Physical stress can take its toll on your body, and you’re not always aware of it. What happens is your body accumulates the stress over time. If your muscles get tighter, for example, this may not be immediately obvious. When enough stress builds up, though, you end up with obvious symptoms such as neck, shoulder or back pain. If you can prevent stress from building up in this manner, you can save yourself a lot of grief. So let’s look at a few effective ways to deal with physical stress.
When you finally realize that you haven’t been taking care of yourself and have let your stress levels get too large, you need to get out of the house and start to exercise–if you are able. Depending on your individual circumstances, though, you might need to have your doctor clear you for this activity. In terms of getting through your pent up stress, aerobic exercise is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
You don’t need to start running long distances immediately (unless you really want to), working out with the machines at your gym should be fine. No matter how you take on your aerobic exercise, just make sure that you do it at least three times a week for a minimum of twenty minutes. Even if you have a busy schedule, make the decision to take care of your health and find the time to do so. If you don’t make the commitment, the signs of your physical stress will only get more extreme and intense.
You can ease your way into regular workouts by starting with a stretching routine and then building up from there. Lots of people are skeptical about the helpfulness of stretching but it can be quite useful.
Stretching works similarly to getting a massage in that it helps your muscles relax. Tense muscles are a sign of physical stress which is a normal response to feeling stress. If your muscles are tense, they get shorter which can make doing normal things really difficult. Warm up a little before stretching, and then go through a whole-body routine from the bottom of your legs up to your neck. You can stretch your neck by gently moving your head from side to side and then all around.
For the last half century or so, there have been reports of people “curing” themselves by laughing.
They were all documented medical condition sufferers who specifically focused on the use of humor to help themselves improve. They used anything they could to help themselves laugh, comedic movies, etc. The point with this is to lighten up a little, or a lot, and learn how to relax and enjoy something. This may not work for everyone–some people are quite serious and aren’t going to ever change. Also, following this kind of strategy will also serve to take your mind off the things that stress you out. The goal is to keep the stress you feel from producing physical problems for you, so do whatever you can to keep that from happening. When you think about it, there’s no rational reason in the world that you have to suffer from physical stress. What you need to do is take action right now if you truly want to live a healthier, happier life.