Reduce Stress with These Before Work Routines

No matter how much you love your job, work-related stress can sneak up on us anytime. Luckily, there are plenty of little changes you can make to your daily routine that will not only help reduce your stress but will also aid in helping you maintain a healthy lifestyle overall.

We’ve put together a shortlist of things you can do before work each day that will help reduce your stress levels and leave you feeling reinvigorated before you set foot in the office:

Our Suggested Before Work Routines

Meditation:

Meditation is something you can do anywhere at any time to help with stress relief, and best of all, the only thing you to get started is you. Spending just 10 minutes a day focusing on clearing your mind and breathing deeply can radically help keep your stress levels in check.

Daily Affirmations:

Practicing daily affirmations is a fun way to inject a little positivity into the start of your day. Repeating an array of short phrases can not only help with your immediate stress relief, but it can also create long-lasting results that will help with your overall peace of mind. If you want begin practicing a routine that includes daily affirmations, but need a place to start, this site can help you.

Exercise:

Some consider working out a vital part of the stress relief process. Any form of exercise, be it CrossFit or yoga, can help the body by getting your endorphins moving and improving your mood (along with keeping you physically fit – which can also help you stay mentally fit).

Wake Up Earlier:

We know, we know. Asking you to give up a few minutes of your precious sleepy-time is borderline absurd, but we wouldn’t suggest such a thing if it didn’t really help. Waking up just a few minutes earlier gives your brain time to process any tasks you have to get completed throughout the day, without making you feel like you have to rush to do them. It gives you more time to live in the moment as opposed to worrying about what all you have to accomplish that day, which is an automatic stress reliever.

Drink Water:

Drinking water as a form of stress relief may surprise you.“Studies have shown that being just half a liter dehydrated can increase your cortisol levels,” Amanda Carlson, RD, director of performance nutrition at Athletes’ Performance told WebMD.

“Cortisol is one of those stress hormones. Staying in a good hydrated status can keep your stress levels down. When you don’t give your body the fluids it needs, you’re putting stress on it, and it’s going to respond to that,” Carlson tells WebMD.

Convinced about working some H2O into your daily stress relief routine yet?

We’ve given you some starters to help alleviate stress before you start your workday, but we want to hear your helpful anecdotes as well. What are your before work routines?