IMPROVE WELL-BEING WITH CALM STORE

 Calm Store is a registered NDIS provider, and a family run business, committed to helping our customers feel better and get the most out of life.

 Aromatherapy has real benefits for stress relief—it can help you to feel energized, more relaxed, or more present in the moment.

 Getting in touch with your creative side may have been easy for you during childhood, but it's not too late to pick it up again if you’ve lost touch with your penchant for artwork.

 If you aren't into drawing or painting, consider coloring in a coloring book. Adult coloring books have risen in popularity, and for good reason—coloring can be a great stress reliever.

 Research consistently shows that coloring can have a meditative effect. One study found that anxiety levels decline in people who were coloring complex geometric patterns, making it a perfect outlet for stress reduction.

 What can you do to calm mental stress over the long term? Certain habits can promote resilience to stress and increase overall wellness. For example, those who exercise or meditate regularly tend to become less stressed in the face of a difficult challenge.9

 So it's important to create a lifestyle that will help you ward off stress and deal with challenges in a healthy way.

 A poor diet can bring greater reactivity toward stress.10 Emotional eating and reaching for high-fat, high-sugar foods can provide a temporary sense of relief that adds to your long-term stress.

 Refined carbs, like cookies and potato chips, can cause a spike in blood sugar. When your blood sugar crashes, you might experience more stress and anxiety.

 Consuming a healthy diet can help you combat stress over the long haul. Foods like eggs, avocado, and walnuts support mood regulation and energy balance.

 Some vitamins and supplements may have benefits for stress relief. What vitamins help with stress? A daily multivitamin may help address nutritional deficits and ensure you get the necessary vitamins and minerals to feel your best. Other supplements that may help relieve stress include:

 Leisure activities can be a wonderful way to relieve stress.15 Yet, many people feel as though their lives are too busy for hobbies, games, or extra fun.

 But building time for leisure into your schedule could be key to helping you feel your best. And when you feel better, you'll perform better, which means leisure time may make your work time more efficient.

 Whether you find joy in caring for a garden or you like making quilts, hobbies and leisure are key to living your best life.

 The way you talk to yourself matters. Harsh self-criticism, self-doubt, and catastrophic predictions aren't helpful. If you're constantly thinking things like, "I don't have time for this," and "I can't stand this," you'll stress yourself out.

 It's important to learn to talk to yourself in a more realistic, compassionate manner. When you call yourself names or doubt your ability to succeed, reply with a kinder inner dialogue.

 Positive self-talk can help you develop a healthier outlook. And an optimistic and compassionate conversation can help you manage your emotions and take positive action.

 And while you're likely to reap immediate benefits from a single yoga session, you're likely to receive long-term benefits if you incorporate it into your life in a consistent way.

 Yoga offers a variety of physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits. To get started, you might take a class, enroll in an online program, or use an app to help you begin practicing.

 Gratitude helps you recognize all the things you have to be thankful for. Whether you're grateful for a sunny day or thankful you arrived at work safely, think about all the good things you have in life.

Fun activities for children

 Gratitude also reminds you of all of the resources you have to cope with stress, which can be quite empowering.

 So whether you decide to make it a habit to identify what you're grateful for as you sit around the dinner table or you decide to write down three things you're grateful for in a gratitude journal every day, make gratitude a regular habit.

 Physical activity is key to managing stress and improving mental health.17 And the best news is, there are many different kinds of activities that can reduce your stress.

 Join a gym, take a class, or exercise outside. Keep in mind that there are many different ways to get more physical activity in your day too.

 Walking, strength training, kayaking, hiking, and spin class are just a few different examples of ways you can get stress relief.

 Most stress relievers focus on changing your emotions. But sometimes, you won't necessarily get relief until you change the environment.

 This is referred to as problem-focused coping (as opposed to emotion-focused coping). Problem-focused coping involves taking steps to remove the stressor from your life (as opposed to changing how you feel about the stressor).

 This is referred to as problem-focused coping (as opposed to emotion-focused coping). Problem-focused coping involves taking steps to remove the stressor from your life (as opposed to changing how you feel about the stressor).

 Hosted by Editor-in-Chief and therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares how you can change your mindset to cope with stress in a healthy way.

 If you're trying to squeeze 20 hours worth of work into 16 hours, you're going to feel stressed. Reducing your workload could be key to helping you get through the day feeling better.

 Whether that means stepping away from a committee you joined or it involves hiring someone to complete some of your household chores for you,

 Honing your time management skills can allow you to minimize the stressors that you experience, and better manage the ones you can't avoid.

 When you are able to complete everything on your "to do" list without the stress of rushing or forgetting, your whole life feels easier.

 Having supportive people in your life is the key to stress management. If you lack emotional support and friendship, it's important to get it.

 That may mean reaching out to your existing network. Perhaps confiding in a family member or distant friend can help you become closer and it may give you the social support you need.

 You may also need to expand your network. Join an organization, attend a support group, or get professional help if you lack supportive people in your life.

 Sometimes, the best way to reduce your stress is to cut something out of your life. Get rid of the things that are adding to your stress so you can experience more peace.