Thanksgiving is over. We hope it was restful and rejuvenating. For some people, Thanksgiving can be stressful and for many, holiday stress is just beginning.
WebMD published a set of stress-relief tips entitled How to Feel Better in Less Than 15 Minutes. You might think these are ordinary things that everybody knows to do – like go outside – but the WebMD list is still a good reminder of very simple steps you can take to shift your perspective and your mood to a more positive place in just a few minutes.
There are 15 of them! Fifteen! You can cycle through them doing one a day, at least, for half the month, and then start over again, when you have tried all 15. Or better yet –add the ones you know you can count on to help shift your mood into your routine.
Included are mechanisms that have been shown in studies and in clinical practice to evoke a sense of well-being. Here is a sampling of the WebMD tips.
- Listen to some music
- Shown to reduce depression
- From Healthline: New research shows that even sad music can lift your mood
- Get a hug
- Shown to decrease blood pressure and also cortisol, a stress hormone
- From Cleveland Clinic: Why Hugging Is Actually Good for Your Health
- Go for a walk
- Increases blood flow and circulation to body and brain
- From WebMD: Mental Benefits of Walking
- Meditate for 10 or 15 minutes
- The list of benefits is long, e.g., reduced stress, increased creativity, clearer thinking, improves some symptoms of some illnesses…
- From Mayo Clinic: Meditation: A simple, fast way to reduce stress
- Get out into nature
- Improves mood, sharpens cognition
- From the American Psychological Association: Nurtured by nature
And there are ten more for you to check out.
What quick routines do you have for self-care that make you feel better? What tips from the WebMD list should you incorporate into your stress-relief repertoire?
