Learn How to Chill Out! 10 Tips for Creating a Stress Management Plan

Is stress starting to take a toll on your life? Whether you’re dealing with stress at work or stress at home, it can have a profound impact on you.

Surveys have shown that about 77% of people admit to living with physical symptoms associated with stress. They’ve also revealed that almost 50% of people lay in bed awake at night as a result of their stress.

Coming up with a stress management plan is one great way to get a grip on stress and stop it from ruining your life. Here are ten tips that will help you do it.

1. Figure out What’s Causing Your Stress Levels to Skyrocket

Before you can start ironing out the details of a stress management plan, it’s important for you to identify what’s causing you to suffer from so much stress. Is your stress caused by:

• Your job?
• Your finances?
• Your house?
• Your relationship with your spouse?
• Your political beliefs?

If you don’t know why you’re always feeling so stressed out, it’s going to be almost impossible to manage your stress levels.

2. Eliminate Things from Your Life That Lead to Stress

Once you know why you’re so stressed out, you can start to get rid of some of the things in your life that are causing stress. You can do it by:

• Looking for a new job
• Making a stronger effort to pay down debt and get your finances in order
• Moving to a house that doesn’t require so much maintenance
• Going to marriage counseling with your significant other
• Avoiding political arguments with family members and friends

You’ll be amazed by how much less stressed out you feel when you cut out some of these things from your life.

3. Find Ways to Manage Your Time More Effectively

Everyone gets 24 hours each day to do everything that they need to do. But not everyone uses those 24 hours in the same way.

Are you using your time to the best of your ability? If you’re not managing your time well, that could lead to you dealing with more stress than you should have to.

Invest in a daily, weekly, and monthly planner and start taking back control of your schedule. By managing your time better, you’ll start to feel some of your stress melt away.

4. Work More Exercise into Your Daily Schedule

About 80% of Americans don’t get enough exercise each week. This has led to a dramatic increase in the country’s obesity rate.

There is also a direct correlation between America’s lack of exercise and the increase in the country’s collective stress levels. So many people could benefit from exercising more as far as beating stress is concerned.

Start jogging, lifting weights, or playing recreational sports more often. You’ll feel less stressed out when you make exercise a bigger priority in your life.

5. Make Sure You’re Eating Healthy Meals Every Day

In addition to getting more exercise, you should also eat healthier meals to combat weight gain and defeat stress. If you’re constantly stuffing yourself with unhealthy fast foods, it’s going to impact your physical and mental health before long.

You may also want to start taking supplements and even consider using the best CBD oil as part of your diet. When used properly, CBD oil has been shown to help those battling stress.

6. Get More Than Enough Sleep Each Night

A lack of sleep can impact you in so many different ways. It can cause you to gain weight, make you very forgetful, and even put you at an increased risk for cancer.

You’re also going to notice that you have a hard time working your way through stressful situations when you’re sleep-deprived. It’s why any good stress management plan should include lots of sleep.

7. Take Time to Take Part in Hobbies

Do you spend your days dealing with one stressful situation after another? It’s no wonder why you’re so stressed out all the time!

Rather than trying to keep up with this routine, take time out of your busy days to take part in hobbies and any activities that make you happy.

Some people enjoy putting together puzzles or doing crosswords. Others enjoy skydiving or flying planes.

Whatever you like to do, do more of it! It’ll be very beneficial to you if you suffer from stress.

8. Avoid Using Alcohol and Drugs to Battle Stress

Far too often, people turn to alcohol and/or drugs as a means of coping with stress. These things help them escape their stress for a few hours and make them feel good about their lives.

The problem, of course, is that alcohol and drugs eventually wear off and send stress running right back in your direction. This will force you to decide what to do next:

• Deal with the sources of your stress head-on
• Use more alcohol and/or drugs to get rid of stress for a little while longer

Sadly, many people go with the second option since it’s the easiest way to handle stress. That sometimes leads to substance abuse issues and addiction.

9. Spend More Time with Family Members and Friends

The simple act of socializing more with other people is enough to bring your stress levels back to earth. After spending a few minutes on the phone with your mom or hanging out with friends for an afternoon, you’ll almost always feel better.

Find time to pal around with your family members and friends more often. You’ll be blown away by how much better it makes you feel.

10. Adopt a More Positive Approach to Living Your Life

Many people who have dealt with stress for a long time don’t know how to live without it. They are so used to being stressed out that they’ve pretty much tricked their brains into thinking that there’s no other way for things to be.

Breaking this cycle is difficult to do. But you can do it by taking a more positive approach to life.

By smiling more and thinking positive thoughts, you can put up a heck of a fight against stress. It might take a while to see your stress disappear completely, but it’ll happen over time.

Use Your Stress Management Plan to Stop Feeling so Stressed out

It’s going to be almost impossible to live a long, fulfilling life when you always have stress hanging over your head. Stress will literally kill you before it’s your time to go if you don’t do something about it.

Use the tips found here to create a stress management plan for yourself. Stick with it and see first-hand how beneficial it can be to live a stress-free existence.

Check out our blog for more helpful articles relating to stress.