How to Reduce Stress in an Indian Lifestyle

Stress is a mental, physical and emotional factor which causes bodily and/or mental pressure.

Stress can aid us to keep alert and motivated. Sometimes it can be a good feeling, to some extent and other times not so much.

An Indian lifestyle can be rather stressful at times.

Whether you are providing for your loved ones, studying abroad or feeding your family, you name it.

Hectic days and a great number of responsibilities contribute to high-stress levels.

From gaining focus to making a to-do list to staying positive, we take a look at the ways to reduce stress.

Routine

Having a routine in place which you are able to follow is key. Getting into a regime will benefit and relief your stress levels substantially.

Particularly, having a routine provides your life with a structure, aiding you to organise your way of living. An advantage for this step is that you can utilise your day in a better and efficient way.

At our disposal, time is an asset that is very valuable, precious and crucial and once lost, it is unrecoverable. Whilst having a routine, you would save time otherwise spent during planning and preparing.

Instilling a routine into your busy lifestyle will also help you to build good habits. Repetition of the same mundane tasks will aid you to pick up good habits which will lead to matching your aspirations.

Whilst your routine is reoccurring and you pick up momentum, bad habits will not be part of your picture. This will assist you by relieving you of any stress by not having any bad ones.

Procrastination creeps up anytime and anyplace, whether you are working your 9 to 5 job or completing your university assignments. An intact routine will ingrain you to a system, ensuring you combat the time-wasting of procrastination.

More so, this will gear you to prioritise those tasks that are of more importance and benefit. Get the high priority tasks ticked off first then sit back and relax.

Think about it this way, if you stick to a routine and complete your tasks, you will feel great when carrying out an enjoyable activity. It will build self-confidence from within and satisfy you too.

Focus

Staying focussed on a task in life, in general, can be difficult during stressful times. Whether you are cooking some delicious Indian food or playing cricket, keeping a focus on a task is easier said than done.

When focussing on the task at hand, you will be able to be efficient and accomplish more. Concentration will definitely aid you to perform your best no matter what situation you are in.

As said previously, it is much easier said than done. But there are many factors in which you can take on to help you focus.

For example, fuel your body with the right food to ensure your energy is up and emotions in control. Best foods for the brain includes green leafy vegetables, fatty fish, sorts of berries and various nuts.

Good sleep is essential when it comes to focusing on the next day. You should make sure you avoid caffeine after lunch, switch off all electronic devices before bed and keep your bedroom cool.

Lack of focus leads to stressful times so it is useful to break things down.

This can be done by setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-rated) goals.

Try being mindful and acknowledging when your mind drifts away due to stress and lack of focus. Train your brain by practising mediation and breathing techniques to bring yourself back into the now.

By being in tune with yourself, it can help you to tackle the stresses that may come with your lifestyle.

Music

Listening to music is a nice and simple method of relieving lifestyle stress for many people. It helps the individual disconnect from the world, everyday worries and reality to some extent.

Music is a very powerful yet very easily accessible item. Music can play with the emotions of the body in many ways and work differently for some.

For instance, upbeat music will help you to feel more positive, alert and concentrate better. Whereas, a slower tempo will relax the muscles of your brain, ensuring the release of stress.

Research suggests that many forms of music can help release stress, including Indian stringed instruments, drums and flutes. These types of sounds hit differently in your brain, effectively relaxing and easing your mind.

Additionally, general sounds such as rain, thunder and nature will have the same effect. Also, singing along, or better yet shouting along to certain lyrics will also kill off stress!

If you are having difficulty falling asleep try listening to calm, soothing music and/or white noise. However, you must like and feel the music that is being played for it to have this relaxing effect on you.

Get your AirPods in and find your tune(s), whether its Arijit Singh or Atif Aslam, fast or slow, if you feel relieved from it, listen to it!

Meditate

Meditation is a great method to use to maintain and reduce one’s stress levels. This is a process which involves training the state of mind to cleanse, focus and swift your thoughts.

When encountering stressful thoughts and feelings, mediating can be effective to increase awareness of oneself and your surroundings. It is very helpful in reducing anxiety, tension and stress in all.

Feel heavy or have a burden? Irritated or frustrated by something or someone? Feeling tired due to work or in general? Meditate.

It is simple, take a deep breath and relax. Focus away from your stress and exhale and inhale. Turn your attention to how your body acts as you do this.

Visualise your mind going blank, care-free from the world, clearing the space that you are in.

A 20-minute session of this will have you feeling relaxed, refreshed and rejuvenated.

Setting time aside to meditate during your day or week will come with many benefits. Significantly, you will feel positive, increase pain intolerance, have self-discipline and gain a healthy sleeping pattern.

Additionally, meditation will enhance self-awareness, lengthen your attention span and might reduce age-related memory loss. Also, it can aid in fighting against addictions and generate kindness.

The best thing about meditation is that you can do it anywhere and it does not require any special equipment. Be free of the negative energy and bring in and give off all that good, positive energy!

Exercise

Another element which can help lower stress factors is exercise. Flexing your physical muscles will aid in revitalising your mental muscles.

Stress is able to set off a chain of events, whether they are physical or emotional. The body will react by releasing adrenaline, temporarily causing a rise in blood pressure and a faster heart and breathing rate.

Regular physical activities can relieve aspects such as stress, tension and mental health in general. Exercise will instantly give you a feel-good feeling and improve your overall well-being.

The benefits of exercise are endless. From calming you down to enhancing your mood for the better. In addition, it will give you energy and stamina boost whilst also improving the quality of your sleep.

There are many health benefits to exercising which will help your Desi eating lifestyle in the long run. Advantages include help to control blood sugar, lower blood pressure and reduced the risk of emerging heart diseases and strokes.

Not only that, but you will also look good from the outside and feel even better on the inside.

An Indian lifestyle can get stressful and tough at times. Although some people’s lifestyles can be overwhelming, it is key to find even 10 minutes of your time to do exercise.

Make A To-Do List

Whether you are working in your office or preparing food, other to-do tasks are always floating in our minds. Although you can remember the tasks, you may end up stressing yourself out due to all your other thoughts.

You want to give your mind a breather and this can be achieved by creating a checklist. Specifically, this can be completed by either penning a list or by using an app on your smartphone.

You can rank these tasks in order of importance or simply organise it the way you feel comfortable. Ultimately, creating this type of list will help provide you with structure and stay on top of your busy lifestyle.

This will ensure you do not forget to do the little subtasks that you were planning to carry out. Your efficiency would also increase as you are setting and smashing goals.

Checking off the tasks that you have successfully fulfilled will give you a relieving feeling.

More so, this might motivate you further to complete any remaining responsibilities.

Certainly, it will keep you in check and ensure you keep your priorities straight. Once all tasks are completed, you will feel as though you have deservingly earned some downtime.

Sit back and relax, do your favourite activities, whether that involves watching a Bollywood movie or playing some games. In fact, you could add these sorts of activities within your to-do list.

Listing agendas may aid you to be more efficient to finish tasks, leading to you worrying less and enjoying life more. Remember, small steps are better than no steps!

Avoid Distractions

Stress can hit us from all directions, especially through unnecessary distractions. To reduce your stress levels, you should try and remove common distractions such as electronic devices.

These types of items include mobile phones, laptops, televisions, games consoles etc. Although these items are needed for some people’s day-to-day jobs and hobbies, it is good to get away from them.

The virtual space is somewhat equally as important as our physical space. But when you are focussing on an important task, these devices could take you on a downward spiral.

To clarify, you might be carrying out a high priority task and come towards a small, 5 to 10-minute break. You get your phone out and click onto a social media platform application.

This might lead to you spending more time on this app then you wanted or needed to, drifting away from the main task at hand.

You will feel lighter when you let go completely or use these devices less when distractions strike. It will help you keep the focus on the real goals that you want to accomplish.

It is essential to schedule time out to clear your headspace. Try substituting one or all of your distractions during your spare time and/or breaks with meditation, exercise and even self-care.

Stay Positive

Being able and/or learning to stay positive in difficult scenarios goes a long way. If you view life in a positive outlook, you are likely to have a healthier lifestyle!

Look at things differently and in a positive light. Understand your current situation with stress and the way you are seeing it and try to flip it.

What you do not want to do is allow your negative thoughts to dominate you. This will increase your stress levels and even add to your already existing stress.

Whatever situation you are in, train your brain to think of the positives. Over time, this will help you defeat some future stressful encounters, helping you cope with it better and feel in control.

Positivity is contagious in the greatest way possible!

It is a great idea to surround yourself with other positive people. Naturally, this will help you to learn positivity and model them or vice versa. Always look at the bright side of life!

In conclusion, some, if not all of these factors work hand in hand when trying to reduce stress levels.

Stress will not disappear overnight and the factors above do not work instantly. Take it slow and gain the benefits you deserve of conquering a stress-reduced lifestyle!