Do you feel angry, and irritable and your mind is going overboard with these emotions; it means you are stressed out. Stress is natural from time to time in our lives. But being stressed for long can lead to a plethora of health problems. Here are some useful ways to deal with stress so that you can lead a happy life.  

What is Stress? How does it affect your health? 

Stress is the emotional state of mind where you feel irritated, frustrated, or nervous about things or work that don’t turn out as you want. Being stressed out for long can cause physical pains like headaches, body pain, etc., and can lead to: 

• High blood pressure 
• Heart disease 
• Diabetes 
• Obesity 
• Depression or anxiety 
• Skin problems, such as acne or eczema 
• Menstrual problems  
• Decreased sex drive 
• Digestive problems 
• Headaches 
• Diarrhea  

How can you control stress? 

Here are a few things you can do to help control your mind and body during stressful situations: 

1. Maintain a healthy diet: Healthy eating keeps your mood nice and calm and your body healthy. When people are stressed, they start relying on foods high in sugars and fats like junk foods, alcohol, drugs, or caffeine which can provide temporary comfort. But eventually, a healthy diet can help you manage stress, strengthen your immune system, improve your mood, and lower your blood pressure. 
2. Exercise daily: Daily exercise is essential to keep you healthy and reduce stress. You can do non-aerobic exercises like yoga, meditation, etc. Make sure you do it regularly. Exercise releases endorphins in your body, which can make you feel better and give you a positive attitude.  
3. Get quality sleep: Having decent quality sleep is especially important for your health. It affects your mood, focus, and energy levels, helps your body heal internal wounds, and improves your overall functionality. Stress can affect your sleeping pattern and make your sleep suffer. So, make sure that you get high-quality sleep by sleeping in a dark, quiet place; listening to some soothing music before sleep; and avoiding the blue light of your phone or TV before going to bed.  
4. Maintain a strong support network: It is critical to maintain a strong social bond with family and friends. We are social creatures and isolation has a negative impact on both our mental and physical health, making us feel depressed, stressed, lonely, and anxious. On the other hand, maintaining good relationships with others keeps us happy, provides us with emotional and mental support, allows us to enjoy our time, and talking to them and sharing our worries even provides solutions to our problems (that cause stress). 
5. Reduce/eliminate triggers of stress: Stress can be triggered by many things, like working with deadlines, non-cooperative colleagues, toxic relationships, etc. You need to focus on how you can take care of your mental health. Learn time management skills, leave the toxic relationship, or maintain a distance, and try to understand colleagues and tell them how working together helps to finish the work easily and efficiently. This way, you can reduce the triggers of stress and stay happy.  
6. Make yourself assertive: People tend to say yes most of the time. This is not good, because we all get limited time to do things. If you say yes to everything and everyone, it might leave you under stress. That’s why saying ‘No’ is important to keep your priorities and make your life easy.  
7. Give time to yourself and your favorite hobbies: Doing things you enjoy, helps to reduce your stress, calms your mind, and makes you happy. Give yourself time for your favorite activities, it can be anything like listening to music, painting, gardening, photography, sewing, etc. Also, try to focus more on your activity rather than why you are doing it.  
8. Mindfulness and Meditation: Just ten to twenty minutes of quiet reflection can relieve chronic stress and increase your tolerance to it. Use this time to listen to music, relax, and try to think of pleasant thoughts. 
9. Take it easy on the criticism: You may have unrealistic expectations from yourself and others. When someone (could be a wife, husband, or child whom you are attempting to change to your liking) fails to meet your expectations, try not to feel frustrated, let down, disappointed, or even “trapped.” Remember that everyone is unique, with their own set of strengths and weaknesses, as well as the right to grow as an individual. 
10. Set attainable goals and expectations: It’s okay—and healthy—to admit that you can’t be perfect at everything all the time. Consider the things you can control and work on accepting the things you can’t. More importantly, keep a positive attitude when things don’t go the way you expected. 

Stress is a natural emotion that you can’t avoid. You can combat stress by taking these simple steps to ease your mind. But if these methods don’t work for you, then you should see a counselor or doctor who can treat your stress. Medication and therapy can work together to treat your stress. 

If you need more information about stress and how to deal with it for a better life, or if you need help with any type of mental health condition, come visit Doral Health & Wellness’s Mental health clinic in Brooklyn. Call us on +1-347-384-5690 to get a consultation. If you need help learning coping methods, register your information and make direct contact with our doctors and psychiatrists to learn those methods, log on to www.doralhw.org. Doral Health and Wellness has the best Doctors and Psychiatrists who specialize in Behavioral Health, make accurate diagnoses, and craft tailored treatment programs. Visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212.