8 Ways to Create Calm When Feeling Stressed

Stressful situations happen to all of us.  Unless you live in a bubble, experiencing stress is part of the human experience.  How we deal with stress, though, makes all the difference because stress has an effect on our physical health, especially prolonged stress.  Learning how to create calm in a moment of stress is a very useful tool for our overall health and well-being.

If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you’ll recall how I’ve mentioned that our central nervous system can only be in one of two states: sympathetic (fear and fight-or-flight) or parasympathetic (rest-and-digest).  If we are continually in the sympathetic state, digestion goes off the rails and so does our gut health.  Science is getting a clearer picture on how critical gut health is to overall health, so being able to get yourself back into the parasympathetic, rest-and-digest, state is crucial. 

What’s not so easy is remembering a strategy to create calm in the moment. I am not a psychologist, but because learning to deal with stress has such a big impact on health, helping people with stress reduction strategies was part of my training as a functional medicine certified health coach. If you have serious and prolonged stress which is impacting your life in a major way, please seek the services of a professional.

For common stressful situations, here are 8 strategies you can use to help calm you down:

1.Breathe deeply.

When we feel stress, breathing tends to be shallow and rapid.  Instead, focus on breathing deeply into the belly, pushing out the abdomen.  This will bring more oxygen into your body and your brain.  You’ll be able to think more clearly and you will feel more relaxed as your breathing slows down. 

2. Become an observer.

Notice your emotions and where you feel them in your body.  Can you describe the feeling? Can you give it a colour? Maybe you can even give it a name. Are you tensing a part of your body, like your shoulders or jaw? Try to let it relax. Taking on the observer role gives distance between you and the situation and has a calming, neutralizing effect. 

3. Choose a better thought feeling.

This strategy can help ‘step-down’ a strong emotion to one which creates less stress.  Our thoughts about a situation can make the situation seem worse than it actually is.  We can always choose our reaction to an event, so the idea here is to choose a thought which evokes a less strong feeling in us.  For example: if you are angry, can you choose to be frustrated instead?  If you are fearful, can you choose to feel apprehension? If you are feeling loathing towards someone, can you replace it with boredom? Choosing a less-charged feeling can reduce the stress in your body. 

4. Visualize yourself calm.

Close your eyes and imagine you are in one of your most favourite places.  Picture yourself in the scene with as much rich detail as you can.  Imagine what you are feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting.  Get those good feelings rolling and your stress levels will take a plummet. 

5. Write it down.

I always have found that once I got things out of my head, a bad situation didn’t seem nearly as dire as I imagined. Maybe this is because it’s out of that small space! Whatever the reason, writing things down works.  If the situation involves another person, you might even try writing things down from their point-of-view.  Empathy can be a great way to tone down your intense feelings towards another person. 

6. Gain perspective.

Try to take a 30,000 foot view of the situation. Will this matter next week? Two years from now? How important is this situation in the overall scheme of things? If it’s something you are worried about, is it even likely to happen? As the saying goes “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” The situation is not worth the stress it is causing you. 

7. Listen to calming music.

 Movie makers know it: music can affect your mood and how you perceive a situation.  If you are feeling stressed, play some calming music.  Most people carry music or access to music on their smart phones these days. Play something calming and you will notice an effect on your nervous system. 

8. Go for a walk.

Just getting away from the situation can help diffuse your stressful feelings.  The physical activity of walking will get oxygen to your brain and expend some of that stressful energy.  It may be helpful to prevent you from saying something you regret.  Get outside and you’ll experience even more benefits. 

How are you going to remember these strategies? Print out the graphic above and post it in place you are likely to see it when you get into a stressful situation. 

Hope it helps! Your gut will thank you :)

Help a friend create better health by sharing this article with them. 

 

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