Techniques to reduce stress, exhaustion and anxiety

I sleep a lot recently. Sometimes I go to bed with my daughters at about 8:30 pm and sleep till 7:00 am.

It happens to me periodically when I am stressed or have plenty of demanding activities. My body is just fine, but my mind needs to switch off.

In simple words, this means that I am mentally exhausted, so I go to sleep.

I learned to listen to my body and accept my “sleeping periods”. If I ignored it, I would probably get more stressed, nervous and unhappy. It is not good for anyone:)

Once I discussed it with my friend psychiatrist. I told her: it is not normal to sleep that long when you are an adult.

Her reaction surprised me a lot. She calmly explained me that most people have periods like this but only few are able to deal with difficult periods in a smart way.

In her opinion drugs or alcohol addictions are usually partly a result of long term non cured periods of exhaustion, anxiety and stress.

So if I am able to help myself by sleeping additional hour or two, good for me.

“Addiction” is not my favourite word and you have better things to do than to fight with it in later times. That is why I made a little research in my internal (head) and external recourses.

Please find a short list of easy (and healthy) techniques to reduce stress and tiredness that you may consider to use:

• Be more assertive! Yes! Think about yourself at first place, set up boundaries that will help you stay fresh and focused

• Look at you in the mirror and smile – fake it till you make it. Being positive really makes a difference

• Talk to someone – conversation helps us to clarify our thoughts and get rid of some of the fictional problems

• Exercise – I mean the way you want. I walk a lot, and if I have a lot of stress I just walk fast, or occasionally run. If you are more ambitious or less lazy than me – do something more demanding

• Have some rest – no you don’t have to carry on regardless! Remember that tomorrow is another day and you have to save some power.

• Try relaxation techniques– I do have to work on this one! At the moment I try to loosen up all my muscles before I fall asleep – well, I never managed to accomplish this task completely, which is a proof that it works perfectly;) However there are plenty of wonderful courses or even mobile applications that can be useful

• Keep a stress diary- first, it can help you anticipate possible problems, then as you soon notice, most of your “huge problems” will never become true

• Reduce your time online and get rid of other additions. Alcohol, nicotine or Facebook help in a short term but in a long term they bring much more problems than benefits.

• Help someone – it’s bit of a magic but definitely works – you help somebody and the universe helps you. Basically you just forget about minor problems…

• Accept the things that you cannot change – difficult but very effective- try to concentrate on the things that you have control over

The list is not full and is definitely opened for a discussion. In any case, it`s worth being considered during tough times.

What techniques do you use during the crucial periods? Please share them with all of us!

When you feel like it’s time to talk, remember that I am here for you, ready to listen and ready to challenge – depending on your situation.