Manage Stress with Self Care
Between Covid and the Election our stress levels are running high these days. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), 78% of adults (nearly 8 in 10) say that the Corona pandemic is “a significant source of stress in their life,” and 67% say “they have experienced increased stress over the course of the pandemic.” Just this week the APA came out with a finding that nearly 70% of respondents said that the “elections are a significant source of stress.” Managing stress isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a must for a healthy life. And we’ll go on the record at Spa Theory as saying that managing stress with self-care isn’t selfish. It’s a necessity.
Why Is Stress Bad
Stress is there for a reason. It can also be called our fight-or-flight mechanism. It’s our natural defense against danger. It helps out body prepare to confront or run from danger. When our bodies go into fight-or-flight mode it produces larger quantities of cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. When that happens our blood pressure goes up, muscles are heightened in preparedness mode, we’re more alert, and we start sweating. This is all great when it’s time for fight-or-flight, but when the stress is emotional and it hangs around for months or weeks it can end up weakening the immune system. It can lead to high blood pressure, fatigue, sleeping issues, depression, anxiety, and heart disease.
How Self Care Helps Stress
Selfcare is, by definition, any activity that’s deliberately done to take care of ones mental, emotional, and physical health. Studies have shown that positive self-care improves the mind, calms stress, and reduces anxiety. At Spa Theory we firmly believe that if you don’t take time to take care of yourself you won’t have the capacity to take care of those around you.
Self-Care Examples
Positive self-care helps you be your best physically, emotionally, and mentally. It includes getting regular sleep, exercising regularly, taking time to relax, and eating well. And self-care doesn’t need to take up your whole day. It can be as simple as taking a bath before bed, or reading a book for 15 minutes. Here are some more things you can do at home today to destress:
10 minutes a day of meditation has been found to help control stress.
Studies show that a massage helps reduce stress and anxiety. We’re clearly big fans of massages at home!
Take a walk
Do an at-home face-mask
Light a candle and listen to your favorite tunes
Whatever you decide to do, remember that you need this time to reenergize yourself from within. Self-care is tremendously beneficial to help reduce and manage stress, but it is important to take the time to do so. Schedule 15 minutes a day on your calendar as your self-care time and make that time matter. Because you matter!
