When you spend a majority of your time tense and anxious, your health suffers tremendously. Because you are stuck in a “fight or flight” type of response, your blood pressure stays elevated, your muscles remain tense, and you have a higher risk of stress-related diseases that can ultimately mean life or an all too early death.
Therefore, it is extremely important to regularly release the negative tension that your body tries so hard to hold onto, and here are three simple exercises to help you achieve that goal:
- Focused breathing – This particular exercise won’t even make you work up a sweat as its entire focus is actually on getting your body to slow down versus speed up. To practice this soothing technique, find a quiet place to sit or lie down and take long, slow, deep breaths (about 10 of them). Pay attention to how your tummy rises and falls and how the air feels entering your nose and exiting your mouth. Do this once or twice a day for maximum benefit.
- Go for a walk – This anxiety reducer requires a little more effort than just breathing, but not so much that you have to be in top shape to do it. Whether you choose to log your time on a treadmill or while enjoying the air of the great outdoors, taking regular walks is a great way to give your mind time to think and sort out any struggles. Additionally, if you walk to the beat of your favorite music, this is a stress relief tool too!
- Boxing – If you prefer to get rid of your stress and aggression in a more intense way, then you really need to take up boxing. Picture the source of your stress on the bag as you kick, hit, and punch your way to total body fitness – and total body stress reduction!
Stress is not something you can avoid, but it is something that you can choose to get rid of so that it doesn’t negatively affect your health. Luckily, you have a few options to help and these are three that cover all fitness levels, meaning you have no excuse for not letting it go!