Let’s Discuss: How Do You De-Stress?

Spill your stress-busting secrets, folks.

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Shutterstock

When I chat with friends and family, the sentence “I’m so, so, so, soooo stressed OUT!” pretty much always squeezes its way into the conversation. The catalysts behind the stress vary: law school exams, the prospect of retirement, wedding planning, work (that’s a big one), and so on. But pretty much everyone I know is seriously stressed out for some reason or another at all times. And venting about it seems to be one way of relieving that stress — so feel free to unload on me, friends! I’m happy to listen. But one thing I’ve realized after having about a billion and one conversations that start with this sentence is that we talk about stress a lot, but we don’t discuss how to deal with that stress once the phone call is over, like, ever.

And I think some of that has to do with the fact that many of us don’t know how. And that’s no good: According to WebMD, 43 percent of adults suffer adverse health effects from stress, an estimated 75 to 90 percent of all doctors visits have something to do with stress (yikes), and ongoing stress impacts our everything from our blood pressure to cardiac health to anxiety (duh). In short: Being stressed out isn’t doing our healthy any favors.

So, today, instead of having a conversation about what is stressing us out, we want to give everyone a chance to load up on techniques for relieving that stress. And to do that, we need all of your help! We want to know: When you give yourself a chance to de-stress (and these moments might be rare), how do you do it? Maybe it’s going for a long run. Maybe it’s watching sixteen episodes of Friends. Maybe it’s screaming into a pillow. This is a judgment-free zone, folks, so spill your stress-busting secrets in the comments section below!

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