Stress Less Hack: Plan for Good Sleep
Most teens don’t get enough sleep during the week because they’re up late studying and then up very early for school. That doesn’t leave much opportunity to sleep, plain and simple. To create more time to sleep, move some of your morning routine (for example, shower, making your lunch, organizing your backpack, selecting your clothes) to the night before. Also, move that important wind-down routine as early as you can to get to bed early enough to get enough sleep. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Build Good Sleep Habits
Stress Less Hack: Don’t forget the little things when it comes to sleep. Keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool. Darkness and coolness send important signals to your brain to slow down and shift toward sleep. Also, if you use a nightlight, try to place it so that you can’t see it from bed and avoid looking at any light when you get up at night for a sip of water. Slip on some socks and tuck your hands under the blankets. Warm hands are a sign of a relaxed body, so do what you can to relax your body before bedtime. Don’t eat a big meal or snack before bedtime. Your body isn’t meant to digest meals when you sleep. If you’re hungry, try a small, healthy snack. If you can, take a hot bath before bedtime. A hot soak increases your body temperature slightly. Then, when you hop out, you’ll cool down quickly, which mimics the natural drop in body temperature caused by the brain as it readies the body for sleep. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Try a Social Media Detox
Social media use can bring some good stuff, but some bad stuff too. If you’re feeling fine about your social media habits, no problem. But, if you’re feeling stressed, unhappy, and disconnected, it might make sense to take a social media detox. First decide the length of the detox you’ll take. It can be as brief as a week or as long as a year. Yes, some people swear off social media for a year, and some people swear off it forever. Once you’ve decided the length of the detox, deactivate your social media accounts and delete the apps from your phone. If you’re worried that you won’t maintain your social media detox, try apps like Freedom and Self Control to limit your access to Instagram and Facebook on your phone and computer. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Ditch the Device for the Real Thing
Boredom can signal that you’re hungry for social input. Human beings are social creatures, so it’s only natural that when you’re alone and bored, you’ll crave social interaction, but try for the real deal. Get off your device and speak to people rather than resorting to quick texts, calls, or virtual meetings. Furthermore, use those calls and texts to set up face-to-face time. If you can’t meet face-to-face, prioritize calls with friends over texting with them. If your friends are too busy for face-to-face meetups, look into joining an interesting club or sport to meet other teens with similar interests. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Try a No Complaining Diet
Complaining is the opposite of gratitude. Try going on a no-complaining diet. For 30 days, try not to complain about your hair, about your friends, about the grade on a quiz, or about anything else. This doesn’t mean that you have to see the world through rose-colored glasses. It’s a fact that there are things about your life that you don’t like. Just try not to complain about them. It’s like the old saying, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” A no complaining diet focuses you on the good – even if it’s a microscopic good – that’s in almost everything. You might surprise yourself when you realize how focusing on the good improves your mood, your happiness, and your energy. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Do One Thing at a Time
Doing one thing at a time in short bursts is a great way to get things done. Here’s how to do it. Turn off and remove from your environment (if you can) all technology distractions and work on only one thing for 25 minutes. Then, take a five-minute break, and repeat (another 25-minute work burst, then a 5-minute break) and repeat. After that, work for another 25 minutes and take a 15-minute break. How was it? Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Set Healthy Social Media Boundaries
Sometimes it isn’t easy to set healthy social media boundaries, even when you know it’s the right thing to do. Here are two tips to make this a little easier. First, when you’re listening to a friend talk about a problem, picture a semipermeable and invisible shield around yourself. Love and caring feelings can go through the shield to your friend, but your friend’s distress and problems bounce off. Second, imagine a way to leave your friend’s distress and problems behind. For example, when you end a chat or text with a friend, visualize transferring responsibility to your friend’s parents or much loved pet; or, when walking home from hanging out with a distressed friend, identify a house, a stop sign, or a tree that is the boundary between your life and your friend’s life. Visualize yourself walking through a force field that separates your life from your friend’s life. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Hit the Phone Pause Button
These days, reaching for your smartphone is automatic. It’s like your phone is an extension of your hand. This makes it difficult to take a break, even a quick one, when you wish. Here are a couple of ideas to help you hit the pause button. Place a rubber band around your phone. The rubber band reminds you to be thoughtful and intentional when you pick up your phone. Or, modify your lock screen with a picture or an inspirational quote that reminds you to use your phone with purpose rather than as something to do when you’re feeling stressed, anxious, or bored. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Color Me Calm
The colors on your devices (phones, pads, computers) are like candy to your brain. Change the color scheme to black and white, if you can, or muted colors that are less rewarding to your stimulation-hungry brain. Not only that, those red dots in notification messages are stressful. They alert your brain the way red traffic lights, brake lights, or stop signs do. There’s a reason all those things are red. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life
Stress Less Hack: Build Glass Half Full Friendships
Hanging around optimistic people can help you see the glass as half full rather than half empty. If your friends have a pessimistic attitude toward life, you’ll tend to see things from their point of view. It’s not necessary to dump your pessimistic friends; just add optimistic friends to balance out the doom and gloom. Also, if a friend starts to go negative, smile and change the subject; or, offer a glass half full take on things. Who knows, you just might help a friend feel a little better. Stress Less: A Teen’s Guide to a Calm, Chill Life