Just this past week I’ve been asked by a family member dealing with a burst of stress-inducing life circumstances about stress management tips “besides all the easy ones like exercise, meditate, try yoga, take a walk, or sleep more…”.
We’ve ended up talking about a number of options, but these were five six off the list that resonated the most.
Recalling Happy Memories
Reminiscing about enjoyable, positive, or happy memories, in this study damped cortisol rise and reduced negative affect in response to a stressful stimulus. Finding your happy place, even if just for a few moments, is probably useful.
For me at least, that means time on one of the great freestone rivers of the West, like the Gallatin above.
Spend More Time in the Sun
Those of you who are living a Primal lifestyle have already learned to embrace more time in the sun (with of course adequate precautions for high risk exposure areas like your sun and face), though there’s a fair amount of research documenting improved stress responses, mood, and sleep with more light exposure.
Bump Up Your Vitamin C Intake
There’s a fair amount of literature supporting the role that vitamin C plays in augmenting the body’s response fighting oxidative stresses; for over a decade behavioral sources (like this Psychology Today article from 2003) have suggested higher intake of vitamin C (with resultant higher serum levels) plays a useful role in maximizing our stress response.
Laugh
Norman Cousin’s 1979 book, Anatomy of an Illness, is a must read and brought to light the impressive powers of laughter. Perhaps I’m missing something these days, but many of the people we run across in daily life perceive they don’t laugh as much as in years past. Here’s a great recap from the Mayo Clinic detailing the short-term and long-term benefits of laughter if you need a refresher on some of the science of laughter.
Shake a Leg (Dance)
While not a research article per se, here’s a very interesting spin on Dancing and the Brain from Harvard Medical School’s Department of Neurobiology; from the article –
…Scientists gave little thought to the neurological effects of dance until relatively recently, when researchers began to investigate the complex mental coordination that dance requires. In a 2008 article in Scientific American magazine, a Columbia University neuroscientist posited that synchronizing music and movement—dance, essentially—constitutes a “pleasure double play.” Music stimulates the brain’s reward centers, while dance activates its sensory and motor circuits…
Have Another Piece of Dark Chocolate
Recently presented research from Loma Linda suggests that higher cacao levels in dark chocolate have demonstrable positive impacts on cognition, mood, memory, immunity, and more. They focused on cacao concentrations in chocolate of 70% or more, and while the data is “early”, it’s encouraging. ‘Nuff said.
