According to health experts, stress is commonly referred to as the body’s reaction to different external pressures. This reaction includes how our inner thoughts and feelings react. Two factors are known to create stressful feelings, and these includes worrying about what happens to us, or how we feel about what happens to us.

We All Experience Some Degree Of Stress At Some Point

According to stress researchers, each one of us experiences some degree of stress all the time. The level of stress may vary, depending on how we cope or deal with it. Stress does not necessarily mean it’s all bad for you. Stress can sometimes push you to work harder, or think deeper to find solutions. Stress, some say, is the spice of life, and any activity is sure to cause some form of stress. However, if your psyche or system is not prepared to handle it, then the stress will surely lead to negative implications.

What Are The Best ways For Reducing Stress?

Stress is one tough nut to crack, however, just like what the Buddhists have been saying, a person needs to be calm even if he or she’s in the center of the storm. Here are a number of techniques which help in reducing your stress levels.

• Exercise Regularly

A little exercise each day helps keep the blues away. Make it a point to do simple exercises each day. You may choose to do brisk walking, or jog for twenty minutes each morning. Brisk walking helps to effectively alter body chemistry, calm the inner senses and effectively reduce stress levels. Aerobic exercises are also great at increasing the production of endorphins, which are naturally-soothing hormones that help calm the senses.

• Meditate And Pray

Once the stress starts piling up on you, these can lead to a host of undesirable complications. You start to feel anxious, your mind is racing and your head starts to ache, and you begin to lack focus. To keep your sanity intact and to relieve your anxiety, meditation and prayer are two helpful activities you should be doing. To do this, take a break from your work or usual routine, sit back and relax, quiet your mind, do breathing exercises, and pray.

• Undertake Lifestyle And Dietary Changes

What you eat and rink, as well as what you do each day and night, can have a serious effect on your mind and body. If you’re a hard drinker, reduce your caffeine and alcohol intake. Tone down on your intake of fatty foods, carbohydrates and sugar too. In addition, take a multivitamin or mineral supplement each day. Health supplements and vitamins can help to enhance the immune system, and strengthen your body’s defenses from the brickbats brought by hard work and stress. Among the minerals and vitamins that are great at protecting the body from stress include B vitamins, vitamin C and calcium.

• Use Herbs To Calm The Senses

For centuries, man has used a wide array of herbs for shoring up the body’s natural defenses, as well as for restoring vitality and energy. A number of herbs are great at reducing stress. Among these include ginseng, Kava-Kava, Valerian, gotu kola and wild yam. Numerous studies have indicated that ginseng helps support adrenal functions and strengthens the bodyís resistance to stress. Valerian is an herb that helps ease insomnia and enhances the quality of sleep. Kava-Kava is best used for treating anxiety, insomnia, restlessness, headaches, gastric irritation and chest pain. Gotu kola is an herb that’s popularly used for reducing anxiety, as well as for enhancing immunity.

• Stay Positive

If you feel like nothing’s going right with you, and you think the world’s crashing down on you, it would help if you stay focused, and continue to dwell on positive thoughts. Instead of saying I should have done this or that, or tell yourself that you’re such a loser, it would rather help if you tell yourself I’ll do better next time, or I’m a tough guy and I’ll survive this.