Thought that exercises can only help you to lose weight and stay fit? Think again, as by reading these 9 easy and effective exercises you would change your mind.
From my personal experience, I can say that exercises in virtually any form, can help relieve stress. Working out daily can increase the levels of endorphins that make you feel good and distract you from your every day worries.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, that you don’t have much time to workout in your daily routine. But what if I tell you that you don’t need to spend hours in the gym to workout and just do any one of these nine exercises and that’s pretty much it.
By doing any one of these exercises on a daily basis or twice/thrice weekly, you would not only stay fit but also reduce your stress quite a lot helping you to stay focused and increase your productivity level to work hard and smarter.
1. Walking
Taking a walk around the block would not only move your muscles but also change the visual scenario of your workstation and can get you in a different mood instantly to relieve stress.
Brisk Walking can boost the production of stress-busting endorphins, which can help reduce stress hormones and ease depression. And the more time you spend outdoors walking in green places like a park, it is proven to reduce stress.
So what are you waiting for? Opt-out for this exercise to improve your mood and self-esteem while reducing stress.
2. Swimming
Swimming is a great full-body workout to improve your cardiovascular system. Similarly like walking, it also releases endorphins, which are stress-busting hormones to help you relieve stress.
Moreover, it also includes full-body muscle movement which can help you to stay fit and lose some weight, one study has proved that just immersing yourself in the water can increase blood flow to the brain and produce some more cells to boost productivity. So indulge yourself in swimming sessions twice/thrice a week for 10 minutes and you’re good to go.
3. Cycling
Cycling is another great outdoor exercise that helps in relieving stress, it helps develop concentration and awareness of the present moment which in turn helps to take your focus away from work pressure.
Cycling can ease feelings of stress, depression, or anxiety by reducing the levels of cortisol (stress hormones) in the body, which disturb a night of restful and deep sleep. So that when you wake up won’t feel tired and less productive.
So what are you waiting for? Take out your bicycle and go for ride.
4. Yoga
Yoga is an ancient form of exercise that originated from India around 5000 years ago, but now popularly accepted throughout the world. In yoga, you’ve to perform various asanas (read postures) to relieve your stress and stay fit.
While there are many asanas to perform, but most of them share quite a common goal – to remain still and rejuvenate your mind and body. Yoga has been proven to enhance mood and can be as effective as antidepressant drugs in treating depression and anxiety. To get started you can watch several beginner yoga videos on YouTube.
5. Dancing
Just like swimming, dancing too involves the movement of various joints and muscles of the body. After a tiring and exhausting day at work, you can dance to feel relaxed and remove the stress from your body while dancing to your favorite song.
Not only that dancing to your favorite song can uplift your mood by producing endorphins, chemicals that act as natural painkillers in your mind, which can help you to reduce stress and anxiety. So what are you waiting for? Play your favorite song and dance away your stress.
6. Laughter
Haven’t you heard the famous saying that “Laughter is the best medicine”? It’s true, according to a study, it’s hard to feel stressed and anxious when laughing. Along with reducing the production of stress hormones such as dopamine, cortisol, adrenaline, on the other hand, increasing production of endorphins.
Another study has proved that laughing increases the production of antibody cells that we have working for us, which leads to a stronger immune system and fewer physical effects of stress. So what are you waiting for? Call your friends or binge-watch a comedy show to laugh your heart out.
7. Pilates
Pilates is a series of exercises that help you to improve your posture, gain muscles and improve flexibility of your body. When done correctly it can also be an effective way to relieve your stress.
Doing Pilates twice or thrice a week can also help you with your neck and back pain which is another side effect of working too much and handling stress. To get started watch videos on YouTube to learn how to do Pilates at home.
8. Breathing
Due to handling too much workload pressure, stress can curl up inside your head signaling your body to go into “fight or flight” mode. And as a result, stress hormones are released into your body, leading to an increase in heartbeat and faster breathing which are physical symptoms of stress.
During this reaction, calming yourself down and breathing deeply is the best action you can take. It is proven that breathing exercises can calm your mind and relieve your stress in minutes. There are many deep exercises that you can try out but particularly, 4-7-8 breathing exercise is the best.
To get started all you’ve to do is, inhale a deep breath for 4 seconds, then try to hold that breath in for 7 seconds, and later exhale that breath through your mouth slowly for 8 seconds while making a ‘swoosh’ sound.
9. Stretching
Regular stretching has a lot of benefits such as improve posture, reduce back pain, improve flexibility but there’s also one more thing that it can help with and that’s with reducing your stress. Stretching your different body parts can ease up muscle tension and pain in the joints due to handling too much work pressure.
Stretching even for ten minutes a day can help you relieve your stress by making you feel relaxed through easing up muscle tension and also improve your blood circulation which can lead to less muscle soreness.
That’s all folks! I hope by reading these easy and effective 9 ten minute exercises and performing any one of them can help you to reduce your stress.