When we talk about health, we tend to focus mostly on the physical aspect of it and often mental health. We barely talk about emotional health and status. Emotional health is a little hard to define since it is subjective and different for everyone. So, there is no one definition that fits. You can understand emotional stress by relating to thoughts, feelings, and associated behaviors. According to a study conducted in the US, 18% of the entire population is suffering from issues related to emotions. Emotional has a cascading influence on our physical bodies. When the emotions are left unchecked it often leads to muscle tension, fatigue and feeling of un-ease. There are some ways that can help you cope with emotional stress and thoughts that accompny them.
1. Talk about it
One of the most successful ways of dealing with emotional stress is by talking to someone. That someone can be your friend or a family member, or a neutral person like a therapist or counselor.
Your goal should not be fixing your problem or finding a solution. Instead, venting out and channelizing what you have inside yourself and sharing it with someone is an healthy way to go about it. Generally, the solution arises itself automatically as you talk.
2. Jot your emotions down
If you are not one of those people who like sharing their emotional struggles with people, or the thing that you are struggling with can not be shared. Then, writing your thoughts and feeling in a journal is the next best way to deal with it. The act of journaling lets you went out the words in a much more secure way. The simple act of writing down is a much better scenario than keeping what you have inside bottled up.
3. Practice meditation
Meditation and its benefits are proven time and again, as a means to release the mental tension and improve general well being. The mere practice of meditation can help you increase your energy, help you with emotional well being and help you with memory and focus.
The practice helps you to distance yourself from the feelings and thoughts that comes up. By detaching yourself from your thoughts, you prevent them from growing into a potential problem. You evaluate your feeling more clearly keep yourself away from emotional chaos.
4. Get out more often
If more often than not undermine the effect of nature on our mind, body, and soul. We spend so much time indoors because of our jobs, families, and other responsibilities. We forget the importance of going outside. The simple act of making getting out more often as part of your routine is a big step forward. Try to go for a walk to breathe fresh air for some time during your lunch break. These small but impactful habits can help you reset and prime your emotional health.
5. Start a gratitude journal
Know that your brain is not the right place where you can list all the things you are grateful for. Invest in a small notebook or buy a journal. Set aside a particular time, maybe add it in your daily routine or right before going to bed. List down all the things you are grateful for, it could be a friend’s warm gesture towards you or a job promotion. Make sure you write something in that notebook every day, even when you do not see anything to be grateful for. We consider a plethora of things as a given truth of our lives. Things like a roof over our head, food on our plate, and clothes that we have on our body. We consider it to be there for us, but for a large chunk of people out there, it is not the case.
6. Get adequate sleep
Making sure you have 7 to 8 hours of sleeping time is imperative. It is vital for your mental, emotional, and physical well being. It is indispensable to get quality sleep at night for maximum energy. Invest in the environment that is more conducive and enables you to sleep better. Maybe softer sheets and pillow and better bed arrangement. Another important thing is to keep your phone away and preferably do not take it your bedroom at least an hour before you plan to sleep. It applies to all the devices that have screens on them. It takes away the important downtime we need before sleeping.