The current lifestyle becomes increasingly stressful. This generates a high level of anxiety in most people. The daily routine of getting up early, preparing a good breakfast for the family, arranging the children to arrive early at school and continuing with the rest of the day creates a lot of stress and, in addition, a lot of anxiety. For this, we give you 10 exercises to overcome stress and anxiety.
Luckily, you can try, through some exercises, to combat stress and anxiety and, finally, find that balance in your life that you have been looking for so much, free yourself from stress and live better every day. Hence we will devote this post to explain 10 exercises to combat stress and anxiety that you can put into practice.
To combat the current stress and the anxiety generated by it, it is good to practice these exercises so that you can feel good about yourself. Although these exercises can be a great help to relax, you should not think of them as something routine, since this conception will make us feel the exercise as a boring and monotonous activity, when it should be de-stressful and energetic.
Do not forget that the effectiveness of these exercises is closely related to the moment in which we perform them, the place or the state of mind that we have at that moment. Most of the human beings that carry out these activities usually choose large spaces that have adequate lighting (dim) and, in addition, that they can enjoy solos of silence. This way you will not only enhance the relaxation exercises, but it will help you to concentrate, which will allow you to know much more your body. However, this is only an example, since each one prefers a series of conditions to carry out these exercises: there are those who prefer a more social environment or even space totally covered by darkness.
- Breathing techniques
The practice of deep breathing helps a lot in leveling stress, especially when you have just experienced an episode of anxiety. Resorting to deep breathing sessions lowers blood pressure and heart rate.
Try to do this exercise in a place that transmits peace and tranquility. Inhale through the nose and count 5 seconds to then exhale through the nose. Retell 5 seconds to repeat the cycle. Repeat as many times as necessary until you feel the relaxation.
In addition to the well-known “inspire and expire” exercise, there are many other exercises that help locate the breathing in one part of the body. The most important thing when it comes to relaxing is to get the breath located in the diaphragm. Although it seems simple and we think that we usually breathe with this organ, the truth is very different, since we use the lungs more often than the diaphragm. And how do we know this? Surely you’ve ever noticed how your shoulders rise when you inspire, right? Well, this exercise is mainly due to breathing through the lungs. This type of activity causes the area of the back (shoulder blades), the typical massage, is harder and more rigid than usual.
If you are one of those who thinks that the diaphragm inspires less air or holds less breathing, this is because one has not trained the diaphragm to perform this activity. The diaphragm, being a soft organ, has an elasticity that when used repeatedly can increase its volume during inspiration to reach unsuspected levels. Therefore, in order to reach these levels, you must start, first of all, by lying on your back on the bed and using the diaphragm to breathe. When you have mastered this exercise, you can move forward and exercise this organ vertically, until you get used to using this valuable organ for our body.
In case you do not see yourself able to perform these exercises correctly, you can go to any gym, yoga class. There they will teach you to use all breathing techniques.
- The meditation
The practice of meditation helps a lot in obtaining the well-being and balance you desire. Try to carry it out in a dimly lit room or anywhere you feel calm and free of distractions. Meditation helps your body cope with anxiety, overcoming it and eradicating it in a few minutes. You will also get greater mental clarity, increased creativity, and your emotions will be easier to control.
It is important that the place where you are going to meditate gives you peace, tranquility, and calmness. To do this, try to be in solitude, in a dim room, listening to a soft instrumental music, with an aroma that you like and that makes you feel good, with cushions or a bed in which you can lie down so that you can enter in total.
- Physical training
The secret of physical training is endorphins. They provide the feeling of well-being that we all always want to feel. That is why it is so important to exercise at least 4 times a week. Physical exercise also helps oxygenate the brain and considerably reduces stress. Thus, your anxiety levels will be lower than they usually are.
Although with physical training you cannot think, this release of energy will allow you to clear your mind to a posteriori to focus on it. If you are one of those who put on different personal challenges, individual sports can be your ally. You can practice racket sports, such as tennis, run different series depending on whether you want to gain speed or endurance or even golf, a very strategic sport with a lot of visualization. However, if you think that these sports can be out of a budget, considering the disbursement at the time of starting to play golf, you can always go to any gym and use the different devices or attend any class, but remember: the more you spend more energy, you will feel more relieved. On the other hand, if you are one of those who sees sport as a chain of challenges, you should try collective sports, such as basketball or volleyball.
- Get in touch with Mother Earth
Contacting nature helps you to find yourself again and leave behind all those things that do not allow you to feel good and that make you be a prisoner of your own thoughts. You can go to the mountain, to the beach, to a natural park or to a place that makes you feel in contact with nature. Breathe in the air, feel the aroma of the flowers that are in your path, feel the breeze and feel it so you can relax, breathe deeply and close your eyes. If you dedicate a few minutes of your life to connect with nature and its beauty, in the end, that beauty will be reflected in you.
- The art of visualization
On many occasions, stress makes us unable to see beyond our noses. That’s why we practice the art of visualization. Close your eyes and imagine all those scenes that make you happy: a beautiful place next to the people you most want to be with. This will help calm you down and reduce your stress level, providing you with more relaxation.
In addition to visualizing, you can always pay more attention to the world around you, so we recommend that you always analyze where you are, what surrounds you, what people are by your side and even imagine where they come from and how they are. This will help you eliminate anxiety and focus on other issues.
- Laugh freely
Laughter notably reduces cortisol levels in the body and releases the famous endorphins, which give you a sense of general well-being. So try to laugh every time you can or whenever you feel that the world is going to fall on you. This will help you reduce anxiety, depression, stress and any other problem that makes you feel bad.
To do this, eliminate negative influences from your life and surround yourself with positive people. So if you ever stay, you know that with that person or people you will spend a very pleasant afternoon. In addition, you can go to any comedy show, be it theater, monologue or film, and thus enter an imaginative world that a third person wants to tell you, but always accompanied so that, on the way out, you can share those moments what more grace they have done to you and so the fun does not stop. 
- Interact with people
Isolation, in many cases, produces anxiety, fatigue, and stress. Talking helps to release tension, distracts you and relaxes you to forget what most stresses you and makes you feel bad.
- Play music
Music, since ancient times, has helped to relax people. The most relaxing is classical and instrumental. This music helps to enter a state of relaxation and makes the problems dissipate little by little.
Today, you can find many relaxing sounds without being musical, such as the sound of waves breaking in the sea, the sound of firewood burning in the fireplace or even the chirping of birds in the forest. For this activity to be much more effective, you can stay completely dark in a room, with any of these background sounds and eyes closed without falling asleep. You will see how the mind gets to fully clear and the muscles to relax even without we have fallen asleep.
- Do the activities or hobbies of your preference
Go shopping, skate, and paint, play a videogame, watch a movie, buy new shoes, etc. Do the activity that you like the most and you will surely feel much better.
- Do not forget to sleep
When you do not sleep your mind feels cloudy, your body exhausted and daily tasks seem impossible to perform. Sleep well, even if you have a lot of work to do, since, resting your hours, you can feel free of stress.
Doctors recommend that the human being should sleep a minimum of eight hours a day so that the body is completely healthy, so plan your afternoon very well so that when you have finished everything, you have that minimum of hours of rest. If you have trouble sleeping, you can have a relaxing tea that makes your muscles feel more relaxed so that eventually you can fall asleep.
