How to Have Fun Managing Stress

Stress is not an inevitable, unchangeable experience. As they say, you may not be able to control everything that happens to you, but you can control how you respond. You have the power to change your mind, and this alters your body’s reaction.

Make it your practice to handle stressful situations differently by responding with a conscious intention to maintain a positive state of being. As you practice this positive response, your body will learn how to effectively decrease your stress, your cortisol levels will stabilize, your blood pressure will drop, and your health will dramatically improve in a multitude of ways.

It’s also important to adopt a consistent practice. Stress management isn’t something you just take care of on the weekends. You need to handle it on a daily basis, because that’s how often debilitating stress rears its monstrous head. There are many different stress-reduction techniques, and what works best for you may not have the same results for someone else. You might really enjoy meditating, but someone else may feel calmer just by cleaning house. Stress management is a highly selective and individual thing. The last thing you want to do is to nullify any potential benefit by getting stressed-out with your chosen stress-busting activity. You’ll have to find what kind of daily activity works best for you.

As you’ll guess, making smart food choices will support your overall health and increase your body’s resiliency. Be sure to get adequate sleep, too, as sleep deprivation dramatically impairs your body’s ability to handle stress. And make your chosen stress-relief activities an adventure—experiment with different things and see what bring you joy. Some popular stress relievers include:

•        Exercise (e.g., yoga, weight training, hiking)
•        Meditation or breathing practices
•        Having fun with family and friends
•        Enjoying time alone in nature (or wherever your “happy place” is)
•        Music (both listening to it and making it)
•        Sex (duh!)

Be sure to deal with stress in healthy ways. When people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try to deal with their stress, sadly, instead of providing the body with relief, they tend to keep it in a stressed state and cause even more problems, including addiction.

Laughter Truly Is the Best Medicine!

Whether you’re guffawing at some inane YouTube video or giggling at an episode of Saturday Night Live, laughing does your body a whole lot of good. Laughter is a great form of stress relief, and that’s no joke. A strong funny bone can’t cure all of your ailments, but research data is steadily mounting about all of the positive things that laughter can do for you.

A good laugh has great short-term effects. Laughter doesn’t just lighten your mental stress load; it also induces physical changes in your body. Laughter has more than a few tricks up its sleeve. It can stimulate many organs by enhancing your intake of oxygen-rich air. This stimulates your heart, lungs, and muscles and increases the endorphins released by your brain. Laughter also activates and relieves your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response and increases your heart rate and blood pressure, which results in a good, relaxed feeling. Laughter can soothe tension by stimulating circulation and aiding in muscle relaxation, both of which help reduce some of the physical symptoms associated with stress.

Laughter isn’t just a quick “wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.” It’s also good for you over the long haul. Consistent daily laughter can improve your immune system. Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. In contrast, positive thoughts actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more serious illnesses. Laughter may also ease physical pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers. It may also break the pain-spasm cycle common to some muscle disorders. Laughter can increase your feelings of personal satisfaction and make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people. And, without a doubt, laughter can greatly improve your mood. Many people experience depression, sometimes due to chronic illnesses. Laughter can help lessen your depression and anxiety and make you feel happier.

C’mon now. Just stop resisting the idea of cracking up and give it a try. Turn the corners of your mouth up into a smile, think about something hilariously ridiculous, and then let out a hearty chortle, even if it feels a bit forced. Once you’ve had your guffaw, pay attention to how you feel. Pretty happy and relaxed, I’d venture to guess. That’s the power of laughter to instantly take away stress.