3 Powerful Ways to Reduce Stress and Increase Happiness

Excessive stress can lead to health risks

Many people believe that stress is a necessary evil in this fast-paced, constantly connected world. Bombarded by an endless stream of bad news, financial pressures, and—for those parents among us—the sometimes relentless demands of children, stress levels can quickly soar to uncontrollable levels.

But here are three simple yet powerful ways to reduce your stress levels and achieve greater happiness.

1. Eat properly

A healthy diet can improve the negative effects that stress has on your body. That’s according to a senior researcher at Abbott Laboratories.

“Eating properly” means drinking enough filtered water, eating a regular portion of mineral-containing vegetables, sufficient fiber, and taking any necessary vitamins. It means getting enough of the macronutrients your body needs to keep it energetic, and avoiding excessive alcohol and harmful drugs.

2. Do some exercise

Exercise has several benefits for helping you deal with stress:

• It gets your body breathing deeply which can reduce feelings of anxiety.
• It releases endorphins which make you feel good.
• It gets you outside, looking at things, and not so much “inside your head.” Nature is the “ultimate de-stressor,” after all.

3. Switch off the news

The COVID-19 pandemic was the perfect petri dish for testing the virulent effect that “news overload” can have on a population. The negative effects of news in our modern society are now a clinical fact.

People left social media in droves during the COVID-19 pandemic. And it is now a matter of record that news media on both sides of the fence leverage the fact that bad news spreads faster on social media than good news.

At the start of the pandemic, people tweeted and posted repeatedly that they were leaving social media for the “good of their mental health.” Right—because all that bad news does nothing but spike your stress levels. It’s one thing to read a news article and then know what’s going on. But bail out as soon as you have the basic facts and then don’t go back into it for a while to reduce stress.

Easy yet powerful

Reducing stress doesn’t need to be complicated. The only mistake people could make with these three tips is to think they are too simple. Try them out for a week and see what happens t!