Natural Stress Relieving Techniques

Stress can be physical, mental, or emotional. Physical stress may look like over-exercising while certain situations or circumstances can cause mental or emotional stress. As a response to stress, the body produces stress hormones such as cortisol. These hormones are beneficial at first since they help the body adapt, but if stress is prolonged the hormones can negatively affect your health and potentially cause disease and deplete nutrients. Since day to day life can be stress inducing, difficult jobs, packed schedules, etc, it is so important to have a few natural stress relieving techniques in your back pocket.

The past few months of my life have been very stressful. On top of a lot of personal and family stressors, I am still dealing with the stress my pituitary tumor brings to my body and the stress of starting a business. It feels like one thing after the other over here so I have been very focused on including rituals in my day and life that help to relieve the stress load on my body. The main way I support my body in this way is to reduce its toxic load. By eating clean, whole foods and using clean personal care products I am trying my best to give my body the support it needs to heal and be healthy, all while dealing with everything that happens in life.

As a holistic nutritionist there are lots of natural stress relieving techniques that I love to incorporate into my daily routines. These 5 simple and healthy ways to relieve stress are replenishing your body, calming your mind, and restoring your health.

1.) Eliminate Processed Foods

Eliminating processed foods from your diet can significantly reduce stress by stabilizing blood sugar levels, improving gut health, and enhancing overall well-being. Processed foods often contain high levels of processed sugar, unhealthy fats, and artificial additives that can cause blood sugar spikes and crashes, leading to mood swings and increased anxiety. These artificial ingredients also contribute to the toxic load or burden on your body, taking up energy and causing stress. By focusing on whole, nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, proteins, and healthy fats, your body can maintain a more balanced energy level, supporting better mental clarity and emotional regulation. Additionally, a cleaner diet promotes a healthier gut microbiome, which plays a crucial role in reducing inflammation and supporting the production of mood-regulating neurotransmitters, further contributing to a calmer, more focused, less stressed mind.

2.) Take an Epsom Salt Bath

For me, a bath is one of the simplest ways to unwind, especially when it’s an Epsom salt bath. Epsom salt, or magnesium sulfate, is well-known for its stress-relieving benefits. While many people use it to ease muscle aches and pains, it’s also a wonderful way to boost your magnesium levels and promote overall relaxation. Overall relaxation equals stress relief. Magnesium plays a crucial role in various body functions, such as supporting muscle and nerve function, and helping to keep your body calm. Since the skin can absorb different substances, I believe magnesium from an Epsom salt bath can be absorbed and assists in calming your body. Although this hasn’t been fully studied, based on my personal experience, an Epsom salt bath is always soothing and an inexpensive natural stress relieving technique that is great for the whole family.

How to Take an Epsom Salt Bath

• Fill your bathtub with warm water
• Add 1-2 cups of Epsom salt (You can start with a lower amount to see how you feel and then work up to more if you would like)
• Soak in the bath for 15-20 minutes or as long as you would like
• Add in extras like a few tablespoons of baking soda (Baking soda helps keep your skin smooth and soft, aids in detox and PH balance)

3.) Eat Breakfast Within 30 Minutes of Waking

To manage stress effectively, it’s important to nourish your body with a nutritious, balanced breakfast within 30 minutes of waking. This gives you the best foundation for the day ahead and prepares your body to handle any stress that may arise. Your adrenals, thyroid and body overall need fuel to function properly. When you are skipping breakfast and exercising or dealing with stressful situations, your body does not feel safe, so it will go into fight or flight mode. Fight or flight mode increases your cortisol levels, which over time can lead to more stress on your body causing hormone imbalances, fatigue and many other health issues.

How to Begin Eating Breakfast Earlier

• Begin with small, balanced meals or drinks: yogurt and seasonal fruit or raw milk hot chocolate with protein powder
• Gradually work your way up to include protein, healthy carbs, fat and fiber every morning

If you need more help with implementing this, I am accepting 1:1 clients and would love to help you! Fill out a form to schedule a free time to chat, here.

4.) Get Daily Sunshine and Fresh Air

Sunlight is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle, even though it often contradicts what we’ve been told. The sun plays a key role in our body’s health, as ultraviolet light helps signal our cells to repair and restore themselves. Both sunlight and darkness serve as cues for our bodies to prepare for wakefulness and rest. Just as nature relies on the sun for life and natural rhythms, we should align ourselves with these cycles too as a way to relieve stress on our bodies by helping it to produce the hormones needed to sleep, relax and restore. Don’t underestimate the power of this simple natural stress relieving technique—it can be incredibly rejuvenating and beneficial.

Fresh air is energizing and has been proven to help relax our minds. Spending time outside, listening to birds and insects, watching butterflies and the wind is deeply calming. Walking barefoot on the grass grounds our bodies and helps us to refocus. This simple yet powerful practice is a great way to relieve stress.

5.) Replenish Minerals

As mentioned above, taking an Epsom salt bath can be a way to increase your body’s magnesium levels but there are also a few other simple ways to replenish your minerals, that are also natural stress relieving techniques. Why is this an important natural stress relieving technique, though? Studies show, and I can tell you from personal experience, that stress depletes the body of minerals. Magnesium, zinc, and calcium have all been found to be depleted during times of stress because the body is using them rapidly. In short it is so important to up your mineral intake during times of stress and give your body the nutrients it needs to bounce back and continue to function well.

Natural Ways to Replenish Minerals

• Drink herbal teas, nettle and oat straw are high in minerals like magnesium, calcium, potassium, and zinc.
• Drink an adrenal cocktail every day to replenish, vitamin C, potassium and sodium
• Overall, eat a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetable, grass-fed meats, wild caught seafood, pasture raised eggs and all other whole foods

*None of the above information is medical advice. Nothing in this post is meant to take the place of medical advice from a doctor or health professional. I am not a doctor, I am only sharing my personal experience, personal research I have done and information I have inferred. Please see my disclaimer for more information.*