Keeping calm and stress-free is fundamental to balancing your life out with the good and the bad. The yin and the yang. Mind Body green also adds on to the fact that “stress management is important to your health, as it can improve your mood, boost your immune function, promote longevity, and allow you to be more productive.” There are so many ways one can relax. Everyone is different, but here are a few ways that have been proven to relieve stress.

01. Yoga/Exercising

The practice of yoga really helps you stay centered. It puts you in a relaxing type of mindset where you are also able to notice the little things around you and to appreciate those little things. It allows you connect to the Earth and what it has to offer. Also, it can help you gain flexibility and the ability to retain it. Lastly, but certainly not least, not only does it relieves stress from your life, it reminds you to appreciate and practice kindness to yourself and your body. The deep breathing that you have to focus on during a yoga session helps keep yourself grounded as well. Deep breathing is a reminder that everything is alright and that we’re all human.

And if yoga is a little bit too slow paced for you, try exercising! Likewise, both will help keep your mind off of stressful matters in your life at the moment. Plus, with exercising, it’s a win-win situation; you can get fit and stay mentally calm! When you exercise, your body burns off stress chemicals and heals your mind of all the stress locked up in your body.

02. Anything art related, really… (Drawing/Painting/Gardening)

Resorting to artistic activities such as painting and drawing will help not only expand your creative juices but will also become a therapeutic way for you to just express yourself in the way you interpret what art may be for you. According to Huffington Post, “This tactic makes room for elements of the subconscious that perhaps are not yet ready or able to be verbalized come to the surface.”

Personally, being into art, it gave me a way to release my mind and to just not think about anything that’s going on in my life. The only thing I would be focusing on is on whatever I’m working on, or on the music that I blast while I work.

03. Reading/ Netflix

It’s a fact that some people don’t read, but reading for pleasure will help allow you throw yourself into a fantasy literary world that’ll distract you from your daily stress. In medical terms as defined by the University of Minnesota, “Reading can even relax your body by lowering your heart rate and easing the tension in your muscles.”

But, if you don’t like to read, point and blank, substitute a book for the heavenliest invention ever innovated, Netflix. Both are just so relaxing and the best way to stay in on a Friday night.

04. Sleeping

Now, I don’t know about you, but whenever things get too much to handle and I’m on the verge of having a mental breakdown, I just go take a nap… Weird, I know… but the problem to me being so stressful sometimes is that I don’t get enough sleep. I usually sleep from around 12-2am and have to wake up around 7. A normal teenager is supposed to have around 8 hours of sleep in order to fully function with a recharged brain and body the next day. And, sometimes sleep is all you need in order to stay collected.
These ways to de-stress your life just listed will no doubt keep you grounded and ready to take on other matters to be dealt with. Aroosa Malik (12) includes, “I’m most prone to exercising when I’m stressed. Since I have been playing basketball for YLHS for 4 years, it always has been a go to relieve my stress during practices. Although basketball season has ended, I also go out of my way to get a gym pass just so I could continue on my habit of working out and relieving my stress.” We’re all human here, and we are all different, thus we all have different ways as to what keeps us collected. Hopefully these four stress relievers will work for you guys.