Stress Management Techniques: A Guide to Less Stress

While it’s normal to experience some degree of stress, at times it can be overwhelming. During those stressful periods, it’s crucial that we take good care of ourselves, so that our health isn’t negatively impacted.

In this article, you will learn the most effective strategies for releasing your stress. We will also have a closer look at managing the stress that can occur at work, at home and in our relationships. With these techniques, you will be able to feel more at ease in no time!

Stress Management: Definition

Chronic stress can be very damaging to both our physical and mental health. Due to the release of the hormones cortisol and adrenaline, excessive stress can impair our immunity, disrupt our sleep and increase our risk of cardiovascular disease. It is therefore important to monitor how often we get stressed and with what intensity.

Managing our stress levels does not mean avoiding it completely – that would be impossible! Moreover, stress isn’t all bad, sometimes it gives us the kick of energy that we need.

However, this always needs to be followed by periods of rest and recovery to ensure that our bodies and minds stay healthy.

Stress Management techniques and strategies

1. Reflect on your stressors

We all live in different circumstances and are surrounded by unique stressors. Perhaps you get exhausted by having too many social obligations, while somebody else thrives on them – and that’s ok! Everyone’s mental health is unique, which is why it’s all the more important not to compare ourselves too much.

Recognising and respecting your own emotional needs is an important first step towards effective stress management. Tracking how you feel in different situations, which factors drain you and which give you strength, will help you get to know yourself better. Regular journaling or mood tracking can be helpful for this, as well as reflective conversations with your loved ones.

2. Watch where your time goes

It’s very easy to get a biased idea of how we spend our time. When we are doing something hard, it can feel like time is passing very slowly. On the other hand, when we watch a fun TV show, hours can go by and we don’t even know how! That’s why it can help your stress management to actually track your time and get a clear idea of how you spend it.

Psychologists recommend that we should balance our time between routine, pleasurable and necessary activities. Routine activities, like regular mealtimes and bedtimes, can give our life structure and predictability. Pleasurable activities, like hobbies, help us feel happy, connected and rejuvenated. And necessary activities, whether it’s our work or paying the bills, help us achieve our goals and find meaning, stability and fulfilment.

Having this framework in mind can help you divide your time in a balanced way. It will also help you see where you might have to make changes. Perhaps you need to manage your time at work better so that you have more space for your hobbies. Or you need to strengthen your routine so that your life has more structure and less chaos. Either way, knowing what activities are best for your wellbeing and prioritising them will help you master your stress management in the long run.

3. Add a little more exercise 

We’ve all heard this advice many times before. But really, exercise can be so helpful for stress management! That’s because it can release the extra muscle tension that accumulates in our bodies during demanding times.

Here are some fun ideas for how to get more exercise in:

• Walk while listening to your favorite music or a podcast
• Learn a new TikTok dance
• Compete with your friends through apps like Strava
• Challenge yourself to doing 50 squats every time you watch a show
• Explore nature while hiking or cycling
• Get a standing desk or a treadmill desk 
• Try a new fitness class with a colleague

4. Practice relaxation techniques

Psychologists have developed so many techniques that can help you with stress management. From mindfulness meditation all the way to progressive muscle relaxation and positive visualizing – there is something for everyone! You can learn all these relaxation techniques and more in the Mind Ease app.

5. Unplug and rest

Sleep is another essential pillar of our mental health. When our bodies don’t have enough time to recharge, it becomes a lot hard to manage stress effectively. If you struggle with this area, you can read our 25 tips for getting better sleep!

6. Nourish your body and mind

Our diet is not only important for our bodies – it also has a significant impact on our mental wellbeing. Getting enough healthy protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables will fill your body with vitamins and minerals that can strengthen your mind.

If you find healthy cooking overwhelming, try to break it down into simple steps. Start with quick and easy recipes that don’t require too much effort. Like with any other skill, it will get easier over time – and your body will thank you for it!

7. Lean on others

It can feel scary to open up to others when we feel vulnerable. However, our vulnerability is also what brings us the closest, most meaningful connection with others. We all have struggles, and connecting with friends and family can bring us empathy, understanding as well as a good laugh! Find out more in our tips on building strong friendships.

As you will read later on, reaching out to a therapist or other mental health professionals can also be an incredibly valuable source of support.

8. Be kind to yourself

During times of stress, we can be extra prone to criticising ourselves. However, cultivating a kind, caring attitude towards our own struggles can be incredibly powerful. The Mind Ease app has an exercise for practicing self-compassion that will make this habit easier for you!

9. An attitude of gratitude

I know, it might sound cheesy – but having a more positive outlook on life is a muscle that can be strengthened. Research shows that regularly reflecting on what you’re grateful for – whether that’s through writing, conversations with others or even creative outlets, like photography – can bring  significant benefits to our mental health.

10. Talk to a doctor or a therapist 

If you are struggling to cope on your own, please do not hesitate to reach out to a professional. Sometimes this can be the quickest and most effective way to feel better. This is particularly important if you feel like you are starting to turn to unhealthy ways of coping – like alcohol, drugs or overeating. These behaviors could cause more health problems for you further down the line.

Stress Management techniques for your workplace

The American Psychological Association regularly carries out the Workplace wellbeing survey to understand how we are impacted by work stress. Unfortunately, higher stress at work has been associated with more mental health problems, particularly with anxiety and depression. Helping professionals, like teachers, social workers or nurses, appear to be particularly at risk.

Research shows that providing wellness programmes, like conflict resolution training, can be helpful. Other interventions, like mindfulness or assertiveness courses, together with health and fitness programs, have also been shown to be effective.

Long-term investment into building a culture of openness and vulnerability, where people can be themselves and ask for what they need, is what will bring the biggest benefits. Helping workers feel a sense of autonomy and control over their work can also prevent burnout and increase productivity.

Stress Management techniques for your home

With all the stress spilling over from our work lives, sometimes it can be hard to maintain calm in our homes. Between paying the bills, washing the dishes and doing the laundry, we might lose out on fun and connection with our loved ones.

One thing that can really help is to create family rituals; de-stressing activities that regularly repeat in our lives and that we can maintain them out of momentum. This could include:

• reading together in bed every night
• having a movie night every Friday
• spending time in nature every holiday
• making pancakes together every weekend
• decluttering your space every season

No matter how big or small, rituals can go a long way in helping us stay connected and maintain a happy home. And what could be better for decreasing our stress!

Stress Management techniques for relationships

Research shows that having enough social support can significantly help prevent burnout during periods of high stress. Cultivating healthy relationships is therefore key to maintaining our wellbeing. However, relationships aren’t always easy! Sometimes they can even be the biggest stressors of our lives.

If you feel like your relationships bring you more stress than you’d like, it can be another reason to try our therapy – whether that’s individual counselling or couples and family therapy. There are so many helpful techniques and skills that can be learnt – from knowing how to express your needs, how to resolve conflict or how to achieve compromise.

As you can see, there are many ways to improve our stress management! To prevent overwhelm, we recommend picking out just a few strategies and taking small steps towards them on a regular basis.

Remember that stress is a normal part of life and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. As long as we have some healthy habits in place and keep an eye on a couple of areas – like sleep, hobbies and social life – we should be ok!

If you feel you need extra help in this process, you can always try out the Mind Ease app for effective stress relief developed by clinicians.