How to decrease stress and to improve performance, at the same time.

When you hear the word stress, what comes to mind? For some, it’s almost considered taboo and never spoken. Unfortunately, for others, stress is a way of life. Stress can negatively affect every aspect of your life; personal to professional. It slowly creeps in and plants itself in your life and if left untreated, it could ultimately kill you.

Pretty scary to think about, isn’t it? With that being said, there are ways to reduce stress and live a happy, well-rounded life.

Read on to learn how to decrease stress and improve your performance.

Reduce Caffeine Consumption

Sitting high on the list of offenders is caffeine. Even though your favorite energy-boosting beverage keeps you awake, excessive caffeine levels can increase your stress levels. Since caffeine and stress both raise your cortisol levels, it can negatively affect your health. For example, you may have mood fluctuations, which in turn, leads you to crave more caffeine to feel better. Again, excessive caffeine consumption affects your sleep, your overall well-being. Try swapping out caffeine with another beverage like herbal tea, natural fruit juices or water.

Increase Your Physical Activity

Stressful situations will increase the level of your stress hormones, adrenaline, and cortisol. Commonly known as the “fight or flight” hormones, evolution has hard-wired them into our brain, which helps protects us from any immediate bodily harm. Physical exercise helps stabilize excess stress hormones in order to calm your mind and restore your body to a relaxed state.

Try Out Meditation

As you learn meditation, you’ll begin a journey from an activity into silence. By going beyond the noise thoughts, you’ll enter a state of deep rest, however, your mind fully awake and alert. The longer you stay in this state, your body will begin to reverse the effects of stress.

Here are a few examples of how meditation reverses the effects of stress:

• Your heart decreased heart rate
• You begin to have deeper breathing
• Your immune system becomes stronger
• You’ll have a decrease in the inflammation in your body

It’s worth noting that you don’t have to be a master at meditation to reap the benefits. In fact. studies show that people who meditate have significantly lower stress levels and improve work performance.

Dealing with stress is never easy, but it is possible. Learning techniques to better manage stress gives you freedom. It allows you to live life the way it was meant to be lived, without the toxicity of stress.