your life. Although the journey may be difficult and seem unachievable initially, proper guidance and understanding can help you deal with the stress you are going through. Yes, but you need to understand that it cannot be done overnight. Stress is more of a lifestyle disease that happens after exposure to factors causing mental pressure for a prolonged time. 

You cannot expect a child to get stressed just by thinking they need to learn a poem in one day. But, if you continue to pressure that kid to complete everything in a day, you will find them diagnosed with stress after a couple of weeks. So, working on finding solutions to eliminate stress from life is crucial. If not, it can lead to huge problems later on. 

What causes stress?

Before you decide anything like changing your lifestyle to reduce stress or going into therapy, it is essential to understand what exactly causes stress. Whether it is any external stimulus or internal problem, stress can come in any way. Therefore, let's find out some primary reasons you might feel stressed out.

1. When your body does not release norepinephrine appropriately, anti-stress hormones like serotonin and dopamine concentrations significantly dip in quantity. Since the concentrations of anti-stress hormones reduce in your blood, your brain won't be able to deal with any stressful situation appropriately. As a result, you will feel stressed out. 
2. Similarly, you feel stressed out when you start overthinking almost everything, whether it is the lock of your house or the presentation you are meant to give the next day. Forcing your brain to overthink engages several neurons simultaneously. As a result, your body releases adrenaline, also known as the flight or fight hormone. It further leads to increased heart rate, withdrawal of water from the visceral muscles, and many more such symptoms. These lead to stress. 
3. Often you will get exposed to several external stimuli that trigger stress. It can be trauma, PTSD, abuse, violence, and so on. These act like triggers, forcing your body to temporarily reach a standstill and make it non-responsive to the anti-stress hormones. If you are exposed to the stimuli for a prolonged time, you will suffer from stress.
4. Poor sleep, excessive pressure at work or school, insomnia, and so on can often lead to excessive stress if not handled correctly. You will often feel stressed out before any exam or a big event at the office. Similarly, suppose you do not get enough sleep for three to four nights consecutively. In that case, you will feel stressed out even for the slightest things like making a coffee for your boss or completing an assignment and submitting it at the university.

How to eliminate stress from life?

There are several ways in which you can cut off stress from your life, but none of the ways can help you overnight. Sometimes, a few exercises can give you momentary relief from stressful situations. Still, it would be best if you were consistent in these activities so that you won't feel over-anxious or get panic attacks again. Before we move on to the benefits of leading a stressful life, let's look at some of the best ways to eliminate this issue.

1. Try to get enough sleep every day to feel refreshed and rejuvenated the next morning when you wake up. If you cannot get 8 hours of sleep, at least aim for six or seven hours positively.
2. If you are in a toxic relationship with anyone, cut yourself off. Often toxic relationships put a lot of pressure on our emotional and psychological side, leading to chronic stress.
3. Get involved in physical activities like yoga, exercise, walking, jogging, etc. The more you start exercising, the fresher you will feel.
4. Following a healthy diet also helps you to deal with stress. Several food items have antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals necessary for releasing anti-stress hormones like dopamine and serotonin. This will help you to deal with stress internally and feel more relaxed.
5. Do not engage yourself in any mundane routine. If you feel your work or studies are getting overboard and keeping you under constant pressure, try to take a break and go somewhere or relax for a day or two.
6. Prepare a schedule for aromatherapy as it truly helps reduce the stress levels. It will also help you to feel relaxed and fresh. 

How can stress-free life help you?

If you successfully eliminate stress from your life, you will benefit in more ways than you can comprehend. Although we cannot discuss all the ways here, we have given inputs on some of how a stress-free life will be beneficial for you.

1. Proper sleep: once you start getting relief from stress, your neurons won't remain engaged or active. As a result, you won't find it difficult to fall asleep at night. This will help improve your psychological health and combat other issues like depression and insomnia. Plus, you won't have to depend on any psychotic drug that induces sleep and relaxes nerves.
2. Better cardiac health: believe it or not, stress is directly related to your cardiac health. The more you are stressed, the higher your risk of getting a stroke or cardiac arrest. When stressed, your body starts releasing more adrenaline, which increases the heart rate. Therefore, try to eliminate stress from your life as much as possible so your heart can remain healthy for the longest time.
3. No addiction: When you feel stressed, you often rely on caffeine or smoking to get relief momentarily. This is not the solution, especially when these habits are addictive and can cause more harm than good. Therefore, if you successfully eliminate stress, you won't have to depend on taking caffeine or smoking a cigarette to feel refreshed. 
4. Energetic and active: one of the significant benefits of living a stress-free life is feeling more energetic and active. Since you will get good sleep and irritation will be at the nominal level, you won't have to worry about feeling tired or sleepy. Your body will be able to produce more energy thanks to an improved metabolic rate.
5. Reduced anxiety and panic attacks: sometimes, stress comes naturally. You won't even know when you are stressing yourself out because you are so involved in particular work that your brain involuntarily starts thinking about some issues. This can lead to anxiety and panic attacks. Therefore, always try to lead a stress-free life so that you won't succumb to silent anxiety and panic attacks that can be pretty painful. Sometimes, people can even get successive anxiety attacks that are more difficult.
6. Weight loss: Stress is one of the main reasons for the increased body weight all of a sudden. Many people start eating junk food or get involved with intermittent fasting out of stress. This leads to an excessive increase in body weight, thereby paving the way for more diseases. So, it would be best to try to lead a stress-free life. With no stress, the metabolic rate will increase, and you can reduce your body weight by a significant amount.
7. Alleviates depression: stress is one of the primary causative agents of chronic depression. It is related to your psychological and physiological health because depression can lead to several issues. Therefore, leading a stress-free life will help you fight depression and even get rid of it, regardless of whether it is chronic. Also, you won’t have to rely on medications, especially the drugs that induce artificial sleep.

Conclusion

It is difficult to let go of stress in one day or one week. It requires a lot of patience, consistent behavior and activities, and a balanced life. However, on top of everything, you need to understand that stress can be controlled by avoiding internal and external stimuli that often cause your body to enter a fight or flight mode.