How to Manage and Reduce Stress?

Stress is the pressure on brain, which can be due to different aspect of your life such as job workload, family problems, medical condition, and financial worries. During such conditions, you may feel upset and your body release or response to various stress hormones. It affects us both physically ,mentally, and emotionally. If you are living with a high level of stress, then you are putting your health at high risk. To overcome this problem, firstly you should identify the source of stress in your life. Stress is an automatic response from your nervous system, which gives signals to various stress-related hormones. There are numbers of home remedies, which helps to eliminate the stress from your body.

Home Remedies for Stress

1. Holy Basil (Ocimum Sanctum)

Holy Basil or Tulsi is one of the most traditional plants in India. This herb has been used for many years in Ayurveda due to its various medicinal properties. It has very good antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-stress properties. There are numbers of the phytochemicals present in holy basil such as oleanolic acid, ursolic acid rosmarinic acid, linalool, and germacrene. All these chemicals help to boost your body immunity and provide relives from stress, anxiety, and depression.

Medicinal Properties

Pungent, bitter in taste, lightness, dryness in qualities, and hot in potency. It undergoes pungent taste conversion after digestion.

• Add 3-4 leaves of Holy Basil in water. Boil it for 10-15 minutes.
• leave it for 10 minutes to cool down, after that strain and drink this Holy Basil tea.
• You can also add one tablespoon of honey to it.
• Instead of tea, you can directly chew the 4-5 leaves of Tulsi daily this will also help to reduce your stress level.

2. Epsom Salt

Epsom Salt has numerous health benefits. It appears almost similar to normal salt but its properties and health benefits are quite different from regular salt. The magnesium and sulfate in Epsom Salt help us to cure health problems such as a migraine, stress, depression, and anxiety. The sulfates content in Epsom Salt increases the absorption of nutrients. Magnesium content in Epsom Salt increase the serotonin content in our brain and inhibit the adrenaline secretion in your body. Along with magnesium, sulfate Epsom Salt is also rich in iron, zinc, potassium, chromium, and phosphorus. Salt mainly increase the Pitta dosha but Epsom Salt, due to its cold potency helps to balance Pitta.

• Add one cup of Epsom Salt with few drops of essential oil in a warm bathtub.
• Soak your body for 20-25 minutes in it.
• Do this 2-3 times in a week.
• This will helps you to relax your body, ease anxiety, stress, and irregular heartbeat.

3. Ashwagandha (Withania Somnifera)

It belongs to the Salicaceae family. Due to its great health benefits, it has been used in Ayurveda from many years. The number of chemicals present in Ashwagandha increases the production of acetylcholine, which is the main transmitter of the neural signal and improves stress, anxiety and thinking ability of your brain. Medicinal Properties of Ashwagandha : Herb is pungent, bitter in taste, oiliness, lightness in qualities, and hot in potency. According to the Ayurvedic point of view Ashwagandha widely used in treating anxiety, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.

• Take Ashwagandha powder or add this in your daily routine. You can also use fresh roots of the plant and chew them.
• Make it your permanent habit for few months until you get relieves from stress.

4. Brahmi (Bacopa Monnieri)

There are numbers of benefits of this herb such as it helps to open and clarify the mind, promote the balanced emotional state, strengthen memory improve your concentration, and boost your brain thinking ability. Brahmi also has antioxidant properties which inhibit the free radical damage in your body.

Medicinal Properties

Bitter, astringent in taste, light to digest, convert into sweet taste after digestion and cold in potency. Due to these medicinal properties, Brahmi helps to balance Kapha and Vata dosha. It relaxes your nerves from any stress and workload.

• Add 2-3 gram of Brahmi powder in your daily diet.
• You can also opt for Brahmi juice.

5. Shankhpushpi (Convolvulus Pluricaulis)

It is one of the famous Ayurvedic herb used as a memory enhancer, improves intelligence and boosts your brain power. It is cultivated all over India but especially in Goa, Gujarat, Bihar, and Rajasthan. This herb contains carbohydrates-D glucose, maltose, sucrose, and rhamnose. Along with all these it also rich in glacial acetic acid, B- sitosterol and kaempferol. Medicinal properties: bitter in taste, coolant in nature and mostly used to balance the Pitta and Kapha Dosha. It is used to support healthy brain, helps in calming the mind and provide relieves from a headache during stress.

6. Yoga and Meditation

There are many different ways which help to reduce stress. People are mostly stressed due to their workload, lack of job, disappointment in life, family problems and due to severe illness. When the things get stressful, sit up straight on your chair, place your feet on the floor and inhale deeply through your nose. The second thing you can do is core breathing, again sit straight keep your spine upright, inhale and raise your arm straight in front of you. Exhale and lower the arms back down, repeat this 5-8 times. Do some yoga stretches before bed, it will help to relax your mind. Roll your neck and shoulder, it can release tension from your back and shoulders.

Meditation is also one of best natural remedy to calm your mind and get relives from stress, depression, and anxiety. The simple way of doing meditation, sit or lie comfortably, close your eyes, you have to make no efforts to control the breath, and breathe normally. It is an approach to training the mind, similar to the fitness that trains the body.

7. Avoid Alcohol, Nicotine, and Caffeine

When you are dealing with a stressful day, you may be tempted to have a glass of beer to calm your nerves. But in actual, excessive and continuous consumption of alcohol increase your anxiety and stress more. Similarly, a high amount of caffeine can lead to sleeplessness and increase the cortisol level in your body. Caffeine inhibits the absorption of adenosine, which calms the body for some time but later it can cause sleep problem.

All above-mentioned herbs, yoga, and other natural remedies are very effective to get relief from stress and anxiety. Along with these, you can also add some healthy dietary habits in your routine such as avoid fast foods, highly processed food, and other beverages. You should add fresh foods and green leafy vegetables in your diet to make your body healthy and fit. If your body is healthy then your brain will automatically become healthier.