REDUCING STRESS IN EVERYDAY LIFE: IDENTIFY AND MINIMISE THE CAUSES OF STRESS

Stress reduction has become one of the most important things in everyday life. It is important so that you can think clearly, work, build muscle and lose weight. Many stressors arise at home and relate to our personality. You’ll get 3 tips on how to reduce your stress levels intelligently and effectively and feel better about yourself.

We would like to briefly explain to you why you should reduce your cortisol levels. Cortisol is the most important anti-stress hormone. It protects against severe stress. While it’s good and important to know. In fact, many people think cortisol is just bad. It raises blood sugar levels and thus gives us more energy – especially energy released very quickly. In ancient times, this was a great mechanism. It causes what is known as a “run or fight” situation. Vessels are constricted, muscles are fully supplied with blood, vision is sharpened and bowel function slows down so that your body can concentrate fully on running or fighting. Now there’s no more need to hunt a mammoth in the office. Unfortunately, your body doesn’t know that. If there is no stress reduction now, at some point the system will fail.

This is your problem: You produce spontaneous stress, but then you don’t reduce it, and thus your body at some point can no longer produce enough cortisol. We’re talking physical exhaustion, fatigue, sleep disorders, muscle breakdown and a reduced immune system. More frequent illnesses are inevitable. So from now on, you’ll have to hunt mammoths again. No, not really. 😉

These three great techniques are the best way to reduce stress:

Reducing stress through muscle training.

Muscle training has been proven to be ideal for optimal stress reduction. On the other hand, jogging can be counter-productive. Many runners start out jogging and don’t notice when they put their body under more strain. If, on the other hand, you train your muscles optimally, as in our Butterfly Coach app, where it can be done very easily, you can use it to reduce stress for up to 17 hours.

Here’s how it works: Turn on your favourite song straight away and consciously do a power exercise. One will be enough, but you need to push yourself to the limit. Squats, for example. It’s really good. You can, of course, do any other exercise. The important thing is that you let your muscles contract, stay in this position for a while, contract again, stay there for a while… and so on until the muscles are completely exhausted. Personally, we would start with squats because it’s the exercise that allows you to get rid of stress in the best possible way. Biggest muscle groups, biggest stress reliever.

At best, you can exercise every morning. Not only does it feel good in your body, but it’s also a perfect energy boost. If you want to increase the level of difficulty even further, you can also use the AcitveVikings Fitness bands.

Important: Never give up early. If you can no longer perform the exercise, simplify it by not going as deep or giving up the resistance band. But never give up! No way!

Reducing stress through sleep.

Your body needs 7-8 hours of sleep to break down stress hormones effectively at all. Very often we not only don’t get 7-8 hours of sleep due to too much stress, but we also don’t find rest and sit in front of a laptop, mobile phone or TV for too long (which is detrimental to our sleep). As a result, we sleep more restlessly and often don’t go into a deep sleep phase. If you don’t sleep well, your body releases more stress hormones. As a result, you will feel tired, sluggish and hungry. That’s because lack of sleep makes you try to get a boost of energy from outside, and these are usually sugar bombs because they work so wonderfully fast on your body.

Also, your insulin sensitivity is reduced by 30 percent if you don’t get enough sleep. This means that over time, your body will become more insulin resistant. This, in turn, means that it will be harder for you to get into shape.

Here are some great tips on how to ideally get a healthy night’s sleep

Eat your last meal two to four hours before bedtime.
Try to go to bed before 11 p.m.
Avoid bright artificial light (laptop, mobile phone, TV, etc.) 2 hours before bedtime.
Sleep in a ventilated room with fresh air.
Do not sleep where there is a lot of background noise.
Take your mobile phone and, if possible, other electronic devices out of your bedroom.
Avoid fatty and sugary foods in the evening.

Reduce stress with meditation.

10 minutes of meditation a day activates around 10% of self-repair – thus also regulating cortisol. During this time, the brain produces calming substances that counteract stress.

Here’s how it works:

Either lie down or sit up straight.
Try to breathe in through your nose for 3-5 seconds, exhale for 3-5 seconds and pause for 3 seconds. The quieter the breathing, the more relaxation occurs.
Straight belly breathing.
Try to release all tension in the body with each exhalation.
Concentrate only on your breathing, and if other thoughts arise, just chase them away.

Many people feel the need to add some stretching exercises afterwards. In our Butterfly Coach app, we deal with your movement limitations in detail to make your body even more effective.

Stay tuned for updates! Apply these little tips continuously for 7 days and you’ll notice convincing results right away.

We’re very curious to know which method works best for you. Let us know and share your tips and impressions with us.

Your Butterfly Coach team