National Stress Awareness Day

April 16 is National Stress Awareness Day!

This is a day to be proactive and look into some ways that you can reduce stress in your life. There are so many different strategies to help reduce the daily stress and anxiety that people experience in their life. Self-care is a way to help reduce stress and is unique to each individual. It is something that is very important to maintain. We have provided some examples of self-care routines to help you get started dealing with your daily stress.

Meditation:
Simply just taking time to collect your thoughts and feelings can lead to an increased amount of energy to help you make it through a crazy and stressful day. Finding a quiet area to relax and get your thoughts together is essential. Meditation can be done in many ways. If you are interested in trying meditation to reduce your stress, look into ways that work best for yourself and your schedule.

Exercise:
Go for a run. Take a yoga class. Go lift some weights. Even just going for a walk is a great source of exercise to get your mind off things. Anything that allows you to get your endorphins pumping will allow your brain to relax and allow yourself to calm down. This is a great way to reduce some of the stress in your life.

Pet an Animal:
Science shows that the unconditional love that animals give off helps people to release some of the stress they are having in their life. Taking some time to sit and pet or snuggle your animal has a powerful effect on lowering your blood pressure. Just taking a moment to spend time with your pet can really help most individuals de-stress.

Personally, I like to go on a run when I am feeling stressed, but there are so many other options that can help with eliminating some stress.

These examples are just some of the simple ways that can reduce stress, however, there many more things that could be done to work on the stress in your life. Everyone is different. Find something that works for you and stick with it!

In addition to these examples, EVOLVE Family Services offers many options that could help reduce stress.

EVOLVE Therapeutic Services focuses on children and families. All services are provided by mental health practitioners or professionals who are culturally competent and use strengths-based approaches.

Some of the following Therapeutic services provided by EVOLVE are:

• Parent coaching and education
• Crisis intervention
• Diagnostic Assessments
• Psychotherapy/ counseling for individuals, couples and families
• Using evidence-based interventions and techniques specific to client(s)’ situation and goals.

For more information regarding therapeutic services at EVOLVE Family Services click HERE

Author, Samantha Potocnik
Samantha is an intern at EVOLVE and a student at the University of Wisconsin River Falls.