18. Simple Ways To Relieve Stress (5 Minute Tricks You Can Use Daily)

Do you find yourself stressed daily with all the tasks you need to complete and life sometimes just feels overwhelming? In this episode we discuss various techniques that take 5- 10 minutes to help you destress every single day and make life that bit more bearable!


The Science bit!

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Transcript

Unknown Speaker 0: 0:10

12 Welcome to dopamine kick, your weekly dose of positivity. We're your hosts Sparky and shell. Join us each week as we have changed your habits to tackle first and challenge your mindset.

Sparky 0: 0:14

23 Let's get to it.

Shell 0: 0:18

27 Hello everyone and welcome to episode 18 of a dopamine kick. Today we're going to be discussing different techniques to help us to de stress every single day.

Sparky 0: 0:22

37 Thank you very much for listening episode 18 Already Aqaba Levy. Now, I know I say this every week, but if you could follow the podcast that would be absolutely amazing. And don't forget to stick around until the end for a little quicker this week as we've got a great challenge for you to take

Shell 0: 0:26

54 part in. So today we're going to go through different ways that you can de stress every single day. It's so important to address your stress daily because that way it doesn't build up and fester and become something that's unmanageable. And in today's busy, hectic lives, that's really easily done.

Sparky 1: 0:30

11 So we hear you and we know there's not enough hours in the day we know this ourselves to achieve everything that you want to achieve. And sometimes there's just not enough time to get everything done that you want to do. So we're not going to give you loads of stuff to do you know stuff that's going to take hours to spend change in your life in this episode, but we are going to suggest things that you can do that are going to take about five or 10 minutes of your time that you can do on a daily basis. And it's all stuff that will benefit you as well so that you can do these things every single day. But first time for my favourite part of the episode The science of it. So I've got a great study for you today. As always, I'll include it in the show notes. But the salient point to take away is what they discovered is negative reactions to daily stress is a vulnerability factor for depression. So it just highlights really how important it is that every single day you're doing something to manage your levels. of stress, because it is something that can have really serious consequences if it's left unchecked. Wow. And that that just goes to show really the massive amount of impact. That feeling down and stress can have not only on your body, but on your mind as well. So we're

Shell 2: 0:34

21 gonna move on to how to de stress daily we've got a couple of different ideas for you. Like Sparky said, they're all things that you can do really simply really quickly. They don't have to take a lot of your time. So there's no excuse not to do at least one of them every single day. And the first that we've got is just to simply move your body so exercise is a fantastic way to relieve stress and its effects on the body. Meet regular exercises best but don't discount simple things like just going for a walk or having a dance around the room or running up and down the stairs. It doesn't have to be a full blown hour long workout at the gym for you to get benefits on your stress levels.

Sparky 3: 0:38

03 No and you know what? That's really important to emphasise that you don't need to do loads of exercise to make yourself feel better, as that can be really overwhelming for people who either don't like to exercise or don't exercise a lot or don't even have time to exercise that much. So it just needs to be a little bit here and there. Whenever you have time to get your body moving on a

Shell 3: 0:42

26 daily basis. The next thing that we've got for you is to concentrate on your breathing. So we've already talked about in our power of breath episode how powerful breathing is in reducing stress and changing your mood and your mindset. So if you've not listened to that episode, go back and check it out. We discuss a couple of different breathing techniques and spark even tries a new technique live on the podcast.

Sparky 3: 0:46

51 Yes, I do. Yeah. Yeah, it's called Alive, isn't it? Sort of live his

Unknown Speaker 3: 0:50

56 life to us as we recorded that.

Sparky 3: 0:54

58 Yeah, I tried these breathing technique and it was amazing. It made me feel really calm. Really relaxed. Definitely a great way to de stress. And I think you know a lot of us do this on a daily basis. We don't really think about it do we don't think about how the power of our breathing can change our state of being. And I think it's really powerful to understand the power of your breath.

Shell 4: 0:58

21 I just love the fact that it's something that you don't need any prep equipment. You don't need to have anything with you. You you you're always breathing so you can always take a moment and regulate your breath. Wherever you are, whatever situation you're in. I think that's really valuable to know that you've we've always got that sort of in your back pocket.

Sparky 4: 1:02

42 Absolutely. And there's little things that you can do alongside breathing that can help you as well. So if you're feeling stressed, placing your heart while placing your hand over your heart and feeling your heart just beating is a good way to calm yourself down. And if you're interested about learning other techniques, such as the breathing techniques that we was talking to you about just a minute ago, then please go back and listen to episode number 14.

Shell 5: 1:06

08 So the next thing we've got is listen to your favourite music. So this is something that spark no you've discussed before that you find it fantastic for de stressing.

Sparky 5: 1:10

17 Oh yeah, I absolutely love listening to music. It helps me relax. It helps me de stress and I'll get my dopamine kicks as well. But it's also important to remind everybody that's listening to choose the music that you're listening to wisely, because if you're feeling down, it's really easy to put on that sad playlist and dwell on all the negatives such as the words of the song or the memories that connected with that song. And I've done this on so many occasions before. You know I've been driving home from work and I've had a really bad day and I've put that playlist on that sad playlist. And even No, I'm not really that sad. I actually will make myself sad and so, so easy to do. This just chuck on that sad playlist and like Coldplay will come on or something and you can feel feel yourself sinking. But we've got to remember that when we are using music, to help with our emotions, that we're trying to use it in a positive way. We're trying to use music in a positive way. So make a playlist that has all your happy songs on all the songs that make you feel really really good songs that make you want to get off and dance.

Shell 6: 1:14

25 Definitely. And for me, as we've touched on before as well. I listen to music, it's to de stress. It's usually in a dancing context. So I love like all that cheesy 90s pop music or wack that on full blast, you know, my neighbours love me and turn the bedroom into a stage and just be like bopping around and I do find that's a really good way to combat stress. Yeah, and and you know what? Also great to make yourself feel better. In general. And you were just talking there shout about your neighbours.

Sparky 6: 1:18

57 I do feel like my neighbours think I'm absolutely crazy. There'll be times when I will literally just be blasting music and singing at the top of a voice. And I mean like the other day I was just screaming meatloaf. I would do anything for love the top of my lungs. And I'm also one of those people. That's a bit obsessive as well. So I will play songs over and over and over again. And at some point after about 10 to 15 plays I think to the neighbours actually think that I've lost supply. This can't be normal.

Shell 7: 1:22

28 That was something that worked really well when we live together because I will also do that just have the same song on repeat like sometimes the days an end and I appreciate that it's an incredibly irritating habit for other people. But luckily, whenever we both got into a song we really enjoyed it. It was fine because we were both into it. Yeah. But just hell for anyone else around.

Sparky 7: 1:26

53 Absolutely. Do you know what? I can't really explain it. All I know is that when people play the same songs over and over and over, I just think seriously, you really need to turn that off. But for me, I don't know what it is. If I get if I get a song that I really love, and I just I just can't I'll just have a will literally have to worry. I think I've got an obsessive personality for my midst. I don't know when to stop even songs now that we used to listen to like what 567 years ago we're still we still text each other when it comes on because it gives it brings you memories.

Shell 8: 1:30

33 I cannot hear caches timbre without reaching for my phone and mmediately sent. Usually with me

Sparky 8: 1:34

43 attempting to dance. Yes, that too. Yeah. What's sort of the ones Sumani playing games that's another plus.

Shell 8: 1:38

52 We actually look for the worst of that one as well, because we couldn't figure out what they were we were both singing different things.

Sparky 8: 1:42

59 Honestly, I think if we had a great music licence, those would be intro and outro songs. Obviously I think the

Shell 9: 1:46

09 word Absolutely. So the next thing that we've got for you is to use aromatherapy. So a sense of smell is something that we don't utilise very often when we're talking about stress, but actually, it's been shown to decrease the level of stress hormones in your body can also unwind and help you feel more content in the moment. There's things that you can do with like lighting candles, but it can even just be as simple as having some sense on you in the morning, or carrying them with you to smell at times that you feel stressed. This is something that I'm going to admit I always thought was a bit out there. I didn't really think that sniffing a stick of something when I was in a crisis just couldn't do anything.

Unknown Speaker 9: 1:50

58 Five I'm sorry, I'm just

Sparky 10: 1:54

02 this is

Shell 10: 1:58

07 I revisited my thoughts on this because I've talked about my horrendous pregnancy before. One of the things that I was given when I was pregnant by a midwife who's really into Aromatherapy is she gave me a kind of look like you know those like inhaler stick things for when you've got snotty nose and they've got like Elvis on it. It looked like one of those but it had in it I don't even know what the sound was. But it was supposed to reduce the feeling of nausea. Yeah. And I found that it actually really worked like it didn't didn't take it away completely. Nothing can unfortunately, but it definitely just dialled it down a notch. And I think probably some of it has to do with the breathing, sort of concentrating on your breathing, inhaling and exhaling to get the sounds. But definitely having that scent there. I did notice a difference and I did use it for my whole pregnancy so I've been converted to the power therapy I previously thought that it was like just some think like, I don't know the icing on the cake, I suppose like if you had like a hot relaxing bath or something you'd want it to smell like a spa, but I didn't think like if you're out and about like work that smelling something would make any difference, but it can What was your stick? Do you know what it was? She made it herself? I

Sparky 11: 2:02

26 don't know what the scent was. I would really like to know because I want to try it.

Unknown Speaker 11: 2:06

30 I've still got it. It's like go look like I quickly look. Yeah, yeah.

Sparky 11: 2:10

33 Okay, go on. And I want to know, I feel I feel like we're in a what's it called? I see a group of uni students and we're like, oh, yeah, come on. Let's try this. What we're going to do today, sniffly stick,

Shell 11: 2:14

49 so I have it but sadly, it doesn't say so you find what it is purple flame aromatherapy, and it's called nausea and sickness. In labour although it does ingredients. recognise any of these?

Sparky 12: 2:18

05 Well, have you been taking?

Shell 12: 2:22

07 I know. Men, very deaths, Simba growing and flexio meiosis.

Sparky 12: 2:26

16 Okay, so what we've established here is show we'll take anything that's given to you in an in a time of need and panic and stress

Unknown Speaker 12: 2:30

24 was given to me by a medical professional. It's not just some random on the street.

Sparky 12: 2:34

29 Well, you've got a point there bought with these these ingredients might be natural. We don't know they worked for me. So sniff this at your own risk. Well, it's true. So one of the things that I like to do is light candles. I've got a nice salt lamp, which emits a nice glow. And I really like incense sticks as well. Well I'm obsessed with them. I actually really liked the smells and the one smell that I really love is called no shampoo. And I don't know if that's the name of the actual smell or the name of the brand of incense but nag Champa original. Nestle is one of the best smells on this earth. It's just incredible. And it's it's great for relaxation. And most of the time you can smell it when you go into those you know when you go into those shops that sell crystals off the high street. I would wholly recommend that smell in your house because it's literally just perfect but the combination of incense and the candles and the salt lamp coming home and just turning the lights off for just 510 minutes. That's all you really need to relax and de stress and it can make the world of difference to how you're feeling just taking a break after a bad day resets you and just makes you feel a lot calmer. But also talking about aromatherapy and the sense of smell. Just remember as well there are actually four other senses sight, touch, taste and hearing. So remember to use these as well because these can make all the world of difference. So if you like to touch, go and ask somebody for a hug, because to somebody having a hug and touching someone can make the world of difference. If you like taste, maybe go and make yourself a really nice meal or hearing go make a phone call. Go and speak to someone that you love and we already mentioned music as well. And vision making a space in a room, lighting a candle going out looking at the stars, whatever it is that you know you like to see that makes you feel good. Go and do those. Because remember, all of your senses are important for self soothing and self care.

Shell 14: 2:38

43 So the next thing that we've got for you is to find the positive it and this isn't that can be so difficult to do when you feel like you've just got the weight of the world on your shoulders. But it has been proven and we've touched on this in previous episodes that a positive mindset will help you deal better with stress and people who have a positive mindset are less negatively affected by stress. So please go back and listen to episode 10 which is our episode on increasing your positive daily thoughts.

Sparky 15: 2:42

12 Speaking of positive thoughts, when we talk about ourselves, always remember that we need to think a lot more positively about ourselves because like we said in his podcast on many occasions, you wouldn't talk to your friends the way that you talk to yourself. And the way that you end up talking about yourself can be so negative and that can that can really affect us. So just be mindful of your own inner dialogue. And you can ask yourself some questions as well when you are feeling like this. So think about these questions. If someone else had this thought, what would I say to them? If I look back in five years time, how would I view this situation differently? And also, what strengths do I actually have rather than my weaknesses that are related to this situation that I'm in right now. So think of the positive aspects of yourself. Think about what it is in this situation that you can bring to the table that is your strengths, because thinking about the negative just brings you down and it makes you feel more and more stressed. And I know it's not easy when you're in a negative mindset, but just try to remind yourself that there are positive things about yourself and things that other people have about you. So focusing on the positives rather than the weaknesses that we have will help us feel like we can manage these situations a lot better.

Shell 16: 2:46

29 So our next point is a little bit controversial, but I'm gonna say it anyway. And that is to put down that coffee. So numerous studies have shown that people who consume large amounts of caffeine every day tend to be more stressed out and anxious than those who don't. So there's not saying that you have to cut out caffeine completely. But if you are drinking more than a cup of coffee or one kind of energy drink a day, it's time to cut back so

Sparky 16: 2:50

57 what I would say here is like I love coffee, so coffee, coffee for me is like you know a get through the day kind of thing but there was a time where I was drinking about 15 cups of coffee a day maybe even more because I worked in a coffee shop and honestly, I can tell you 100% From maybe this is anecdotal, but I felt a lot more anxious than I usually do. And that's because caffeine is a stimulant and I'm not demonising caffeine here. I love coffee and I think you know, if you love enjoying your morning coffee and it gets you through the day, then you know more power to you. That's great. I'm the same, but just try to think about how many cups that you are having a day because it can have a negative impact on you if you're drinking too much. of it.

Shell 17: 2:54

42 So the next one that we've got for you is to identify your stress. So although some level of stress is normal, being constantly overwhelmed is not so it may be that there's areas of your life, your job, your relationships, your daily routine. That are contributing to unnecessary stress and making changes that could be big or they may even be small changes could have a huge impact on your overall stress level.

Sparky 18: 2:58

09 Also, as well try to set some boundaries. say no if you need to. I know I know this is really difficult because I do this all the time. You know, I said I'm not going to do something and then I end green to do it and I don't have the time or I know that if I go through with that. I'm going to be really really super stressed but I think I can kind of fit it in but sometimes we do have to say no and we need to get used to this idea that saying no to something isn't a negative thing. Actually, if you feel like it's going to cut it's going to contribute to you being more burnt out more stressed. Just politely say to somebody, I'm really sorry. I don't have time to do that this week. Let's arrange it another time. It's completely okay to do that. And I think we need to stop stressing ourselves out by saying this to people because our friends and our family they understand this state everyone goes through this we all do it you know we do it on a daily basis. We say yes to things that we know we shouldn't really be saying yes to. So everyone kind of understands and the more deeper meaningful relationships that you have with people and you communicate and you communicate more with them, the more people will understand that sometimes you just do need to kind of have that time off. You know, maybe you've got a busy day than you expected and we don't want to send ourselves over the edge by bringing on more and more of that workload or more things that we need to do. So setting boundaries, they can be really difficult. But the more you set them, the easier it will become. So just keep that in mind.

Shell 19: 3:02

42 The next thing that we've got for you might sound a little bit silly. So it's to chew some gum. And the reason that we've got this is because some preliminary research has shown that the act of chewing stimulates brainwaves that are similar to the ones that simulates brainwaves that are similar to the ones that are found in people when they're calm and relaxed. So it's not it's not a proven study as of yet. It's just preliminary work. But it's certainly it's worth a try and you know, added bonus fresh breath.

Sparky 20: 3:06

14 You know what, I always think about this when people are in the movies, and they're chewing gum and things and they always look really more relaxed. Have you noticed? The characters are the coolest? In the movies seem to be chewing the gum, and they seem to be less stressed maybe that maybe that's got something in it. I didn't even know that there was any research done on this. So I always thought that that was a given anyway, so the next

Shell 20: 3:10

35 thing that we've got for you is one that we mentioned quite a lot. And that's a laugh lots. So it's no no secret that laughter can help improve your mood, but it also helps you cope with stress as well and the physical signs of stress. So make time in your daily life for laughter. You know, might just be something as simple as watching a funny TV show or spend time with friends that makes you giggle and you enjoy being around because adding a little bit of humour to your life where you can will make it more enjoyable.

Sparky 21: 3:14

06 Definitely. And this is something that I wholeheartedly agree with. And I think I said in another episode before, humour is a great way to de stress it's a great way to take your mind off things even if things are going really bad in your life. Or you know, they're not going right for you sometimes just trying to see the funny side of things can really help and that's not taking away from the problems that you have, but it's helping you deal with that problem. And I know that I have inappropriate humour anyway. I'm the type of person that would laugh in in really in situations where you shouldn't really be laughing. But we tried to do this on his podcast every single week. If there's no laughs or we feel that the episodes too dry, I know we'll be like, this is a dry episode. And we like to laugh we like to have a joke we like to have fun and we really do feel that you know it's it's it's the best way it's the best way to de stress so have as many laughs as

Shell 22: 3:18

01 you can definitely. We've also got on our list something again we've touched on before which is to quit procrastinating. So we know from previous episodes that procrastination will lead you to decision fatigue and that itself is going to add more stress. Make sure that even if you aren't going as far as planning out your day that you prioritise, taking care of what needs to be done. And again ties back to our episode on getting stuff done and eating those frogs. You get it done out the way first thing in the morning even if you don't want to do it. It's done then and you've got the rest of the day. Yeah.

Sparky 22: 3:22

38 And this is something that we have both admitted to on this podcast before that we do this a lot and you know shells favourite phrase which is it's dead to me when she doesn't know how to do things. But sometimes in life, we do have to do things that we don't want to do and and just getting those hard things out the way can really help you feel less stressed and able to enjoy the rest of the day. So try doing that and see if that works for you. And it's a weight

Shell 23: 3:26

04 off your shoulders. as well. Isn't it like you can feel the difference when you've got something looming over you that you don't want to do and you're putting it off and you finally get it done. You do feel lighter, like I think we all know that it does feel better. It's just hard to convince ourselves to take that step.

Sparky 23: 3:30

21 Yeah. But if we keep telling ourselves that we'll we'll feel better when it's done then hopefully that will give us some kind of motivation to actually get the task started. And, you know, get it done

Shell 23: 3:34

33 to the very last point that we've got for you is to prioritise self care. So all of the examples that we've listed are aspects of self care. So we're planning on doing an entire episode on other methods of self care as well. But today, we've just stuck to ones that you can simply do in five to 10 minutes, but it's something that you should be looking at doing every single day. So you need to put effort into your personal wants and needs. Every single day.

Sparky 24: 3:38

00 Well yeah, your personal, your personal wants and needs are, you know, our purpose in life really, aren't they? They're the main things that we enjoy doing. They give us fulfilment, they give us joy. So by factoring those in, even if it's just a little thing every single day, then it gives us some sense of satisfaction on a daily basis. So you could be going for a walk, maybe you like going for a walk, maybe like taking your dog out. Maybe there's an activity or hobby that you like doing try to factor and schedule this in on a daily basis as much as you can. We all know that when we do things that we enjoy, we feel better. We feel more positive, and we feel like we can conquer the world. And that's basically what this is all about. It's about de stressing yourself as much as possible. And even though it may be difficult, take some time to sort of plan it so that you know exactly what it is you've got coming up because if you've got an empty diary, or if you don't feel like you're planning anything, sometimes that can even take a hold of you because there's nothing to look forward to. So having things to look forward to on a daily basis is a great way to feel positive. So it can be

Shell 25: 3:42

09 really difficult to prioritise self care. When you're when you've got others to take care of and when you've got responsibilities towards other people. But if you continue to put yourself last, then that's going to be detrimental to your mental well being. And so it's really important in that circumstance that you still do continue to prioritise. Yourself care just five to 10 minutes every day. Because that is going to put you in the best possible position to reduce your stress in the long run.

Sparky 25: 3:46

38 And that's really important to emphasise because, you know, we can all turn around and say, Do this, do that do this, but we appreciate that everybody's life is different. And we all have different commitments with different things in our lives. Some people are some people have children, some people don't. So it's important that we do remember that everybody's different. So we're really hope. So we're really hoping that you can take something away from this list and there is something that you can find in there. That is going to help you de stress on a daily basis. Nuts, the end of all of our points this week, and we've just got time for our little kicker this week, which is itch.

Shell 26: 3:50

14 Yay. So our challenge for this week, and it's something that I want you to start today is to spend just five to 10 minutes every day, deliberately working on one of these points that we've discussed so distressing, or you know, could be something different if you think there's something that we've missed, but five to 10 minutes every single day for the next seven days. Do something to actively reduce your level of stress. And I'd really like it if people could get in touch with us and let us know what they've tried and whether or not they felt it's made a difference to them at the end of the week.

Sparky 26: 3:54

52 So if you do want to get in touch with us, Instagram and Facebook handles are in the description below or you can send us an email and we'd really appreciate it if you could also follow us on Instagram and Facebook as well.

Unknown Speaker 27: 3:58

03 Okay, see you next week. Hi.

Sparky 27: 4:02

06 All right. That's everything this week, guys, but if you want to carry on with the conversation, join us over on our social media platforms. We're on all the major channels and our handle is a dopamine kick. We'd also

Unknown Speaker 27: 4:06

17 be super grateful if you could leave us a review on the podcast wherever you're listening, because it helps us to grow our audience and help more people. Okay, we'll see you in the next one. Bye bye

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