Most people accept that a little bit of work-related stress is inevitable. With that said, it’s important that we don’t accept too much stress.

Left unchecked, stress can result in a wide range of health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Plus, it’s just a fact that stress makes it much more difficult to enjoy life to the fullest!

Stress at work often bleeds into our personal lives, impacting relationships and robbing us of the happiness we should feel when we’re out of the office. 

Taking a proactive approach to combating stress is, therefore, essential. In this post, we’ve put together a bunch of de-stressing activities that anyone can utilize to lower their stress levels.

For the biggest impact, look at engaging in these activities even if you don’t feel stressed. As they say, it’s much easier to prevent a problem than to treat it.

Run It Off

Working up a sweat is a bona fide, tried-and-tested stress-buster. If you’ve had a stressful day at the office, then put on your running shoes and go for a long run outdoors. By the time you’re back home, you’ll likely find that you feel much better! 

Running releases endorphins, the happy chemical that works as an antidote to high stress levels. Regular exercise also lowers your resting heart rate and even works to combat some of the negative impacts of stress — for instance, improving your immune system and slowing down the aging process. 

Play a Game

Anything that engages your mind in a fun, focused way can help to lower your stress levels. Games that require concentration work to keep stress levels in check by offering a distraction from other things that might be on your mind. It can be difficult to unwind when you’re worried about an upcoming meeting. The reprieve that a low-intensity game offers may only be temporary, but it’ll have a noticeable impact on your stress levels. 

Keep in mind that there needs to be an emphasis on the low-intensity part. Games such as Spider Solitaire and Mahjong, both of which are known for promoting relaxation, will be better than playing stress-inducing games like Call of Duty or Dark Souls. Just be sure not to focus too much on the outcome; while you might hope you’ll win, it’s not the primary reason why you’re playing. 

Watch a Comedy Show

They say that laughter is the best medicine — and when it comes to stress, they might just be right. It doesn’t matter what kind of day you’ve had. If you spend thirty minutes or more laughing, then it’s unlikely that you’ll still be stressed by the time it’s over. 

We’re lucky to live in an age when there are so many excellent standup comedy shows available on Netflix. Need some inspiration? Check out this list. We’re confident that you’ll feel better by the time the credits roll, though we’ll also say that it’s best to first get yourself into a position where you’re ready to laugh. Maybe go for that long run we mentioned earlier, order some food, and then settle into the comedy show.

Socialize With Friends

Dealing with stress can often feel like a pretty isolating experience. But it’s important to remember that most of us all feel stressed at some point. In fact, some of your friends and family are probably also feeling just as stressed as you are. Getting together with friends offers a good opportunity to share your problems, listen to theirs, and get some perspective. 

People are socializing less than they did pre-covid, but there’s value in putting in extra effort to get together with your nearest and dearest. Did you know that the happiest people on the planet spend an average of 6-7 hours a day socializing? That’s probably not a realistic ambition — we have jobs and other responsibilities after all — but it can serve as a motivation to organize a social outing with friends. 

Breathe It Away 

The body can hold onto stress, but there are ways to get rid of it. Breathwork, for instance, has been shown to be an excellent method for keeping stress levels in check. 

What’s most impressive about breathwork is that it has an instantaneous effect. Simply follow along with a fifteen-minute guided YouTube breathwork session, and it’s effectively guaranteed that you’ll feel significantly more relaxed once it’s over.

Meditation can be even more effective than breathwork, but it takes a little longer for the effects to be felt. Commit to practising meditation for ten minutes each day, and within a couple of weeks you should notice that you’re in a much more relaxed state. 

Take a Cold Shower

The thought of taking a cold shower is, to many people, pretty unappealing. But there is a reason why so many people brave the cold water: it offers a wide range of benefits, including lowering stress levels. One study found that people who took freezing cold showers had lower stress levels for up to 12 hours after. There are also other benefits, too, including improved skin and hair and increased energy levels.

And if you’re still not convinced about the merits of taking a cold shower first thing in the morning, think of it this way: you’ll likely hate the experience so much that everything else that you face during the day will be a walk in the park. 

Go Into Nature

And talking of walks in the park: go for a walk in the park! Nature is a bona fide stress-buster, one that helps to put problems in perspective. One study found that even spending 15 minutes in nature can help to lower stress levels. If you can spend two hours in nature each week, then you’ll experience significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

Hit the Spa

Finally, look at treating yourself to a spa day every so often. There’s much good that can come from getting a massage or spending a couple of hours doing a circuit of jacuzzi, steam room, and a sauna.