Stress can seem impossible to manage when you’re in the middle of it, but there are strategies to ease the effects it has on our lives. These five research-backed options are a good place to start.
Soothes with fragrance
Not only does scent have the ability to trigger memories, it can also be an instant anxiety buster, bringing you out of a state of high stress and into a calmer, more relaxed state of mind. When we inhale scent particles, they travel through the nose to the limbic system, the area of the brain responsible for memory, mood and emotions. Think of a relaxing essential oil and you probably think lavender, but studies have shown that so does ylang ylang powerful anti-stress properties. It is thanks to the high concentration of linalool, a substance with sedative effects that can help calm an overactive nervous system. When you inhale it, linalool has an “anxiolytic” effect, a term derived from the Ancient Greek words for “anxiety release,” meaning it helps you feel calmer and less stressed. Another essential oil with similar soothing properties is cedarwood, a deeply grounding oil that contains sesquiterpenes, plant compounds that can affect the central nervous system, stimulate serotonin production and promote calm.
Transform with touch
Although stress has been called the biggest health epidemic of the 21st century by the World Health Organization, social isolation and loneliness are not far behind. The good news is that social connectivity, and more specifically physical touch, is an extremely effective strategy for reducing stress because it reduces stress hormones such as norepinephrine and cortisol, and increases levels of dopamine and serotonin. If you are experiencing the effects of stress, you don’t even need to look for something as intimate as a hug with a loved one–research shows that even a perfunctory hand massage administered by a stranger is sufficient to reduce active cortisol levels in the body.
Refocus your vision
A common side effect of stress is tunneling of the senses. The brain enters a so-called high-focus visual mode when we are stressed. When this happens, physiological changes occur in our eyes (and our nervous system) to allow us to deal with the threat in front of us: in addition to turning our eyeballs inward, our breathing becomes faster and our heart rate increases. To immediately reduce the anxiety associated with these changes, we can actively choose to engage in panoramic vision, which expands our field of view so that our brains can take in more of the visual stimuli around us. Helping to shift focus from what’s in front of us fires up the parasympathetic nervous system, which encourages everything to slow down and bring our bodies out of panic mode.
Reset with sound
The benefits of nature for reducing stress are well documented, but did you know? sounds of nature are particularly effective when it comes to lowering anxiety levels? A 2017 study Led by the University of Sussex, the study looked at the impact of nature sounds on brain activity and autonomic nervous system markers such as heart rate and breathing, and found a significant decrease in the body’s sympathetic response, which is turned on in response to stress. If you can’t get outside and into a green space when the stress threatens to overwhelm you, opt for the next best thing by downloading an app like Nature sounds. If you’ve ever had trouble getting a baby to sleep, you may be familiar with white noise as a soothing aid, but it’s brown noise that you have to zoom in on to get out. At a lower frequency than white noise and with a neutral, more organic feel, brown noise sounds similar to the steady rain or the low rumble of thunder. For some (including the community on TikTok, where #brownnoise has over 100 million views), the continuous, dense nature of the sound acts like a blanket of sound, blocking out external stimuli.
Try a new flavor
According to a study conducted by Swinburne University in Melbourne, chewing gum can have significant anti-stress effects. In a study that compared gum chewers to non-chewers, measuring and comparing their alertness, stress and anxiety levels, findings showed that the chewers not only had better focus, but also had lower levels of salivary cortisol compared to non-chewers . Reaching for a candy bar is a common response to feeling stressed, but according to a Nestlé study, eating 40 grams of dark chocolate per day for two weeks lowered cortisol levels in 30 healthy adults. Dark chocolate not only contains serotonin, for a natural mood boost, and anandamide, which binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain for a calming effect, but also valeric acid, a natural relaxant, and magnesium, which is also known for its relaxing properties.
