National Stress Awareness Day is celebrated annually on the first Wednesday in November1. It is a day that is meant to help individuals identify and reduce stress factors in their lives. We all definitely need a day to remind us to unwind, lie back, and relax. Stress can cause extra pain in our lives, pain that we don’t need or want, distracting us from the happiness right in front of us. Stress can even cause physical pain—back pain and neck pain. Scary fact: when the body is stressed, it produces certain hormones we know as the “fight or flight” hormones2. These hormones heighten our blood pressure, increase our blood supply, and cause our muscles to tense up and spasm, especially the muscles around our spines. This is what makes stress the root cause of so many people’s back pain. So here are some tips on how to make your stress go away, making your back pain disappear at the same time:
- Exercise and stretch.
Moving your muscles around will not only help reduce the build-up of tension, it will also help release endorphins in your body, improving your health. Instead of just sitting at your desk all day, take breaks to stand up and walk around. When you get home from work or errands, have time pre-planned out for a daily exercise and stretching routine. Exercising and stretching won’t only relieve your back pain and stress, it will also improve your mood and help you live longer. The Chirp Wheel+ is a great tool for any exercise or stretch routine. It can help you achieve more positive results, and keep you from getting back pain from your routine.
- Eat a healthy diet.
Being unhealthy or overweight causes a lot of people a lot of stress. By eating a healthy diet, you can start to eliminate that part of stress in your life. When you eat the food your body needs, you will also feel more energetic, which is a natural way to reduce stress by itself. As you become stress free from healthy eating, chances are you will start to lose that extra weight. Both of these results will put less stress on your back muscles, relieving your back pain.
- Schedule out your time.
Having a schedule for your personal needs as well as your professional needs will help you reduce stress. We all have appointments for work, but we also all have families or friends who want to spend time with us. Scheduling time with our family and friends can give us the time we need to wind down and relax. If you need to, try scheduling some alone time too. Schedule your next bath. Schedule your next trip to the gym. Schedule out time for reading a book. Making your personal life as big of a priority as your professional life will help you learn to relax, relieving stress and reducing back pain.
- Eliminate unnecessary stress.
There are a lot of things we have to do in our lives: go to school, find a job, eat breakfast, drink water, etc. But there are some things that are completely unnecessary added stressers: watching the news every day (once in a while is important), worrying about things that are out of your control, reading angry Facebook posts, watching scary movies, and so much more. Instead of focusing on the stressful things in life, focus on the things that will help you get rid of your stress, like Chirp’s Acupressure Massage Pillow & Mat. If you find yourself stressing out over unimportant things, stop what you’re doing. You don’t have to do any of that. So don’t. Lie down on the Acupressure Massage Pillow & Mat and feel your stress start to melt away.
Sources:
- https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-stress-awareness-day-first-wednesday-in-november/
- https://utswmed.org/medblog/stress-back-pain/
#NationalStressAwarenessDay #StressAwarenessDay
