6 Tips for Natural Stress Relief

Chronic stress is like a slow leak from a water pipe under your house.  Over time the leak grows, and what was once a tiny puddle can destroy the entire foundation.  With chronic stress, your body is trapped in fight or flight mode, and the constant wear and tear of stress hormones can impact your long-term health. 

Stress management and stress resilience go hand-in-hand.  You may not be able to completely avoid certain stressful situations (like a problematic work environment), but you can learn how to better manage your response.  Behavioural stress management techniques combined with supplements and lifestyle behaviours can help you manage stress and the associated symptoms while supporting resilience. 

These six tips for stress relief are simple, natural tools to add to your toolbox:  

Make sleep a priority.  While most people understand that sleep is essential for wellness, getting a good night’s rest is not always easy, especially if you are already struggling with the cycle of insomnia.  Stress and sleep affect one another.  Interruptions in your body’s natural circadian rhythms can increase cortisol levels making it more difficult for you to fall asleep, even if you are exhausted.

Sleep hygiene, or creating an environment that is sleep supportive, is a critical first step if you struggle with sleep.  This means examining your sleep environment (including temperature, darkness, and noise control) as well as your evening wind-down routine while avoiding screen-time, eating too late, or work emails in bed.  

In addition to sleep hygiene, many natural supplements can support sleep without the side effects that some over-the-counter or prescription medications may cause. Most are familiar with melatonin, but with the approval of your health care practitioner, alterative solutions including botanicals like lavender, lemon balm, or valerian root have the double benefit of promoting sleep while supporting feelings of anxiety and calming the mind to help you get a restful nights’ sleep.

Move your body.  The wellness benefits of physical activity extend to stress reduction as daily movement can lead to better sleep, improved mood, and even an enhanced ability to bounce back from stressful events.  Researchers suggest that since exercise induces physiological responses that match anxiety symptoms (think heart pounding and sweating), the body can recognise and recover more quickly even if the feelings come from a stressful event.   

Multiple studies have also found correlations between improvements in mental health and exercise.viii  A meta-analysis found that physical activity significantly improved feelings of anxiety across various studies with a range of subjects.  This may be because exercise can influence the neurotransmitters that affect positive emotions, including serotonin and dopamine. Your body also naturally creates endorphins through various forms of exercise that can relieve stress and pain. These neurotransmitters may also help cushion the reaction to cortisol or other stress hormones.