5 Ways to Counter Stress and Depression

Stress is quite prevalent these days. Almost every third person, irrespective of their age, is suffering from some kind of stress or depression. If not cured early, it might have some detrimental effects. However, you can evade such a predicament by making minor changes in your lifestyle. 

Five super-simple activities that you may include in your daily routine 

• Start Exercising

Exercise does not only affect your body. It improves your mind, your attitude, and your mood. When I say exercise, I am not telling you to lift heavy weights in a gym or any such facility. A brisk morning walk in a park, an evening stroll or maybe a few laps in a swimming pool – all would suffice. Engage in any such exercise for 10-15 minutes and you will see the results. 

With exercise, you release loads of endorphins, a hormone that is an ultimate mood booster. Along with that, there would be a stream-lined flow of blood in your body. As a result, you will be energetic throughout the day, ergo no time for stress. 

• Manage Your Time Efficiently

Not being able to manage your time is quite a common cause of depression. When you fail to accomplish your desired tasks in a day, you get frustrated. In other words, you feel a slight sense of incompetency, thereby leading to stress. 

However, you can save yourself from all this by effective management of your time. Start with compiling a to-do list. Maintain it every day and track your progress. Even if you fail to check all the tasks in the list, don’t beat yourself. Take it a bit easy. Try to find out the reasons that led to the failure of that task. Trust me, this is an effective exercise of introspection. 

• Mindfulness Meditation

To be here and now is what you all have to do. Mindfulness Meditation is a technique in which you become aware of yourself and your surroundings. You transform yourself into a good observer. It is basic human nature that we try to find out the solution of our adversities in the external world. Instead of looking outside, we should look within ourselves. 

However, this is not as easy as it sounds. To facilitate this, you should practice Mindfulness Meditation. Meditation is another word for Nothingness – an absolute zero thought in your mind. For that, you should sit silently for 5-10 minutes daily and try to focus on your third eye which is located right in the center of your forehead. Take the help of some of the guided meditation audios. 

Do one thing. Download LunaHead – an app for Mindfulness. You will find plenty of audios over there. Let’s get rid of any stress, once and for all. 

• Engage in a Sport

As with Exercising, playing any Sport is an incredible way to break any physical tensions in your body. If your body is rigid somewhere, it will impede the circulation of blood, thus, some sort of stress. Playing a sport, such as Badminton, Table Tennis, Squash, etc., helps you to release the tensions of your body. 

Moreover, it also enhances your focusing capabilities, making you much more focused in your pursuits. With the release of a significant amount of dopamine hormone while engaging in a game, you feel charged and motivated. So, games are really good and effective options to relieve yourself of your stresses and anxieties. 

• Expand Your Social Circle

An empty mind breeds negative thoughts. See, it is a universal truth that we live in an interconnected network, called society. Or in the words of Estragon from “Waiting for Godot”, by Samuel Beckett, “We are tied together”. So, instead of feeling lonely and sorry about yourselves, try sharing your thoughts and emotions with your near and dear ones. 

If you won’t share, you will keep brooding to an extent that the impact would be devastating. The negativities inside you will keep on becoming toxic, therefore damaging you. So, find someone with whom you can talk and lighten yourselves. You may also join similar groups or clubs that deal with all such problems. These will help you to get rid of loneliness and improve your mental health. 

Conclusion:-

To conclude, mental health is an important aspect of your life that you should really care about. I know starting from almost zero would really seem an impossible task at the start. But trust me, as soon as you undertake any above listed activity, you will enter into the realm of bliss. If you find it difficult to do these activities in a consistent manner, you may try them on alternate days. So, be mentally sound and all the stress will vanish into thin air.