When trying to maintain your emotional well-being and managing stress keep these various tips in mind and begin practicing on your own.
Deep Breathing: Practicing deep breathing techniques like diaphragmatic breathing, box breathing, or the 4-7-8 technique can help you in maintaining or improving emotional balance. An important reminder to keep in mind when engaging in a breathing skill is to exhale longer than you inhale. Deep breaths activate the parasympathetic nervous system, thus promoting relaxation.
Mindfulness and Meditation: Engaging in mindfulness practices can help you to increase your presence to the current moment. Anxiety and Stress often has you thinking too far forward either to perceived or actual outcomes.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation: When engaging in progressive muscle relaxation exercises you can do this by tensing up your whole body or scrunching all parts of your body into a ball and then releasing the various muscle groups either one at a time or all at once. Reducing physical tension can signal to the Central Nervous System that it is time to relax.
Grounding Exercises: Grounding techniques are helpful in reconnecting you back to the present moment, balancing anxiety levels, and reducing dissociation. Often grounding skills are helpful when the intensity of your emotions are making it difficult to focus on anything, but the current stressors. One grounding skill that often my clients have already known prior to starting their work with me is called 5-4-3-2-1. If you find yourself needing grounding, look around your physical space/the room you are currently in: What are 5 things you see with your eyes in the room with you? What are 4 things you can physically feel in the room with you? What are 3 things you can hear with your ears in the room? What are 2 things you can smell in the room with you? What is 1 thing you can taste?
Self-Care: Often overlooked is the importance of maintaining and establishing self-care practices. Engaging in activities that bring you a sense of enjoyment, for example exercise, hobbies, or spending time in nature can promote the balance of your Central Nervous System.
Routine: Establishing a daily routine helps in providing stability and predictability. It is crucial to include it in your schedule and make time for self-care, relaxation, and mindfulness.
Emotional Regulation: With the help of a mental health professional it may help to learn techniques for improving balance to your emotional arousal and emotional responses/reactions.
Sleep Hygiene: Start developing and establishing a consistent sleep schedule. Reduce napping during the day and if you feel you need a nap reduce the length of time you are napping.
Nutrition: Once how your body feels with different types of food. There are no bad or good foods. Foods are energy and fuel. Begin identifying how you physically and emotionally feel when consuming different types of foods. Certain foods may fuel your body longer and may be more effective at maintaining focus/concentration and regulating emotions.
Reduce Stressors: You may find it helps to begin identifying and minimizing your stressors. People find setting boundaries (maintaining distance) and problem solving may help in reducing the impacts of stressors.
Seek Professional Help: Contact me or other mental health providers to begin seeking psychotherapy for yourself or someone you care about today. If you have a difficult time regulating your Central Nervous System and you notice it is interfering with your day to day life it may be helpful to contact a trained professional who specializes in stress reduction and emotional regulation.