How To Stay Calm When You're Stressed

Stress can be both physically and mentally exhausting. It wears you out, and takes away your energy for doing even the most basic things in life.

PYM has a list of some of what we believe are the most useful, to help you stay calm when you need it the most.

Take A Walk

If you can feel the stress starting to build in your body and you know you’re getting overwhelmed, lace up your sneakers and head out for a walk. 

According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, and plenty of other scientific research, exercise has the potential to reduce stress. When we are under the influence of stress, the entire body feels it. The good news is, the opposite is also true. When you’re able to increase the flow of positive endorphins and hormones in the body, they also naturally impact the mind. 

This works when you’re under direct stress but, with regular exercise, the benefits can continue much more long term. Those benefits, which include better mood, better sleep, and higher self esteem, can occur with just a short, 10 minute walk. 

Getting some fresh air and a change of scenery, can also give you a different perspective on what may be stressing you out and what (if anything) you can do to change it.

Breathe Deeply

Stress can trigger the body to think that it needs to go into fight, flight, or freeze. This is the body’s normal response to any sort of danger but, in people with anxiety, it becomes more of a hairpin trigger that can be set off by even the smallest thing. 

Deep breathing, and specifically a technique known as diaphragmatic breathing, can help counteract that stress response. 

Diaphragmatic breathing can take some practice, so it’s best to try it when you’re not in immediate stress. You’ll want to start by taking a deep breath in through your nose, as both your chest and your stomach rise. This will feel a little unusual, at first, because most of us are very shallow breathers the majority of the time. Once you feel as full as possible, slowly breathe back out (either through your mouth or through your nose, whichever is more comfortable). 

With regular practice, you’ll be able to call up the ability to jump right into diaphragmatic breathing when you need it the most. 

Relax Your Body

When you’re feeling stressed out, the body’s natural response is to tense up and ready itself for whatever may be coming. The effects of this can be seen during the course of a regular day. Stop and think about how close your shoulders are to your ears, or how much you’re clenching your jaw. Now release them. Feels better, right? 

To help with your stress level, try a technique known as progressive muscle relaxation (or PMR). With PMR, you tense your muscles tighter before relaxing them. Each muscle group has its own specific way to tense and release. 

For example, to practice PMR on your wrists and forearms, you’ll want to extend them and then bend your hands back toward you at the wrist. To use PMR on your stomach, suck it in as tightly as possible and then release. You’ll want to do every muscle group, which not only helps you to release your stress but also gives you something else to focus on.

Get Ahead of Your Stress

If you know that you have a period of stress coming up, don’t just stand there and wait for it to hit. Instead, try to get ahead of your stress by planning how you can stay calm when it happens. Stress is a normal part of life, and it can’t be avoided entirely. But, by helping to support yourself when that stress does happen, you can really reduce the impact it is able to have.

One way that you can do that is by using supplements that were designed to help both your body and your mind cope with the effects that stress can have on the body. PYM Mood Chews were designed for exactly that reason, and can be taken ahead of the stressful event. The chews use adaptogens and amino acids to help balance the chemical effects of stress, so that you can use your coping techniques to help you deal with the mental effects as well.

You can also prep things like meals ahead of time, which can be a big help if you know you won’t have the time or energy needed to do small things like that. Freezer meals, or meals that can be made in the crockpot, are a perfect way to make sure you’re still eating without having to cook.

Grab a Glass of Water or Some Gum

Stress and anxiety can naturally dehydrate the body, because the body needs a lot more energy to maintain that heightened state of awareness. If you’re particularly stressed out, grab a glass of water. It gives you a brief moment to recenter yourself, and you’re giving your body what it needs to help make it physically through the stress as well.

Gum can be helpful, too, by providing a distraction and something else to focus on besides your anxiety. Keeping a pack on you means that you don’t have to search for it when anxiety strikes, plus your breath will be minty fresh!

In Summary

It can be really hard to stay calm when you’re feeling stressed out. But, because stress is a normal part of life at least some of the time, learning how to stay calm when things aren’t going as planned can help you from feeling completely overwhelmed. 

PYM Mood Chews can also help you to stay calm thanks to our simple ingredients, picked for their calming, stress-fighting abilities, which can help you pass through the stress as easily as humanly possible.

Sources:

Exercise for Stress and Anxiety - Anxiety and Depression Association of America ADAA

Relaxation techniques: Breath control helps quell errant stress response - Harvard Health

Stress Management: Doing Progressive Muscle Relaxation - University of Michigan Health