This is a collaborative post.
Are you looking for stress-relieving activities? Stress does more than ruin your day. It also hurts your mental health. Everyone deserves happiness, even when life throws you curveballs. Take control of your mental health by trying these eight fun stress-relieving activities when you need to relax.
1. Grab Something Tactile
Stress quickly morphs into anxiety, which makes some people feel overwhelmed with negative thoughts. Ground yourself while dealing with turbulent emotions by grabbing something tactile. While you pop bubble wrap or make something with play dough, your mind will focus on the sensations in your hands instead of whatever’s troubling you. This is one of my favourite stress-relieving activities.
2. Go For a Walk
Taking a walk around your neighbourhood or along a local trail will significantly improve your mental health. Research shows that nature walks relieve physical and psychological stress by defeating anxiety with additional endorphin production. Endorphins are feel-good hormones, which directly reduces negative emotions like stress.
3. Turn on a Song
If you feel trapped in a spiral of anxious thoughts, turn on your favourite upbeat song. Dancing for 30 seconds will flood your body with fresh oxygen and raise your heart rate. You’ll pull yourself out of negativity with the press of a button, you could even do this at the same time as other stress-relieving activities!
4. Solve a Puzzle
When you’re at home, anxiety might be hard to spot. It’s easy to fall under a wave of stress when you can’t break away from spiralling thoughts. If you start feeling anxiety symptoms like these, it’s time for stress-relieving activities:
- Restlessness
- Lightheadedness
- Shortness of breath
- Irritation
- Headaches
Redirect your thoughts to a crossword puzzle or a jigsaw puzzle. Finding the correct answers or placing pieces into the perfect place will reward you with a sense of accomplishment that stops anxiety in its tracks. You’ll feel more confident and in control, even when life becomes challenging.
5. Bake Your Favourite Dessert
It’s always fun to eat something sweet, but the process of baking will defeat your stress before you take your first bite. Following each step is methodic and breaks the harmful cycle of anxious thinking. Psychologists agree that even simple recipes will stop stress by redirecting your focus and giving you something to look forward to.
6. Focus on Your Breathing
Anxiety can cause your breathing to speed up and potentially trigger hyperventilating. Slowly take a deep breath and release it just as slowly. You’ll reduce your heart rate and feel calmer as your breathing becomes more steady.
Your anxiety might swoop back in and become a distraction before your new breathing pattern starts to help. When that happens, turn on some background noise to drown it out. The light patter of rainfall or soothing spa music will consume the extra headspace where stress normally resides.
7. Clean Your Home
If your anxiety stems from a loss of control, cleaning your home can restore that feeling. You’ll create order in a chaotic time by wiping your counters, vacuuming or doing your laundry. Getting rid of messes also provides a sense of accomplishment that may bring you more peace.
8. Open Your Craft Box for stress-relieving activities
Stress sometimes drains people of all of their energy. If you don’t have the ability to clean, bake or exercise, open a craft box. Colour a picture or start embroidery or knitting. You don’t need to finish the craft either. It’s another way to give yourself a positive thing to focus on while your stress melts away.
Try Fun Stress-Relieving Activities
There are so many fun, stress-relieving activities you can try when you need a helping hand. Get through tough times without pushing past your limits by doing activities like dancing, walking or solving a puzzle. As you try new things, you’ll find the best ways to defeat your particular type of stress and feel better after diving back into your routine.
