5 Ways to De-stress at Home

We all get stressed from time to time, perhaps even more so over the last two years. We are living in unprecedented times of chronic stress, which boosts adrenaline and cortisol (our stress hormones), leaving us feeling exhausted and depleted. It can be tough to find time and space to de-stress but now, more than ever, building some self-care strategies into your daily/weekly schedule, is key to helping you feel more like yourself again.

Here’s some ideas to help get you started.

1. Prioritize Yourself: You deserve some “me time” so the first step is making that a priority! Finding extra time in your day can be a challenge but feeling more energized means you have more energy to give to other people/things – so it’s well worth the effort
   • Build in a mantra/self-talk that makes your health and wellbeing a priority
   • Talk to your partner about having one night a week to yourself
   • Consider adding a new bath/skin care plan/meditation to your daily or weekly practice, it may only need to be a few minutes
2. Find movement: This is one of the best ways to boost endorphins and get a feeling of satisfaction. Finding the time to make movement a priority is often a real challenge for people – so keep your goal small and realistic. 
   • Take the dog for an extra loop on your daily walk 2-3x/week
   • Consider a short (~10 min) yoga practice/app/video that you can squeeze in before bed, first thing in the morning, or on a meeting break
   • Play with your kids when you take them to the park – actually chase them and get your heartrate up
   • Do an extra flight of stairs every time you go to the bathroom
   • Consider getting some gear for a home workout – personal trampoline, resistance bands, or free weights
3. Breathe Deeply: When you breathe deeply from the diaphragm, this forces you to relax and shift from a sympathetic state (“fight or flight) into the parasympathetic state (“rest and digest”). As simple as it seems, deep breathing is one of the fastest ways to reduce cortisol levels and help restore calmness
4. Have a Good Laugh: It is amazing how laughter can quickly shift our emotional state and bring clarity and calmness to a situation.
   • Call a friend and joke about what’s happening in your life – reframe a tough situation and see if you can find the humour in it
   • Watch some comedy or a silly rom-com movie
   • Pick a lighter/comedic book to read over your lunch hour/before bed
   • Try and make your kids/partner laugh – it’s tough not to giggle with them
   • Be silly with a pet and roll around on the floor
5. Consider Booking an Appointment: Having someone truly listen to you and help strategize some ways to move forward can be a profound way to help de-stress and bring you back to feeling more like yourself again. Counselling, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, or Massage are members of your health care team that are ready to listen and support you to de-stress in 2022.

We are all in this together and, one helpful thing to give thought to, is that it won’t last forever! Managing stress is an ongoing challenge but with each new ‘tool’ you build into your routine, know you are expanding your resilience kit.

To a healthy 2022