Some weeks might seem completely overwhelming to you. At the end of the day, you might come home and just plop on the couch, not wanting to be bothered until the next day. You could find yourself irritated with your significant other or children over minute issues because you’re stressed. You don’t have to continue to live like that though when ways exist to help you combat your stress.

1. Organize, Organize, Organize

One of the main ways to live a stress-free life is to get organized. When you have clutter and are always searching for what you need, you’re adding unnecessary stress to your life. Let’s say you want to pay your cell phone bill, and you can’t find the bill because you threw it on your table with other paperwork. You’re now wasting precious time and contending with frustration because you’re searching for your bill. Purchase storage containers and other organizational tools to properly store all of your belonging. Everything in your home should have a place.

2. Declutter Regularly

It doesn’t matter how organized you are. If you have too much stuff, you’re making your life unnecessarily stressed. More than likely, you’re having a hard time finding items you need amongst the possessions you have that you’re not using. You might repeatedly tell yourself you need to clean up, but this is just causing another worry in your life. It’s possible you’re not enjoying your home because it’s not as tidy as you’d like it as a result of the clutter. You can alleviate this stress by getting rid of items you don’t use.

First of all, remove anything from your home you know you’re never going to use again. While you may have felt passionate about surfing four years ago, if you haven’t put that board in the water since you purchased it, you should get rid of it. When it comes to your clothing, if you haven’t worn it in the last five years, trash it, give it away, or donate it.

Some other items you can toss include:

1. Old power cords

2. Old cell phones

3. Magazines and newspapers older than two months old

4. Old remotes

5. User manuals

3. Schedule Your Time

It’s easy, especially if you have kids, a hectic work schedule, and other obligations to focus on that you neglect yourself. You might wake up every morning and then pack lunches and get yourself ready to work a long day. You pick up the kids from school after work and then come home to make dinner. After that, you probably play catch up with all of the housework and help with homework. Your entire day is booked. You don’t have any time in between your tasks to do anything special for yourself. However, you need to find at least 15 minutes every day where you rejuvenate. This is your time to think about yourself, whether you do it by taking a walk, reading a book, or soaking in a hot bath. These 15 minutes help prevent you from feeling mentally and emotionally drained.

4. Start Exercising Regularly

Exercise benefits you in so many ways ranging from getting your body in shape to helping you manage weight. For one, exercise releases endorphins, which are feel-good hormones in your body. When your body releases them, they stimulate the receptors in your brain in order to reduce your pain naturally. Studies suggest exercise can help with depression and anxiety for this reason.

You’ll feel more confident from exercising because you’re improving your body when you exercise regularly. You’ll feel better when you look in the mirror and see yourself losing weight and toning your muscles.

Physical activity has another benefit in your life as well such as reducing your risk for diseases like heart disease, some cancers, and diabetes. This is especially the case since exercise can help you manage your weight and being overweight puts you at a greater risk for the disease.

Exercise can help you quit smoking by reducing the cravings you have. Not to mention, it may decrease withdrawal symptoms too. Keeping your body moving provides your brain with extra oxygen, and it encourages your body to release proteins and chemicals that enhance your brain’s structure and function.

Having a hobby like exercising regularly gives you something to do that can take your mind off of your stress.

5. Change Your Diet

Your diet could be causing you stress in your life. Especially when combined with fatigue, poor nutrition can lead to anxiety or worsen your anxiety or depression. B-vitamin deficiencies are well-known for causing anxiety since these are the nutrients responsible for regulating your nervous system and producing energy for your body. For example, vitamin B-1 is necessary for energy production, so if you don’t have enough of it, you could find yourself lacking energy.

You could lack vitamin B6 in your diet, which could cause you to feel more stressed since this vitamin helps in the mood stabilizing process. This vitamin is responsible for your brain functioning normally. It has an impact on how you feel as well as how you well your sleep. Your lips may become scaly, and you can suffer from depression, confusion, or anxiety. You might feel irritable, and it’s possible you won’t sleep right while it could impact your immune system.

It’s possible to suffer from depression when you lack vitamin D in your diet. If you’re not getting enough of this vitamin, you might contend with mood swings. It’s also possible you’ll have anxiety and depression.

The last possible vitamin or mineral deficiency that could cause stress in your life is a mineral deficiency. Many minerals like zinc are necessary for your brain to function and for mood stabilization. You could have chronic fatigue from a mineral deficiency.

Part of destressing your life is avoiding a vitamin and mineral deficiency since it can help regulate your mood and help you get a better night sleep.

You want to make sure you’re getting an adequate amount of nutrition by eating a healthy balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables. When you’re snacking, you want to eat small portions and limit your consumption of simple carbs.

6. Get Enough Sleep

As mentioned above, taking care of yourself is a vital component of destressing your life. Often, the stress you feel is partially associated with neglecting your health and wellness, usually because of living a demanding life. Not getting enough sleep and anxiety is a vicious circle. If you have anxiety, you might not sleep as well as you should. You might find yourself having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep. If your brain isn’t getting enough rejuvenating sleep, you could experience anxiety as a result. This anxiety will continue to cause issues with you getting to sleep, and this circle just continues.

You may want to try meditating or doing yoga on a regular basis to improve your sleep. Both of these practices relieve stress, which can make it easier for you to get to sleep as well as stay asleep. The breathing associated with both yoga and meditating help your body receive an increased amount of oxygen throughout your blood.

Instead of playing on a device or watching TV before bed, you may want to read a book or listen to peaceful music. These can relax you without overstimulating you. Calm music may have the potential to lower your blood pressure, and it does relax you.

Stay busy during the day to burn all of your energy, but at night, you want to start relaxing at least an hour before bed. Never consume alcohol or coffee too close to bedtime.

Set a sleep schedule. You should go to bed and wake up a similar time every day of the week.

7. Seek Out Counseling

The stress in your life may be more than just standard stress. In fact, anxiety is one of the top mental health disorders because of how common it is. A physician can help you learn ways to manage with your anxiety, and if natural methods don’t work adequately, a physician has the ability to prescribe a medication to manage your symptoms.

Dealing with one of the top mental health disorders is overwhelming, and if you’re trying to manage it on your own, you could find yourself doing it in a negative method that’s actually making the problem worse. For instance, if you drink to manage stress, it could turn into an alcohol problem. As you continue to try to cope with your feelings this way, the alcohol could lead to financial problems, sleep issues, and various health problems, all of which could cause even more stress. Therefore, it’s vital to seek out treatment for mental health problems, addiction, or any other health concern that could interfere with your happiness.

Avoiding stress is necessary for improving the quality of your life. While a little bit of stress is healthy, many of the habits you have could be causing you to have more than a healthy level of stress. You can also find ways to manage your stress.