Chill Out! 10 Weird Ways to Reduce Stress

Are you looking for ways to relieve stress?

About half of Americans are stressed. They’re worried about the political environment, health care, finances, work, and crime.

They cope with it in the usual ways: exercise, listen to music, or they get support from elsewhere. There are also unhealthy ways to cope with stress, like chronic spending and emotional eating.

What if the usual ways of dealing with stress don’t appeal to you?

You certainly can’t hold in all of that stress. You need a healthy outlet to cope.

Take a look at these 10 unusual ways to relieve stress in your life.

What Stress Does to You

Stress has many negative effects on the body. A little stress doesn’t do that much harm. We’re naturally wired to experience stress.

Think of the fight or flight response. That’s a sign that something is threatening our well-being, like a tiger that wants to attack.

The stress that we face today triggers that fight or flight response, so our bodies are constantly under attack by what we think are life-threatening situations.

Chronic stress, like what most of us experience, can cause a lot of problems. You’re more likely to be at risk for a heart attack, type 2 diabetes, or muscular issues.

Your immune system is suppressed when you’re stressed. You’re more likely to get common colds more often.

If you don’t deal with the stress in your life, it will affect your sleep and make you irritable, in addition to the health issues.

Stress doesn’t just affect you. It affects those around you, even your pets. Your stress impacts animals the same way that stress affects your body.

10 Ways to Relieve Stress

It’s undeniable that stress can cause a lot of issues to your health and relationships. Finding ways that to cope with stress that you enjoy can be a big challenge.

These are the most unique ways you can deal with stress that are creative and fun.

The thing about dealing with stress is that you want to do something that requires focus. Stress is usually caused by how we think about situations.

The more we think negatively about them, the more stressed we get. So, you want to do something that takes away your focus from what’s bothering you and put it somewhere else.

1. Get Crafty

Nothing can distract your mind like knitting or painting. Both require intense attention and they’ll take your mind off of whatever is nagging at you.

Art therapy is used to improve self-esteem and to help people with trauma. You can use some of the techniques used to explore your own creativity and self-expression.

2. Take a Mint Tea Bath

Peppermint has been shown to have a cooling and calming effect on the body. That’s why taking a peppermint bath is one of the ways to relieve stress.

Just fill up your bathtub with water and put in a box of peppermint tea bags. Yes, it’s weird, but it works.

If that doesn’t appeal to you, then try lavender. That has a calming and relaxing effect.

3. Play in the Dirt

Getting in touch with nature is a great way to relieve stress. As adults, we’re told that we can’t play in the dirt.

Well, there is a way around that. You can start a garden!

Gardening is rewarding and it’s something that will put your attention on something else.

4. Break Stuff

Have you ever broken stuff just because you can?

You can take plates that you can recycle into tile projects. Breaking stuff is unusual, but it also feels really good.

It’s a physical release of stress, kind of like punching things.

5. Do Absolutely Nothing

What if you just did nothing to cope with your stress?

Doing nothing can be relaxing, and if you binge watch your favorite TV show, it can be a great distraction.

You could also choose to catch up on sleep or curl up with a good book.

6. Go “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane” Makeup Mode

When was the last time you goofed off?

Your makeup collection can serve as an inspiration for this method of coping with stress.

You can just go crazy with makeup. You can make yourself up like a wicked drag queen or Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

It’s an opportunity for you to let go and be silly.

7. Sit in a House of Worship

Meditation is one common way to de-stress. Meditating in an inspiring environment can bring it to another level.

Sitting in an old church or any house of worship can bring a level of peace that you may not have experienced in a long time.

8. Yell at the Ocean

When you’re holding stress in, you have to let it out somehow. One way to do that is to go to a beach and yell at the ocean.

Scream at the top of your lungs. Tell the ocean why you’re angry and what’s stressing you out.

If you’re not near the ocean, yelling in the forest can be just as effective.

9. Go for a Long Drive

Going for a long drive and getting lost can melt your stress away.

Choose your route wisely. You want to be sure that the route takes you down long country roads and not crowded highways. That will only increase your stress.

Be sure to turn on the radio up. You can put on your favorite music or listen to effective relaxing music.

10. Eat Someplace New

When you’re stressed out, cortisol is released in your bloodstream as a hormonal response. Cortisol makes you want to eat a lot and turn to comfort food. It also slows down your metabolism.

Knowing that you can still take yourself out for a treat and enjoy it. Just be sure not to indulge too much.

Take Time to Destress

Stress is one of the most harmful things in our lives. It’s always there and it can consume us.

Finding ways to relieve stress can prolong our health, improve our sleep and our relationships.

There are standard ways to cope with stress, like exercise. There are a lot of other ways that are inexpensive and don’t take much time or effort to do.

When you find fun ways to relieve stress, you’re more likely to make them habits.

For more ways to relieve stress in your life, have a laugh. Take a look at these weird pictures for fun.

Weirdomatic is the place where all weird things come to life through the amazing world of photographs – a corner of our wild imagination or the whimsical face of the reality?