Title: Becoming a Calmer You

Author: Callie

Topic: Stress Management

I think we can all agree that it has been a year of stress, change, and uncertainty. You are not alone if your health and fitness were put on the back burner while trying to work from home, be a teacher, keep the kids happy, go to school, feed your family, and keep everyone safe. Unfortunately, that additional pressure can add stress to your life and put a wedge between you and your fitness goals. Here are 4 ways to add stress-relieving actions into your daily routine.

Sleep

-Quality and Length of sleep are critical to getting the proper recovery each day! Here are some tips to improve your sleep quality and time.

• Keep your room cool. Ideally around 65 degrees!
• Keep your room dark. Use blackout curtains or an eyeshade.
• Keep your room quiet or turn on some rain sounds or a fan to drown outside noise!
• Give yourself time to get 7-9 hours of sleep, bonus points if you keep a consistent schedule. Get to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time.
• Keep your distractions low so turn off the TV and set down the phone at least an hour before bed. You can also do a quick journaling session to write down everything you are thinking about so you don’t have to worry about it while you are trying to sleep!

Eat

-Eat regular meals of quality food. Here are some food tips!

• Avoid highly processed, sugary, hard-to-digest foods.
• Avoid eating a large amount of food before you go to bed to eliminate indigestion.
• Keep a food notebook where you can plan your meals for the week.
• Eat protein with every meal, that’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
• Eat as many fruits and vegetables as you can.

Move

-We were made to move. Here are some ways to get in additional movement

• Drink lots of water. This one has many benefits! It gets you up and moving to fill your bottle and go to the bathroom and you will increase your hydration levels!
• Build regular movement breaks into your day. Instead of sending an email walk over to that person’s desk!
• Plan your workouts and put them on the calendar. Make them a priority and avoid booking meetings or other activities during that time.
• Get outside! Take a 5-minute walk outside every day and get that vitamin D!

Management

-It is almost impossible to remove all stress from your life so lets think about putting it into categories. 1. Stress I can control 2. Stress I can not control 3. Stress I can control in the future If you are experiencing stress that is out of your control make sure you are taking care of yourself to handle it the best you can! Here are some tips.

• If it takes less that 3 minutes and clears your mind, do it! Like, make your bed each morning. Pick up the clothes on the bathroom floor. 
• Journal 10 minutes each day. Write down everything. Your thoughts, feelings, to-do list, to-don’t list, and peaks and valleys for the day.
• Simplify morning routines. Prep as much as you can the night before so you roll into your day relaxed and ready to go!
• Schedule 10 minutes per day of quiet time to yourself. This may be before everyone wakes up or after they go to bed.
• Pay for help. If you are able to pay someone to help you out. Daycare, lawn experts, cleaning companies, or an assistant at work! Make sure you are getting the biggest bang for your buck. Your time with friends and family is valuable!

Hopefully, this helps you get a plan of action to manage some stress in your life. Just pick one thing at a time and work on it for a week or month. If you would like someone to help you with these goals the coaching staff at Torrent is here! We are excited to build a plan and give you the skills to create a calmer you!

Book your FREE INTRO to start the conversation about how we can help you!

Disclaimer: These tips are for managing general stress. Please talk to a medical professional if your stress load becomes acute feels unbearable or just to rule out a medical cause.