How to reduce stress to avoid everyday muscle tension and headaches

Have you felt overwhelmed and unable to cope during the past 12 months? You’re not alone. In fact, Beyond Blue report that one in five Aussies have taken time off work in the past year due to stress. Whilst it’s a natural part of life, stress shouldn’t be an everyday part of life. So, if you constantly feel under pressure in your life, read on to learn why destressing can help improve your overall health and wellbeing.

What are stress symptoms?

During a stressful situation, you can feel your heart race and your muscles tighten. This “flight or fight” response is the result of your body’s adrenal glands pumping adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream. It’s an essential reaction for our bodies; and completely natural when we do something new or unknown. However, when you trigger your stress hormones regularly, it can cause your general health to deteriorate.

Common stress symptoms can range from physical symptoms like muscle tension, tension headaches, and fatigue; to behavioural symptoms like lack of concentration, moodiness and anger. Over time, these stress indicators can lead to poor heart health, insomnia, headaches, and a weakened immune system.

To combat chronic stress, it’s essential to build your emotional strength. You can do this by choosing a positive outlook, being social, and taking control of what you can. Here’s five changes you can make to destress your life. Your health will thank you.

How to reduce stress

• Be active

Exercise is a natural anti-depressant. Not only can being active distract you from your thoughts, when you get your blood pumping your brain floods your body with endorphins – a natural feel-good buzz.

• Connect with friends

Being an active member of your social circle helps enhance your self-esteem, alleviate emotional distress, and improve your coping mechanisms when you’re under pressure. You could even try a social sport activity, like touch football, to combine socialising with a dose of exercise. 

• Avoid unhealthy habits

Sometimes, unhealthy habits can creep into your lifestyle in a bid to relieve stress. Instead of reaching for a beer to relax or pepping yourself up with extra coffee after a poor night’s sleep – choose healthy practices that will actually treat your stress. Relax by taking deep breaths or meditating, and improve your sleep by adopting healthy sleep hygiene.

• Cut stressful activities

Take a good look at how you’re spending your time. Can you identify daily activities that send your heart racing? Things like excessive screen time, reading too much news, and saying yes to everything can lift your stress levels without adding much value to your life.

• Zen your workspace

Bring some balance to your busy workday by decluttering your desk, stretching regularly, and getting up to walk in between calls or computer tasks. These are all simple things you can do to destress in the office.

Would you like more support to destress?

If you are feeling overwhelmed, we encourage you to seek support with one of these excellent Australian services:

• Beyond Blue provides information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health, whatever their age or wherever they live.

• Lifeline are a national charity that provides all Australians experiencing emotional distress with access to 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevent services.

Ease muscle tension with chiropractic care from Sydney Spine & Sports Clinic

At Sydney Spine and Sports Clinic, we put you first. We believe in offering chiropractic care that enables you to make informed choices about your health. We can help you find relief from muscle tension resulting from stress. Talk to us about how we can help you get mobile and active again – make an appointment with one of our chiropractors.