6 Habits To Help Relieve Stress in the New Year

The right kind of stress can be motivating in small doses but overwhelming when it gets out of control. The suggestions below are all ways you can work to relieve stress in the new year. 

Exercise

You don't have to train for a marathon in order to get benefits from exercise. An after-dinner walk, gardening or taking a class in something ranging from tai chi to swing dancing to water aerobics and more are all ways to increase the physical movement in your life. 

Sleep

Most people do not get enough sleep. If you have not been prioritizing sleep, you should start to do so. If you struggle to get enough sleep, the new year might be the time to see a physician about your sleeping habits and maybe even schedule a sleep study. 

Journal

Some studies have found that journaling can be as beneficial as talk therapy for some people. Some people like to write in the morning and discard what they've written as a way to work out stressful emotions and thoughts without having to hold onto them. 

Eat Wisely

Unfortunately, trying to eat healthily can be source of stress itself for many people. The key here is to allow yourself to be moderate and indulge from time to time. You don't have to eat perfectly based on the latest scientific information. Regularly eating a variety of foods and increasing the amount of fruit, vegetables and whole grains can all be beneficial and can help relieve stress. 

Reduce Bad Habits

As with eating better, this does not have to be all-or-nothing. If giving up smoking feels too overwhelming right now, trying cutting back. You can reduce the amount of sugar you eat without removing it from your life entirely.

Enjoy Yourself

Beware of too many "shoulds," including stress reduction itself being a thing you have to do. Whatever it is you love to do most, whether it is reading in a hot bath, meeting up with friends, playing with your pets or something else, you should build time into your life for it. 

The new year is a great time to introduce strategies for stress reduction. You can gradually add the above items to your life to relieve stress in the year ahead. 

5 Stress Relief Techniques To Implement Today

When you feel anxious the majority of the time, it is important to find ways to relieve your stress. The feelings from stress can become overwhelming, leading to additional health problems such as high blood pressure or insomnia. When you don’t try to relieve your stress in the earliest stages, you risk having serious complications such as a stroke or heart attack. There are new medical studies that reveal that constant stress can damage your brain’s synapses, leading to Alzheimer’s disease. Fortunately, you can begin using these five stress relief tips today to reduce your anxious feelings. 

Stress Relieving Tip 1: Get Enough Sleep

If you aren’t getting enough sleep on a nightly basis, then it can lead to more stress. While you are sleeping, your body releases hormones that heal your body and soothe your brain. When you aren’t sleeping because you feel too anxious at night, then you can visit a physician to learn if there are medications that you can use for a few weeks to help you sleep better. After you develop a normal sleeping pattern, your brain can cope better with stressful events. 

Stress Relieving Tip 2: Engage In Physical Activity 

By exercising as much as possible, you can reduce your stress levels. Experts recommend exercising three times a week for at least 30 minutes, but if you can exercise more than that, then you will feel better. When you engage in physical activity, it increases the blood flow throughout your body and brain. With additional blood circulation, your entire body is getting more oxygen that will help to lift your mood while eliminating stressful thoughts. 

Stress Relieving Tip 3: Learn How To Meditate

It is important to learn how to meditate because this practice will help to reduce your stress. By meditating for only a few minutes each day, you can clear the troubling thoughts from your mind. While you are meditating, your breathing also becomes more relaxed, helping to eliminate your anxious thoughts. If you don’t understand how to meditate, then look for a training CD or book on the subject at your local library. 

Stress Relieving Tip 4: Find a Support Team

In addition to asking for occasional help from relatives, create a support team of friends who you can turn to during a time of crisis. For many individuals without nearby extended family, joining a religious institution is an important way to have a support team. By having a support team, you can call to ask for help when an emergency occurs, or you can talk to a friend each week to overcome your anxious thoughts. 

Stress Relieving Tip 5: Take a Break 

If you are working all of the time, then it can lead to stress. To protect your mental well-being, you should take frequent breaks to enjoy activities such as watching sports or participating in hobbies. For additional stress relief, you should also socialize occasionally by going to a movie with a friend or attending a dance. Schedule a fun activity several times a week to relieve your stress. 

How High Stress Jobs Can Lower Life Expectancy

We have all heard that stress can be detrimental to your overall health, but new research reminds us of the importance of managing stress from your employment on a regular basis. For jobs that tend to be associated with higher levels of stress, workers may be actually changing their DNA over time. 

Research proves that if a person is chronically stressed at his or her job, there are vitally important parts of their DNA that can be eroded over time. For people with chronically high stress levels, the telomeres, the protective edges around DNA strands, become shorter and can lead to errors in DNA strands. These errors have a direct impact on how long we are able to live because mutations in the DNA strands can lead to increased risk of getting cancer. 

It is possible to mitigate some of the damage done by stress by making good lifestyle choices, such as sticking with a healthy diet and getting daily exercise. However, chronic stress can lead to a serious breakdown in the immune system, which means that you are more susceptible to disease and infection. Your body has less energy available to fight off harmful bacteria. Therefore, even though you may be able to take steps in other aspects of your life to make healthy choices and increase your longevity, stress during your daily employment can still take a serious toll on your lifespan. 

If you are experiencing high levels of stress at work, you should not be ashamed to speak with a mental health care professional to evaluate if there are any coping mechanisms you could try to reduce your stress levels throughout the day. You may want to do an introspective analysis about whether a change in job would be healthier for you. If you feel that you are unable to make a job change because of financial reasons, then you may want to spend some time evaluating your personal savings and budget to see if any adjustments can be made. Remember that your health is the most valuable thing you have.

Stressed Out Dads May Influence Toddler's Development

A new study suggested dads who stress out about parenting could negatively effect their toddler's development.

The study involved 730 families and concluded that families in which the fathers experienced high levels of stress over parenting had sons with lower language skills at 3 years old than other families. Both girls and boys tended to score lower on cognitive tests, which involve skills such as learning, reasoning, and paying attention.

This study's findings add to a growing body of research explaining how fathers influence the development of their children. Most studies regarding kids' well being focus primarily on the mothers' influence, rather than the fathers'. More recent studies have begun looking into the influence of both parents or that of the father.

This study found that dads involved in their child's upbringing affect their preschoolers' emotional development and language skills, in addition to older children's risk for depression and behavioral problems.

Gender roles are shifting as times change. There are more fathers sharing responsibility for raising kids, as well as more fathers acting as stay-at-home parents. The study focused on lower-income couples in the United States, with a focus on their parenting related stress in particular. Participating families filled out a standard questionnaire for researchers to assess stress levels. They had to agree or disagree with statements such as "Sometimes I feel my child doesn't like me" or "I feel trapped…"

The study overall concluded the fathers' level of parenting stress influenced cognitive development and language development in young children. In addition, the study concluded kids more often had behavioral problems throughout their childhoods if the father experienced depression symptoms or was chronically stressed.

The researchers noted that the fathers' influenced seemed independent of the mothers; in other words, the fathers were not stressed because their wives were stressed.

The study established an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship, but nonetheless either parents' stress could influence a child's development. For example, if a parent's mind is racing, frantic, or busy, they may be less responsive to cues from their child, including words and behavior.

This study supports growing research on the importance of fathers in children's behavioral and cognitive development. In general, fathers can provide unique encouragement. For example, fathers are generally more likely to encourage young children to take risks, explore, and be clearer with their words.

This study underlines the importance of a father's wellbeing to the development of their child. As with many care-giving situations, it is very important to care for yourself in order to better care for your family.