20 Positive Coping Strategies for Stress
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We all experience stress in our lives, it’s unavoidable. The trick is finding positive coping strategies for stress. This is sometimes harder to do than it sounds. Chronic stress can cause a lot of health problems if we are not careful. We’ll always have stress in our lives, we just have to find the proper way to deal with it and do so on a regular basis.
Do you have ways to deal with stress or do you let it just build up? I have high blood pressure, and stress is not good for it obviously. I also suffer from anxiety and depression. The dream is to lead a less stressful life but that’s not always possible. We can make some changes in our lives for this but there will also always be stressors that we can’t change. The important part is to find coping strategies for stress for the stressors that we can’t change.
20 Positive Coping Strategies for Stress
It can be hard to come up with healthy coping strategies for stress. This list of 20 coping strategies was compiled by Pyschcentral.com
- Deep Breathing
Deep breathing exercises actually help you to relax. I use deep breathing exercises to help relax when my anxiety hits hard. It relaxes your body and changes what your brain is concentrating on. You can also try to lie face down on the floor and begin breathing deeply and slowly, with your hands resting under your face. Do this for five minutes.
- Journaling
Sometimes just getting your thoughts out on paper can help. It’s good to vent out problems sometimes. Keeping things bottled up is no good. Also, writing them down can help you see how you can change things in the future sometimes.
- Sit in a reclining chair
Put a hand on your abdomen and a hand on your chest. This is another example of a deep breathing exercise you can do. There are different ones you can do.
- Try deep muscle relaxation
Tense and release different parts of your body. For example your arm, then your leg. This allows your body to fully relax when you do the release portion. When we are stressed, we tend to stay tensed and not fully relaxed.
- Meditate
Some people use meditation to relax. Meditation is a great way to relax the body and mind. It helps recenter yourself. There are books and apps that will help you learn to meditate as well.
- Exercise Regularly
When you exercise you are releasing endorphins into your body. Those endorphins help to reset your brain and relax your body. It doesn’t have to be vigorous exercise. You can just do simple things like walking or take up yoga.
- Consult a psychologist about the use of biofeedback.
- Music and hobbies
Music and hobbies are good coping strategies for stress. They are also a great way to show some self-care for yourself. When my husband is stressed he turns to his music. I like to turn to my hobbies of crafts, adult coloring, and reading.
- Learn to identify and monitor stressors
This is a big one. It’s important to know what your stressors are in the first place. They are probably normal things like money and work. While you can’t stop working, you can think of ways to make working easier. Money is also tricky. Can you make a budget? Figure out where you are spending your money and cut out things that don’t really need to be spent. That will help you to save.
- Make a to-do list every day
Writing out a to-do list every day can help because you can physically see the things you accomplished in a day. It will make you feel good to actually see it written down on paper. Write down the things that need to be done the most, the high priority items and check them off as you do them. This will help you to relax to see them done and to actually do them.
- Keep an eye on things that might suggest you’re not coping well.
It’s important to keep an eye on your habits. Are you doing things more often than you used to? This includes but not limited to: smoking, eating, drinking and sleeping. Some people use those as coping strategies for stress and they are not healthy ones.
- Set aside a time every day to work on relaxation.
We should work on relaxation techniques every day. Some days are more stressful than others but if it’s part of your routine, it’s easier to do on your bad days. It will also help you sleep better if you are relaxed.
- Avoid using cigarettes, caffeine, and alcohol for stress relief
These things will help you feel better in the short term. Long term they can cause more problems than they solve. It’s important to find healthy coping strategies.
- Learn to say “no”
It’s ok to tell someone no when they ask you for something. You have to do what is best for YOU not for someone else. If you are in a position to help someone else great. If it makes your life harder, by all means, learn to say you’d love to help but you simply don’t have the time right now. You need to come first.
- Get plenty of sleep
Sleep deprivation can do all kinds of things to your body. If our bodies do not get enough sleep, then our bodies don’t function properly. Sleep deprivation is also a type of stress on the body as well. Just be careful not to get TOO Much sleep.
- Have a sense of humor
They say laughter is the best medicine and this is true. It’s important to laugh and have fun in life. Watch a funny movie, laugh with a friend or family member. Play with your children. Do anything that will make you laugh, you’ll feel better.
- Have a close confiding relationship with someone
It’s important to have someone you can confide in that you trust. Personally, I can confide in my husband about everything. If he’s my source of stress and I can’t talk to him at the moment about it then I have a few friends I can talk to. It doesn’t matter who it is. It just has to be someone you can trust that won’t repeat what you say.
- Don’t run from your problems
It’s important not to run or ignore from your problems. They don’t go away and when you ignore them, they tend to fester. The sooner you address them head-on, the easier is to take care of them.
- Reach out to family and friends
Reach out to your family and friends. If you are stressed from a long list of things you have to do in a day, see if they can help with that list. Sometimes people don’t know what we need unless we ask. People are not mind readers. Sometimes people see everything a person does and wonder how they do it all and keep it together. What they don’t realize is that the person is slowly crumbling inside and need help. Reach out and ask for it.
What are some of your positive coping strategies for stress?
