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More stress-busting tips

This is an excerpt from Active Living Every Day-3rd Edition by Steven N. Blair,Andrea L. Dunn,Bess H. Marcus,Ruth Ann Carpenter & Peter E. Jaret.

We’ve already looked at a few specific techniques to ease stress. There are other ways to put the inevitable pressures of daily life into a healthy perspective so they don’t end up overwhelming you.

Deal With the Cause

You may not be able to change the cause of your stress completely, but you can find ways to relax things a little. If a bad relationship with your neighbor is getting you down, consider one or two changes you could make to ease the situation, such as limiting interactions or thinking of the situation differently.

Take Care of Yourself

When you feel run down, situations often look worse than they are. Your ability to cope may be hindered. It’s important to get enough sleep, eat a healthy diet with at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and do something nice for yourself regularly.

Take One Thing at a Time

Sometimes our lives are so crowded and hectic that we feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of demands on us. That’s when it’s important to stop, take a deep breath, and set realistic short-term goals. Put things that are most important to you at the top of the list. Take pride in what you accomplish. Be sure to give yourself a pat on the back now and then.

Learn to Worry Constructively

It never pays to worry for the sake of worrying. Instead, think about constructive ways to deal with the stresses in your life. One approach that often helps is to think about the problem as if it were someone else’s instead of your own. How would you advise that person? Then consider taking your own advice.

Accept Things You Cannot Change

There’s nothing worse than banging your head against a wall that just won’t move. Unfortunately, there are plenty of things in life we can’t change, but we can change the way we think about them.

More Excerpts From Active Living Every Day 3rd Edition

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