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Chris Kresser recently announced the Best Your Stress Month. He writes:

Many of you have done a 30-day Paleo diet challenge, whether the Personal Paleo Code, Whole30 or maybe a program through your local gym. You’ve probably done something similar with exercise and fitness. But what about stress reduction? Why doesn’t it get the attention it deserves?

We’re going to change that. This month, let’s dedicate some of our time to taking it easy. April is Best Your Stress Month!

I have found that stress reduction is critical to my being able to generally following an ancestral diet (I do PHD). And I've been practicing what I call assisted meditation (or meditation with training wheels ;) for over a year. I find it works great for those of us whose monkey minds really resist just sitting.

What say you? Who's in? What are your tricks for managing stress?

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6 Answers

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I subscribed to the comment thread and posted these goals:

1) Enjoy the beauty of spring in southern NV. I am bird-watching every morning and enjoying the brief but spectacular blooms of desert plants.

2) I’ve noticed a few of my regular reads are adding background stress to my day because of negative tones that are unnecessary for constructive consideration. I’m weighing the value/stress involved and may prune a few items from my daily read list.

3) I’m taking a rest from the “lose weight” mentality. Basically, I’m eating exactly the same foods–and probably the same quantities–but I don’t worry about timing, sequence, macronutrient ratios, etc. Yesterday happened to be a high-drama family day so I chose not to eat any solids. I wasn’t even particularly hungry this morning so it’s noon here now and I haven’t yet eaten solids. I will, when I feel like it–not because I’m supposed to or not supposed to–but because I’m ready to enjoy it.

4) In May I will shift back to weight loss and hope/expect to lose the remainder of my excess fat. Thanks to April, I hope to be ready for natural/sustained maintenance.

Right now, #2 may be an empty threat but I am doing some serious thinking about the net plus/minus of some of the sites I follow.

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I agree with your #2 Nance - just last week I deleted my twitter account and have also cancelled my blog site. I might go back to them later, but for now I want to limit my stress to the things I don't have a choice about (like working for a living). I've also disabled several RSS notifications, so I have to go and look for new posts rather than being reminded. That works, cos I often forget to look!! – Jac Apr 2 2012 at 1:11
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 Great ideas, Jac! I have questioned whether I should continue my little blog too, since I can offer only subjective anecdotes. So far, mine is actually a net positive for me because the writing process is illuminating. And since I'm off the radar and have no ads, I'm probably not doing harm either.:-)) – Nance Apr 2 2012 at 1:14
Love #2! My RSS feed is a bit bogged down and I find I spend too much time worrying about if I will have time to read everything. One of my daily goals is to whittle down my list of unread items and really that's just silly. – Ali Apr 2 2012 at 19:29
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I highly, highly recommend taking wildmind.org online meditation courses if you don't have access to a local meditation center. I took the first and need to make time to take the next. I truly learned a great deal. I have a very high stress job (and life) and also unfortunately have an overly active mind.

Check it out.

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The site itself has numerous free guides and help -- go to home and read around. I posted the link for the actual course.

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I didn't see anything for free there. – gydle Apr 3 2012 at 12:27
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I enjoy being outside with nature, at many times of the day, not just in the sun.

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This is perfect timing for me. I've been experiencing some stress-related health issues and just started my own 30 day daily meditation challenge a few days ago. Interested to see the techniques and discussions and results everyone uses.

I'm using the body scan meditation thing Chris Kresser recommends along with some binaural beats meditation stuff.

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"Monkey minds" is right. My brain just swings all over the place when I try to meditate.

That said, I'm in. I think it's a great idea. Stress is hugely overlooked in our culture - and a lot of PH posts are just oozing stress. It's often overlooked in our eagerness to find a quick food or exercise fix to our weight or health issues. Stress could just as likely be the culprit, and obsessing about food and weight and fat percentages just makes it worse.

I'm going to do six sun salutations every morning followed by 5 minutes of quiet meditation. My monkeys be warned!

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Totally agree re the PH posts and stress! I think computer folks would benefit from one of my very favorite practices: watch a Flickr slide show of nature photos and listen to classical music (I have a YouTube playlist that I put on in a background tab in my browser). I suspect that the very initial benefit of this or any stress reduction practice is related to getting out of "all sympathetic mode, all the time." – Beth-WeightMaven Apr 1 2012 at 16:18
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I do a couple things to manage stress. I enjoy my alone time and so I wake up early to get in my walk with the dog before the neighborhood is awake and bustling. I also enjoy sitting on the back porch (usually with breakfast or a hot drink), just watching the world wake up. I love how it takes its time!

A great stress reliever for me is my daily routine. I like to have a basic plan in place where I know what I'll be doing and what to expect. This includes knowing if I'll be working late, having dinner plans already in place, and even my morning and evening routines (concerning showers, feeding the dog, brushing teeth, etc.).

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