Stress Managment Activities for Women

Stress Management Activities for Women [That Actually Work!]

Taking the time to invest in stress management activities for women can help lessen your days out of work from stress. This post covers stress management activities for women to do indoor, to do outdoors, to do on a budget. What is stress? It’s our body’s fight-or-flight response to thinking it is in danger. Which is great to protect us from a lion chasing us. However, a newborn screaming, although stressful, is not quite the same danger.
 
So how do we cope with this said stress? We start by finding healthy outlets. Redirecting the stress and anxiety and making peace with it, but using it to fuel you. I used my anxiety as a method to motivate myself to eat meals more consistently and take my supplements regularly.
 

1.Coloring

 Stress management could be something as simple as journaling or coloring inside. There are a variety of adult coloring books such as animals drinking, natural and unique patterns. I purchased one for myself a long time ago and my daughter tries to take it so I grab hers and we color together.
 
Adult coloring books are not exactly what they sound like, they are not like your kids’ princess or cars coloring book. They are actually therapeutic and allow you to focus on something beautiful rather than something stressful in your life.

2.Journaling

Journaling is a trending topic that many people are looking to use for stress management. It’s not your average journal you wrote about cute boys in kindergarten.
 
Journals are used to get the stuff off your chest that you just want to scream at the top of your lungs sometimes.

3. Meditation

I know what you’re thinking meditation, huh? Do I have to? That stuff is all woo woo and crazy. But it can be done however you want it’s just focusing on relaxing and deep breathing to help calm your body and mind.

4. Yoga

Yoga complements the meditation but does not have to be done together. Many forms of exercise can actually add stress such as extended cardio, fasted cardio, or intense weight lifting. On the Contrary, Yoga helps tone the body, reduce body fat, and improve stress management.
 
A Pubmed study was done on pregnant women’s stress levels after doing yoga and the results showed their cortisol hormone was way down. In addition, anxiety, anger, depression, frustration & fatigue were significantly decreased.

5. Relaxation Technique

 A progressive muscle relaxation technique is something that the therapist use to help clients relax their body. First step you clench your fist and arms or one part of your body. Then hold it for about 10 seconds and finally release and relax.
 
Then you move to the next part of your body such as your face and clinch all the muscles in your face, and then release them and relax. This can be done with meditation or just on its own to help you feel less tense because one of the symptoms of anxiety is muscle tension.
 
So disposing of that muscle tension can help you feel more at ease and can better help with stress management.

6. Epsom Salt Bath

 Another stress management activity for women is to take an Epsom salt bath after the kids go to sleep. Epsom salt helps relax your muscles and can help with muscle cramping. That tension stress tension can be really frustrating and hard to work out.
 
Bonus Tip: Add in a couple of drops of lavender to help you relax more and go to sleep faster! Essential Oils are used for cleaning, stress, sleep, bug repellants, and more. If you would like to learn about how essential oils can help you with anxiety, check out my post here.
 
A product I like to use in my bath is called magnesium flakes. They help to increase your magnesium in your body and help you avoid any malabsorption issues.

7. Read a Book

The next tip I have for stress management activities for women is to pick up a good book. Read right before you go to bed because you will remember what you read better by sleeping on it.

8. Put It Away

Put your cell phone at any technology in another room and turn off notifications. Try to do this before bed to avoid interrupting sleep. Plus the blue lights from screens keep you awake and will affect your melatonin.
 
If you are like me and you are up late working on your computer after the kids are asleep. Then get yourself a pair of my sexy blue light glasses that I got off Amazon. (Inserts Glamour Shot with the Blue Light Glasses) They help block the blue light from my computer and phone in order to allow my body to produce melatonin & put me to sleep!
 
Stress management for women
 
This ladies is #nofilter. I mean the pumping bra, the blue light glasses and the bottle balanced off the chin with the newborn.
 
Start reading and putting the phone away at least 30 minutes to an hour before you want to wind down. Also, keep your room cool enough and dark to help you relax.

8. Listen to Podcast

Listen to a positive podcast or song that will help you stay focused on the goals you have in life.  Try a different podcast every night and see what people really speak to you. You can do it on the go or while cleaning toilets and wiping little booties.

9. Listen to a Sermon

If you love Jesus, but you can’t always get the family to church every week. Download Spotify, pod bean or whatever your little heart desires and praise Jesus!

10. Wash Your Hair

This sounds odd but I feel SO much better when I have clean hair and I’m slightly manicured. There’s just something about clean hair, maybe nails did and a little makeup on. Which leads me to my next thing.

11. Put Your Face On

Getting ready, putting makeup on, and being ready to face the day. It can give you confidence and allow you to have a sense of accomplishment. I know I am more productive running errands and getting things done when I have my game face on.

12. Kick Social to The Curb, My Friend

Stay off social media or put a limit on how much time you spend on it per day. Only follow people who motivate you and help you stay focused on the goals in your life. If you need help with motivation, I wrote an article & research paper on the power of motivation, check it out!

13. See a Shrink

Nail Bitter, I know that sounds intimidating. It’s less scary than you may think. I will be a licensed therapist soon and I can’t wait to help you guys! Until then, I recommend you find someone to talk to while you are at home. Checkout a telemedicine site such as Better Help. Just to have a conversation with a non-biased individual about your stress and fears.

There is nothing wrong with needing a little help in your marriage/relationship, with difficult kids or the stresses of being a mom. They all can weigh on us and it can be helpful to speak to someone who understands your point of view.

14. Don’t Carry Your Stress Alone

I do want to say that the stress and anxiety we have is not ours to carry. A lack of faith can lead to worry, doubt, and fear. The bible talks about anxiety and fears numerous times. Here are 20 Anxiety Bible Verses.

15. Go for a Walk (Not a Run)

Running for some can be more stressful for some people who are overly stressed. If you are having a hard time losing weight and you have cleaned up your diet. Give walking a try.

16. Low-Intensity Weight Lifting

Don’t stress yourself more, just do some full-body workouts and resistance training. I recommend starting with some compounding exercises. Compounding exercises are ones that work multiple muscles like deadlifts, squats & bench press.

This will save you time working out and can help balance your blood sugar in addition to your cortisol. Which both affect your stress levels.

17. Organize Your House

Organizing can be therapeutic for some people & make it easier to function. This may not be one of the best stress management activities for women that are OCD and it stresses them out further. Just skip it and head to number 18 on our list.

18. Cook or Bake

I have picked up a habit of making some gluten-free dessert mixes for my family. There’s cookie dough, pancakes, pie crusts & brownies… Mmm

Going gluten-free isn’t necessarily essential, but gluten can mess up your gut and cause further anxiety & stress.

19. Gratitudes

Write a list of the things you are thankful for. I can write I am thankful that I have a family to clean up after. Some women would love to have kids, be married, and have a family.

So even though changing diapers, picking up toys and doing everyone’s laundry is not always fun. I am blessed I have my health and can serve my family. This can be challenging when you are caught up in everything around you, but you can work on having more of a growth mindset to help you be aware of the positivity you can focus on.

20. Be Prepared

A lot of general anxiety can be avoided with preparation. You might get in fights with someone because they are wasting your time and you are late somewhere. But it may be that you did not use proper time management and that left late for an appointment and now you are stressed out.

Using proper time management, preparing for messes your kids will create, or taking your supplements to help you react to stressful situations better.

Being proactive can prevent you from having to be reactive to a situation (a.k.a stressed).

**Bonus**

21. Give Yourself Credit

To me, this is one of the best stress management activities for women, because so much is expected of us. A lot of us are moms and homemakers, we work a job or are at home taking care of other people.

We oftentimes come last and give ourselves little credit. Yet we are supposed to bounce back after a baby or look cute, shaved and manicured all the time. There’s a ton of work that goes into just the basics.

If we don’t love on ourselves and give ourselves credit for the small things, nobody will. If you feel overwhelmed, acknowledge all the things you do get done and you have accomplished! You finished a degree, you learned how to breastfeed, or budget your finances.

Ladies, you weren’t born knowing everything you know now, so give yourself credit for the smallest accomplishments. It’s the least you deserve!

Make a to-do list and check every little thing off.

Example To-do List:

  • Brush My Teeth
  • Do a Load of Laundry
  • Read a book to my kids
  • Take my dog for a walk
  • Do 10 minutes of Yoga
  • Do 20 Minutes of Reading

Creating a Long List of Small tasks that you overlook in a day, will help you feel more accomplished. Feeling more accomplished will give you confidence in your situation and help you feel in control over your stress. Instead of your stress & anxiety being in control over you.

Until Next Time Ladies!

Originally posted 2020-06-02 08:30:48.

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Hello! My name is Megan Santiago, B.S in Psychology, I have a Master's Degree in Mental Health Counseling and I am currently seeing clients as a Mental Health Counselor Intern. I am the Owner and Founder of Holistic-Momma.com. A little bit about me, I am OBSESSED with all things holistic health. I believe we can heal our physical bodies if we first heal our minds. I am a psychology major; I've worked alongside Naturopathic Doctors, Chiropractors, and numerous practitioners. I was a health educator for a well-known supplement brand, and now I share my experience and knowledge. I hope you learn something while on my site, and feel free to contact me with any questions!

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