Stress is a big killer in our world. People underestimate how serious it can be. We believe that stress is the cause of many underlying medical problems. If you are suffering stress, you probably know it, even if you don’t realize how serious it is. If you know how serious it is, then here is a list of things that you can do that will help keep it in check and help your overall health.
Exercise
This is the cornerstone to many things, such as physical and mental health. This is probably the most important thing you can do to combat stress. Doing a workout 3 times a week can have an amazing effect on stress. It will make you healthier overall as well, so we can’t emphasize this enough.
Sleep
Everyone thinks they can get by on 5 or 6 hours sleep, but it just isn’t true. You need 8 hours of sleep on average. Getting less will catch up to you. They have found in recent studies that even getting 1 hour less a night over a week had the same detrimental mental effect as staying up all night pulling an all-nighter. You need a full 8 hours to combat stress and make yourself healthy. Don’t fool yourself and get the 8 hours.
Meditate
Meditation has been shown time and time again to have amazing health benefits. It is not all about just relaxing, it has a mental and physical healing aspect as well. We would definitely put this in the top 3 things to do for stress. You can start with one minute a day, yes, one minute, you can handle that right? Then slowly build up to 5 minutes and soon you will find yourself at peace for 15 minutes. Once you start recognizing the benefits, you will never go back. Almost every Billionaire has meditation in their schedule at some point in the day.
Remove the problem
Recognize what your stress is from and try and distance yourself from the problem. You can’t always remove the problem, but quite often once you recognize it, removing it might be easier than you thought. Deal with the cause the stress can go away.
Accept
If there is nothing you can do about the stress, such as bills or a mother in law, then you just have to accept it and try and deal with the stress other ways. Sometimes acceptance can be quite freeing once you realize you can’t fight it, you just learn a way to change it to make it livable.
Small pieces
For many problems that seem insurmountable, too large to deal with, just break them down into small pieces and deal with them one at a time. If you break things into small chunks you can feel the satisfaction of fixing one chunk, even if you can’t fix them all yet. Think of it like dirty dishes in the sink, if you decide to just wash one dish only, that’s easy, so just do one. After you have done that one, the problem is smaller, and you can do another one later. Eventually, all the dishes are clean and the job doesn’t seem insurmountable anymore. So just break things into doable chunks.
Friends
Friends are one of the most important things in our lives. When you are stressed, you can tell a close friend and they can help you just by knowing the problem and sharing it. If you can’t share, then just tell them you are going through a hard time and do some male bonding. Watch the football game and have a barbeque. Simple things with friends can let you know that you are not alone in the world and that helps fight stress a lot.
Play
Play video games. This is a great stress relief and a way to escape for a while. Fighting, winning, losing dying, are what games are all about. Lose yourself to them for a few hours. In a way, it is similar to meditation, as you are taking your mind to another place and focusing on something instead of nothing. So, remember, no matter what they tell you, video games are therapy.
Professional
If things get too bad, consult with a professional. Depending on how bad things are, they can prescribe medications for you that you just might find are a life saver, and get you back on track. When all else fails and you are out of control, sometimes the best things you can do is talk to a professional. It’s between you and them only, nobody else has to know.
Hobby
Another good way to fight stress is a hobby. True, video games are a hobby as well, but we felt it was strong enough to warrant its own section. Learn to draw or go train in UFC, it doesn’t matter. Get a local community college catalog and browse through it and pick something you like. Learning new things opens and expands your mind and lets you see there is more out there than what you might be suffering. Learn and be free.
Stress is a serious thing, and traditionally men are supposed to just “suck it up”. Showing weakness generally has a cultural stigma If you are a male. We believe that stress shouldn’t be shrugged off. We believe you need to take your life in your hands and beat stress, teach yourself how to make it go away properly, and not just repress it. Stress kills, and we would much rather see you alive.
