How To De-stress in 5 Minutes

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone these days that doesn’t experience stress on a daily basis. Your stress levels affect more than just your mood. They can have serious effects on your overall health and wellness—and the way you look. One major side effect of high-stress is hair thinning and loss. We want to help keep your hair healthy, full, and strong, so we’ve put together a list of 5 quick ways to manage stress in your everyday life.

Meditate Meditation is often misunderstood (See our post on Myths About Meditation Here), but in only 5 minutes a day, focusing on your breathing, listening to a guided meditation in a quiet place, or even taking a mindful walk in nature and paying attention to trees, flowers, plants, or birds as you walk can help to avert your attention from your daily stressors. How to: Find a quiet place to sit where you won’t be interrupted for a few minutes. Close your eyes and take a deep inhale through your nose, feeling your breath fill your belly. Exhale slowly through your nose and imagine, with each exhale, that you’re releasing any fear, anxiety, pressure, and tension that you might be holding onto. As your mind wanders, simply bring it back gently to your breath. Do this for five minutes. Or, look up guided meditations on YouTube or meditation apps and follow along in a quiet, seated position.

Write a list Sometimes the stress of the day can spiral in on itself, making even small challenges into very big, daunting obstacles that can make you feel like pulling your hair out! Getting a handle on what is actually causing your stress and looking at it on paper can help make big tasks more manageable, make complicated processes more approachable, and keep your mind organized so it has the ability to handle one thing at a time. How to: If you find yourself worried or anxious about several different things, try making a list of them. A to-do list can help with task management, but making lists of feared outcomes, things that someone has done to upset you, or possible options for how to approach a hard conversation can help organize your mind and take a more logical approach to things that feel out of control.

Call a friend When things get overwhelming, picking up the phone to ask for help can feel impossible. Suffering through stressful emotions like fear, anger, frustration, or feeling challenged can sometimes feel like something you have to do alone. Realistically, the most important time to reach out to your friends is when you need help. It’s normal to want to seem strong, to not sweat the small stuff, but in reality, these things can build up and lead to stress, anxiety, and exhaustion. Getting vulnerable and asking for help with even simple tasks can strengthen your relationships and relieve your stress. How to: In these days of back-to-back Zoom meetings and working from home, it’s normal to get wrapped up in work and end up feeling isolated. Set up a virtual happy hour with your closest girls and open up about how you’re feeling. Or, get in the habit of making phone calls (not just texts!) to your squad so when you have to make a tough call, you’re already used to using your phone.

Turn off your devices Incessant emails, zoom work meetings, and endless possibilities to scroll social media feeds are major causes of overstimulation which makes stress feel worse. Though you might hop onto your Facebook or Instagram to feel connected, endless scrolling can affect your sleep, focus, and can overwhelm your thoughts with headlines. The state of the world and the never ending emails and messages don’t have to keep you from your peace. Logging out, turning off, and unplugging can give you a moment of rest and help you sleep easier. How to: Set a reminder each night for at least an hour before your usual bed time to turn off your screens. Use this time to read, to journal, to take a restorative bath, or practice your own version of self-care.

Dial back your caffeine Waking up with a cup of coffee in the morning can give you just the energy you need to start your day, but overusing caffeine or drinking coffee or caffeinated sodas into the evening can keep your body from unwinding. High caffeine intake can lead to an over abundance of cortisol, the stress hormone that your body releases to make life-saving fight or flight decisions. The problem is, when your body is stressed and caffeinated, unless you’re actually running or fighting, cortisol gets stored in your body leading to excess body fat and inflammation that can lead to hair loss. How to: Limit your caffeine intake by switching your morning beverage to green tea or yerba mate (an energizing caffeine alternative). If you can’t give up your morning cup of coffee, try to avoid caffeine after 1pm to help keep your anxiety and stress levels in check.