It’s hard to be happy when you’re stressed. I don’t have to tell you that. I’m sure you’ve experienced it yourself. Think back on high-stress situations like missing a flight to go on vacation or when you were planning your wedding and things got overwhelming and started to fall apart. Hopefully, you were able to recover and enjoy your time away or your wedding day, but the chances are that you weren’t too happy while you were stressed out. Stress sucks the happiness and joy right out of us.

It only makes sense then that one way to increase our happiness and our quality of life is to distress. Not only is it good for our soul, but it’s also good for our overall health and wellbeing to reduce the stress in our lives. Here are some simple things you can do to distress.

Get Enough Sleep

An easy way to stress less is to ensure you get a good seven to eight hours of sleep at night. When we don’t sleep well and don’t sleep enough, our bodies are in a constant state of stress, trying to make up for the lack of sleep. Sleep helps us relax and gives our mind time to process everything that’s been happening. Stop burning the midnight oil and get some sleep. You’ll get more done when you’re fresh and rested and you’ll be less stressed out.

Move Around And Get Some Exercise

Without a doubt, the best stress reliever is exercise. Start moving around and burn that stress right out of your system. If you can get outside to workout, even better. The fresh air and sunshine will do wonders. Go for a run, or even just a short walk whenever you’re feeling stressed. For best results, work out regularly.

Take Some “Me” Time

There are times in our lives when we have to spend a lot of focus and attention on others. Maybe you are raising a toddler, or perhaps you’re working hard to get a new company off the ground. When busy times like these take a lot of our attention and time, it’s easy to forget about ourselves or put our own personal needs last. Make an effort to spend at least a little bit of “me” time each day. It doesn’t have to be much. Even ten minutes spent relaxing and doing something completely selfish can be a great way to decompress and distress.

Practice Meditation

Let’s wrap this up with one last technique to keep stress at bay. Try meditating. Again, you don’t have to spend a lot of time on this. Sitting quietly and praying or going through a guided meditation once a day can do wonders. Once you get in the habit of practicing them daily and get better at it, you can draw on the techniques you’ve learned whenever you encounter a particularly stressful situation. You can spend a minute or two in meditation, even at the most stressful time and allow your mind to relax. Trust me; this will come in very handy when life throws you a curveball or when you’re feeling completely overwhelmed.