insideKENT Magazine Issue 78 - September 2018 | Page 92

HEALTH+WELLNESS
STRESS LESS THIS SEASON cont.
Sleep Well Deep Breathing
Being stressed can have a major negative impact on our ability to sleep
well, causing us to toss and turn and stay up worrying about things
that, in many cases, we have no control over. Ironically, getting a good
night’s sleep is something that can combat stress and help us to
overcome the challenges that we face every day. That doesn’t mean
you should give up on sleeping and let your stress get the better of you;
instead, there are some clever and interesting ways to help you sleep
better despite the stress. Use these techniques a few times, and your
stress levels will start to diminish as you sleep more, and that will, of
course, help you sleep better anyway! Breathing exercises are
wonderful devices for combatting
stress. There are many different
exercises you can try, but the
result is always going to be the
same – you will be drawing more
oxygen than normal into your
lungs, and that gives your brain
and body a boost, shocking your
stress away and making you feel
calmer. One of the simplest
exercises you can do is to take a
deep breath in, hold it for five
seconds, then slowly exhale. Do
this 10 times in a row and you
will find that you have calmed
down significantly. You’ll also be
better equipped to deal with the
original issue in a measured,
positive way.
Try going to bed earlier than you would normally. Sometimes stressing
about how little sleep you’re going to get can mean that finding that
sleep is difficult. Drinking chamomile tea, as mentioned earlier, can
help, as can drinking hot milk before bed. The temperature of your
room is important to get right too; too hot or cold and the body will be
working hard to compensate, and that means it can’t relax enough to
let you sleep properly.
Sleeping well doesn’t just reduce your stress levels – it can keep you
healthy in many other ways too. When you sleep, your body is able to
repair itself, restoring your energy, rejuvenating your skin and other
organs, and, although your brain never truly rests, giving it a little break
from all the billions of thoughts that whiz around it all day.
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Laugh With Friends
Laughing is a tried and true way
of managing your stress, even
though you may not feel like
laughing in the least. The phrase
‘fake it ‘til you make it’ rings true
here – if you’re not feeling happy
and jolly enough to laugh, do it
anyway. It doesn’t matter if it
sounds fake or if you know you’re
not really feeling it. Just keep
going. Sooner or later, that fake
laugh will become a real one, and
that’s when the healing can
begin. There are even classes you
can take that teach you laugh
therapy, and it really does work.
Laughing on your own is good,
but laughing with friends is even
better. Spending time with people
you love has been proven to have
a positive effect on your life –
you’ll feel happier, be more
productive, be more healthy and
your stress will diminish. Whether
you go out for the evening or stay
in doesn’t matter; what you do
doesn’t matter; where you go
doesn’t matter; all that matters is
that you have fun.