We get stressed at different times and places. We get stressed at work, at home, or when we hear bad news like losing a close relative or being diagnosed with a chronic illness.
We will talk about stress, what happens when we get stressed and how we can keep fit while being so stressed.
What Is Stress?
Stress is how the body reacts to a demand or threat. When there is a healthy reaction to a demand or threat, it is a good kind of stress. Stress response is like an armor that protects the body and prepares you for action.
However, when the danger or threat gets too much, the armor weakens and stress becomes harmful to the body.
Stress can build you up and also break you.
What Happens When You Get Stressed?
- The heart pounds faster
- Increase in blood pressure
- Muscles begin to tighten
- Breathing gets faster
- Immunity is reduced which exposes us to illnesses
- Headaches and body pains set in
- Not sleeping properly
How Do We Keep Fit While Being Stressed?
One of the ways of managing stress is being in control of your body. You can control your physical activity. Run things the way you want things to go.
The best way to be in control is being in control of your fitness levels. This can either be physical fitness or mental fitness.
Breathe
When you are stressed out, so many changes happen within your body. One of these changes is you will tend to breathe faster.
Controlling your breathing can calm you down and give you full control of the situation. It also calms down your accelerated heartbeat and reduces your sweating if any.
A way to control your breath is to close your eyes, take a deep breath in, and hold for 5 seconds and release. Repeat this process and take control of your breathing. You can also listen to music, it helps.
Take A Break
Sitting in front of the laptop for hours frustrated can stress you out.
Stand up. Move around. Relax your thinking center. Say hi to a colleague on the other side of the office or go down or up the stairs just to move your legs a bit.
Don’t want to stand, stretch it out. People that get stressed often complain about tension in their neck or back.
Some useful stretches are:
Neck stretches
- While sitting,
- Take your right ear to your right shoulder (hold for 5 seconds)
- Left ear to left shoulder (hold for 5 seconds)
- Chin to chest (hold for 5 seconds)
- Place your hands on your waist
- Tilt towards the right (count to 10)
- Then to the center (hold for 10 seconds)
- Then to the left (count to 10)
Ankle stretches
- Move your ankle up and down 10 times
Wrist stretches
- Stretch your wrist joints by moving them up and down
If you feel some pain thereafter, you can always use a heating pad to feel more comfortable.
Distract Yourself
Emotional stress can really break you down and go as bad as causing anxiety or depression. Imagine losing a loved one or having an injury as a football player and being told that you cannot play anymore. You think about what could have been and in the process get stressed mentally.
Go to a gym and just be around people. Try a new hobby like dancing, riding an electric scooter, walking or skipping. You can organize a home treadmill for yourself too. Exercising releases a “feel good” hormone, which can calm the mind and the body.
Go For Social Activities
Sometimes having people around helps to relieve stress. Laugh together, talk about your feelings and feel better. Go and watch a movie, do something together with them.
This works on your mental health.
Set A Goal
When you set a goal, you put your mind to it and work towards it. We are to be active for at least 150 minutes a week. This is a goal. Find a way to break up our time to accommodate exercises into your daily activity.
Having full control of how you run your daily activities and achieve your goal help with stress management.
