No matter who you are, and no matter where you live (whether it is the United States, Australia, China or the United Kingdom), stress is likely an inevitable part of your life. While we cannot always choose whether and when we have stressful events in our life, we can choose how to respond to those stressful events and we can control the way we manage our reactions. In this article, Australian organic food enthusiast Varun Venaik talks about the tips and techniques that he has found helpful in managing stress in his life.
Eating healthy and drinking lots of water
Previously, when Varun used to get stressed, eating wholesome healthy food would be the last thing on his mind. It would not be uncommon for him to reach for a packet of chips or chocolate, or an unhealthy takeaway or fast food meal when he was not feeling his best. However he found that these habits only served to perpetuate the stress, anxiety and fatigue that he was previously feeling, and never helped him achieve a better mood that was sustainable. Recently, Varun has started being more mindful about choosing organic fresh healthy food and has even started publishing tips and tricks for introducing such food into your diet on Varun Venaik.com.
Varun found that when he replaced this so called “junk food” with healthy food when he was stressed, it had an immediate impact on his energy levels and mood. By eating such food, he was giving his body the nutrients that it needed to continue giving him the energy that he needed to handle whatever stressful situation he was in. He also started being more mindful about drinking plenty of fluids which also helped nourish his body from the inside and out.
Exercise
Previously, Varun used to immediately neglect exercise the moment he felt stressed. He found that exercise and moving his body were immediately deprioritised in order to deal with other things.
However Varun soon learnt that this wasn’t a good strategy. Without sufficient exercise, he found that he experienced significant difficulties falling asleep as his body and mind simply weren’t tired enough to properly shut down at the end of the day. This only served to perpetuate his over-active thoughts and imagination, which then in turn then elevated his stress levels. These days, when Varun feels stress the first thing he tries to do is go for a long walk in his neighbourhood or swims a few laps of his local pool. This releases tension and provides a welcome distraction from other life events. It has also made it easier for him to fall asleep at the end of the day as his body and mind are fatigued from the physical exercise undertaken earlier in the day. Which brings us onto Varun’s final stress-relieving technique…
Sufficient sleep
Previously Varun used to find it very difficult to sleep when he was stressed. His thoughts would be in overdrive and it would be very difficult to switch off. Without a proper night’s sleep, his stress levels would be even higher the next day, and the cycle would continue. To try and break this cycle, Varun started employing a range of strategies to ensure that he would be able to get a proper night’s sleep. The first of these was exercise, as outlined above. Secondly, Varun has made a habit of going to sleep and waking up at roughly the same time each day, in order to ensure that his body develops a consistent routine. Finally (and this has made the biggest difference), Varun makes sure to avoid looking at any electronic devices in the hour before bedtime; there is plenty of research to suggest that the light from such devices is extremely disruptive to sleep.
For more information about organic food and health benefit, contact Varun Venaik on facebook.
