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10 Top Tips For Reducing Stress In Your Life #2

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shells on the beach

In the last post, we went over 5 ways to reduce stress in your life.  Just to recap, those were

  • identify the cause of your stress
  • be present
  • count your blessings
  • journal your thoughts out
  • reach out for help.

So here are the next five tips for reducing stress and finally allowing yourself to step into the power of who you really are.  Because I know how easy it is to let stress overwhelm us.  Throw in some sleepless nights and perhaps a dose of hormones and it can feel like you are spiralling out of control.

Try these tips and see what a difference they can make in your life:

SPEND SOME TIME OUTDOORS

I know is sounds too simple but sometimes the act of taking ourselves outside for at least ten minutes a day can be just what we need to reduce our stress.  There is something about the change of air and the feel of the sun or the rain on our face that really helps us to connect with something outside of ourselves.

Take it one step further and spend some time every day with nature.  It could be as simple as grow a plant, or petting your animal.  Take a walk and sit under a tree.

If you really want to feel the power of nature, take off your shoes and walk barefoot on the ground.  This can have an incredibly powerful effect as it reminds our body that we are part of this whole earth system and that we get to play an important part in how the world evolves.

By connecting with nature we also restore a sense of the natural rhythm of things that is so often absent in modern day living.  Really, when was the last time you felt grass between your toes, or let sand run through your fingers?  When was the last time you laid your hand on a smooth rock or on the bark of a tree?

Just try it today and see what a difference it can make.

MOVE MORE

I am not advocating putting gym membership on your list of things to do.  Moving more simply means making the effort to move our bodies more in ways that feel good to you.

On a physical level this is really important for helping our lymphatic systems to operate more effectively and thus removing toxins from our systems.  All that worry can place a big burden on your adrenals and your lymphatic system can have a hard time coping with all the toxins that worry creates in our body.

So give it a hand and move your body.  Stretch more.  Jump more.  Dance, skip, hop.  Belly laugh or belly dance.  The choice is yours.

Moving your body and even better, working up a sweat can be a fabulous way to release some of those lovely endorphins which make us feel soooo good!

It can even be a good practice to get into body brushing in the morning.  (I will be doing a post on this later)  Anything that helps to bump up your sluggish lymphatic system so it can do its job of getting rid of all the bad stuff.

A healthy body gives a healthy mind, we are told.  And the bad news for all us sedentary types is that it is true.

So find a way to move more during the day.  That way, when bed time rolls around your body won’t be clogged up with bad stuff and your mind will be just that little bit clearer.

LEARN THE ART OF RELAXATION

I go into this in detail in my book “Change Your Life From the Inside Out” (find out more about the book here) Mastering the art of triggering your Relaxation Response is such a vital skill in managing your stress.  It forms the start of every hypnosis session and is also a great way to induce your own sleep.

You can read the post that I wrote about it HERE.

But in summary, try the following:

  • begin by taking three deep breaths and really focus your attention on those breaths.  Slow them right down and with each exhale imagine breathing out tension.
  • now try to imagine spreading a feeling of relaxation down from the top of your scalp, slowly down over your head to your shoulders.
  • you can the spread this feeling down your arms, your body and all the way down to your feet.
  • notice how different your body feels when you send relaxation to it.  It may feel warmer, or heavier.  You may notice a difference in your eyes and how you feel within your head.

You can also try some of the Progressive Relaxation techniques which involve tensing up a part of your body and then releasing it.  The move to the next part and release.  Continue until you have tensed and released every muscle in your body.

Another part of relaxation is about giving yourself the space and permission to relax.  This can be a small as turning off your computer rather than letting it go onto standby, or as big as declaring set work hours if you are an entrepreneur.  If we continue to feed our minds with work or even exciting play then we can enter into HYPER AROUSAL when our brains can literally not switch off.

TRY MEDITATION

Some of you are probably rolling your eyes here at the mention of meditation.  Another thing to add to the list!  Another bit of new age phooey!

I hear you, but I am going to stake my claim here and say that meditation DOES help with stress.  In the same way as relaxation and staying present, meditation is a chance to still our focus and remove stimulation.

It’s not for everyone.  But give it a try and then when it proves really hard (which it will at first!), try it again.  And keep trying.  All you need to do is sit still and do nothing.  So really, meditation is about giving yourself the space to do nothing and think about nothing for a while.

If you find, as I have in the past, that your own brain is determined to do something rather than nothing, then make the choice to just allow your mind to drift without paying it too much attention, or alternatively give your mind a task to do.  Something repetitive works – counting backwards with every exhale, or repeating a phrase or mantra can also be really effective.

Some meditation sessions will be wonderful, some will have you climbing the walls and wondering if you ate crazy cakes for tea.  It’s all good.  Just give yourself the space to experiment with it and see if it works for you.

There are some great meditation resources out there so get sleuthing and try some different approaches out for size.

RELEASE THE NEED TO CONTROL OUTCOMES

Often the stress that we are feeling results from a feeling of being out of control and desperately wanting to get “on top” of things.  If you are experiencing insomnia, there can be a real temptation to want to control sleep and make it come to us.

Thing is, that need for control may be the one thing that is stopping you from experiencing the very thing that you are desiring.

Attaching too heavily to outcomes can cause us to resist things so strongly that tension is built up around the very thing that we are trying to attach.

So try this instead, stop trying to control your sleep.  If you have tried everything tonight then just stop trying.  As a last resort, get up, go to another room and only go to be when you are tired.

Or just tell yourself that there is always tomorrow and you can just try again but just for tonight you are going to stop trying to sleep.

The need to control outcomes is very much part of human nature but if we look around the natural world we will see that the animal kingdom doesn’t share this with us.  Try opening yourself up to the idea that what will be will be.  You have done your best and done all you can, now release the need to control the outcome and step back and see what happens.  Just making this decision can feel like a huge weight is lifted.

So if you feeling stressed, tell yourself to just let it be.  Allow the outcome to unfold and release your need to control.

It can really make a world of difference.

Believe you me, all of these tips will work.  I am not saying it will be easy.  I know from experience how hard it is to let go, or make the time to get outside and move more.  However, being aware of what you can do is part of finding the solution that works for you.  So try these things with a healthy dose of curiosity and sit back and observe the results.

In the next post in this series, I will look a little more at the Science of Sleep and answer the question:  How much sleep do we really need?

To know when I have posted do sign up for email updates.  This is part of a sleep series which is being created as a cornerstone of my new Deep Sleep product which I will be sharing with you soon.  I can’t wait to share it – it will be a game changer if you are amongst the 33% of the population who currently experience insomnia and can only imagine the joy of a good night’s sleep.

See you in the next post

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Filed under: Hypnotherapy, Hypnotherapy and..., insomnia, insomnia, letting go Tagged: Body, dunedin, Hypnosis, hypnotherapy, Meditation, Reducing Stress (Essential Managers), Relaxation Response, Sleep, Sleep deprivation, Sleep disorder, Solution, stress, Subconscious

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