National Stress Awareness Day - Tips to de-stress and relax

Life can be hectic and full of everyday stresses both at work or in our personal lives and it’s more important than ever that we look after our physical and mental well-being, learn how to manage, and reduce stress in our personal and professional lives. As part of National Stress Awareness Day, we want to share our top tips on how to unplug, relax and reduce stress to look after your health and well-being, and improve your workplace performance on a day-to-day basis.

What is Stress?

Stress is a common feeling that we all experience at some point. It’s the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure. When you’re stressed, your body releases the stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.

Stress is the body’s reaction to feeling threatened or under pressure, This can be called the “fight or flight” response and it is very common. While stress can help to motivate and aid us in dealing with everyday demands in our life, too much stress can lead to negative effects on our mood, body and relationships.

Experiencing a lot of stress over a prolonged period of time can also lead to feeling physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, which is often called burnout.

Our tips on this should help to manage everyday stress, but if you have been experiencing high amounts of stress for a long period of time and it’s affecting your daily life, causing you distress or becoming unmanaged, you should consider getting further support.

Top tips to deal with stress

Make big tasks manageable and escape the screens

When you’re working or taking on a task that feels overwhelming or difficult to start, take the time to break it down into smaller more manageable chunks, and give make sure to give yourself credit for completing each of them. It’s also important as our lives become more dominated by digital devices, that we make sure to spend time away from the screens.

Many people never switch their phones off and use them at frequent intervals throughout the day. Work often involves the use of a computer, and watching TV is a popular way to spend time off so no wonder it’s hard to unplug and de-stress both at work and in our social life.

It’s important if working on screens all day to take frequent breaks and move around the room, it can help with productivity as well as helping with refocusing.

When it’s also important that when you’re having some ‘me time’, switch off the telly, close the laptop and put your phone down. If you’re not sure what to do with yourself, try soaking in the bath, listening to soothing music, reading or watching nature in the garden. You’ll be much better able to relax, unplug and will feel refreshed and energised afterwards.

Allow yourself some positivity and discover what makes you happy

It’s easy to keep your head done and just keep going but makes sure to think about all the good things in your life. Take the time each day, to consider what you enjoyed, what went well and try to list 3 things you love or are thankful for.

It can take a long time to find the confidence to stop and take it all in and to also learn what you actually enjoy doing. With such demanding schedules, it can be easy to feel like we never have time to think about what we want to do. However, it’s never too late to start making time for relaxation and to really contemplate the things you like to do.

If you’re stuck for inspiration or want to discover more things to enjoy, think about things you liked doing as a child and try them again, or note things down that make you smile through the day. Make your journey of discovery all about you and you’re sure to find the things that truly make you happy and relaxed.

Don’t forget to give yourself praise, take time to celebrate all the little and big wins, enjoy being with the people that make you happy and embrace the things that make you smile.

Challenge your thoughts and take a deep breath

The mind is a powerful thing and the way we think affects the way we feel. Take time to challenge your thoughts, take time to learn how to identify your manner and patterns of negative thinking, once you learn this you can start to reframe those thoughts by challenging them and the beliefs that reinforce them. The Nhs has a helpful video on how to do this here.

All remember to take time to stop and breathe. When you’re busy or active, your body’s sympathetic nervous system is in action, keeping you alert and ready for anything. While you eat, relax, rest or go to sleep, your parasympathetic system takes over, slowing your breathing and heart rate and increasing digestive processes.

Spending enough time with your parasympathetic system in control keeps you calm and energised and aids your body’s reparative functions. It’s also essential for good mental health and everyday stress management.

During or after a busy day, it can take a conscious effort to coax your body into relaxing mode. By doing simple breathing exercises, you trigger the parasympathetic system and can get your body into a relaxed state quickly.

Breathing exercises are an easy and discreet way to unplug and relax, whether you’re in the staff room at work or your living room at home. Your body automatically returns to an alert state when you return to your work or other activities.

Close your eyes if you’re in a private environment or focus on a single point if not
Take a deep breath in through your nose
Hold your breath for a few moments
Gently exhale through your mouth
Hold your breath for a few moments

PhD Relax Capsules

Let’s get Active

Exercise is a great way to help release endorphins (the feel-good hormone) but also help you to burn off nervous energy. While exercising cannot make your stress disappear, it can make it less intense and help to relieve stress. It also helps you to stay healthy. The even better thing about exercise? There is so much choice and variety which means everyone can try and do different things to make them happy. From cycling, walking, running, team activities or going to the gym it can be a great way to take some well needed ‘me’ time, make new friends, or just try something new. Plus housework or gardening is also a way to exercise if that’s something you enjoy too.

Talk to someone

One of the best ways to help relieve stress is to share it with trusted friends, family and colleagues, or contact a helpline, which can help you if you’re struggling. Sharing how you’re feeling can help to ‘offload’ your worries. There are a lot of choices in who you feel comfortable talking to so let’s start talking. You can find additional help from the Nhs here.

Take time to reset and relax

Stress can cause physical discomfort in your muscles which will prevent you from fully relaxing and getting adequate rest. Muscle tension is caused by such stress and anxiety and techniques like progressive muscle relaxation are specially designed to help provide relief. Progressive muscle relaxation, or PMR for short, has additional benefits such as anxiety control, better stress response and improved sleep.

You can do PMR sitting down or standing up and can work through as many or few muscle groups as time permits. The different muscle groups include your lower legs, thighs, bum, tummy, back, hands, arms, shoulders, neck and face. It’s easiest to work from your legs up.

Tense your first muscle group while inhaling
Hold it for 5 to 10 seconds
Exhale and simultaneously, suddenly and fully relax the muscle group
Relax for 10 to 20 seconds
Repeat the process for the next muscle group

The spice saffron helps to balance your levels of dopamine and serotonin. You could try relaxation exercises in conjunction with a supplement containing saffron, to further help you destress and feel more relaxed. Why not try our Life RESET or Relax Capsules.

Plan ahead

Preparing and planning for potentially stressful days or events can help to reduce stress dramatically. Making an easy to follow to-do list, planning out the journey you need to do, or pre-packing things you need to take is a great way of reducing stress. It may seem small but planning your time can make you feel more in control of things.

Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness is all about awareness of the present moment, focusing on the details of your environment and your current thoughts as they occur. Take in all the sights, smells and sounds around you. Pay attention to the feel of things you touch or hold and sensations like the breeze in your hair.

You can practice mindfulness anywhere, but when you have a few quiet minutes, mindful meditation will provide deeper benefits. Mindfulness helps reconnect your body and mind, and this helps you release negativity, understand yourself better and enjoy life more.

Set a timer for 5 minutes
Focus on your breath, paying attention to the movements of the air and your body
Let your thoughts flow naturally but just note them as they pass as if they are clouds in the sky
If you get caught up in a thought or otherwise distracted, focus on your breath again

Regular practice of mindful meditation.

Support and online resources

There are a lot of online sources that provide information about how to manage your mental health. The below sites can help answer any questions you may have and help point you in the right direction if you’re finding yourself unable to manage everyday stress, and it’s affecting your daily life, causing you distress or becoming unmanaged:

NHS: www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/
Stress Management Society: https://www.stress.org.uk/
Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/stress/useful-contacts/

Remember that Life can be hectic and full of everyday stresses both at work or in our personal lives and it’s more important than ever that we look after our physical and mental well-being, take the time to put your mental and physical health first.

At PhD, we understand that you want to be at your very best every day. To help you achieve this, we have created PhD life, a range of premium, expertly formulated health optimisation products. From our high in protein, low sugar, plant-based Complete meal solution, and Reset, our night time formula, to Mind, made to support optimal mental performance, we’ve created a new range to optimise you for life. Check out the entire PhD Life Range here.

Make sure to let us know how you get on with your training program and tag us in your workouts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter – @phdnutrition.

Written by Amy Golby

Amy is our very own content manager and has been a sportswoman for over 18 years playing rugby and netball up to a national level, she has been a qualified personal trainer for 6 years and further her nutritional knowledge with a diploma in sports and exercise nutrition as well a psychology degree. She has been training in a gym and weightlifting for over 10 years and competed in her first body building competition this year. She continues to learn and improve her training in order to reach her goals. She believes in both the physical and mental advantages of sport and fitness as well as a balanced diet and lifestyle. In her spare time, Amy enjoys playing sport, socialising with friends, and fuelling her shopping addiction to gym wear. She can be found here – https://www.instagram.com/dreams_and_dumbbells/?hl=en

National stress awareness day – Unplug and relax with our top tips to de-stress