Stress isn’t just for National Stress Awareness Day

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While the first Wednesday in November each year is National Stress Awareness Day, the world is a pretty stressful place a lot of the time and it is different for us all.

You might feel irritable and impatient, nervous or depressed. There can be knots in your stomach, a sense of dread and the inability to see the good in life. Panic attacks, sleepless nights, loss of libido and feeling sick, dizzy or fainting are all ways stress can be experienced.

If we are to thrive, we need to find our own ways of coping with whatever our busy lives throw at us, so we have some ideas we hope might help.

Know your triggers
A buzz word, maybe, but it’s really good to try to access your triggers, where possible. Stress can come from many things, be that work, kids, family, friends or other people on social media! If you can identify what causes your stress, this will help you to tackle it and get things under control. Start to keep a diary of when you feel stressed, look at who or what sets it off and if a pattern emerges look at the changes you can make so things settle down.

Look at your lifestyle
Exercise is often on the bottom of our to do list, but it is a great way to manage stress. Increasing your heart rate, eating a nutritious diet, drinking lots of water and getting plenty of sleep are really important if you want to keep stress levels down. Just as you track your stress, look at how good you feel after a run or a swim, and how your skin improves when you swap chocolate and coffee for fruit and veg.

Pick your battles
There can be many things in life that are stressful – from a big bill, unfair boss to an angry customer, but if you react to them all you are going to be ill. Choose which things you are going to actually direct energy at and try to resolve, but the rest can be put behind you because they aren’t worth it.

Let it go
Stamp your feet, shout out loud, cry or jump up and down or do some boxing! No, we aren’t talking about toddler tantrums, but letting out your stress and steam in a more physical way. If you are feeling cross and out of control, it might just help to yell about it and get that stress out of your system.

Switch off
Turning off your phone, not checking your emails and powering down your laptop can all help put a lid on stress. You don’t need to be ‘on it’ 24/7, and no one expects you to work late every night, and if they do, maybe you need to look at how much work is impacting your life and stress levels.

Be mindful
This is talked about a lot, but mindfulness is where you have an awareness of the present moment and you pay attention to thoughts, feelings and sensations in the here and now. Mindfulness is really good for healthy mental wellbeing, so if you feel stressed, take a moment and reflect. If your mind gets busy, mindfulness can help to slow it down.

Kick the bad stuff
Smoking, drinking and binge-eating are ways many people cope with stress, but none of those toxic habits will do you any favours. Giving up cigarettes, cutting down takeaways and going to the gym rather than the pub will help you to feel better in the long run.

If things are getting out of hand, chat to your GP – you won’t be the only one.

Team Pure Beauty

Easy ways to stress less every day

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Life is busy, demands grow every day, the need to be Insta perfect plays on our minds and sometimes things can just get too much. It is just as important to look after your mental health, as it is to keep tabs on your physical wellbeing or things can start to get on top of you.

We have had a look at some simple ways you can take back control when it comes to feeling good about life and stressing less each day.

Think about how you start your day
For many people, anxiety is an issue and it can feel worse in the morning. To help with this, try to avoid activities that trigger your stress levels the moment you get up. Don’t look at your emails as soon as you wake, scroll through social media when you are at your desk and not in bed, and if coffee adds an edge, try a herbal tea and some meditation before hitting the caffeine.

List it
We aren’t talking about a to-do list, but a gratitude journal. Each day write down ten things that you’re grateful for and start to appreciate the little things we often take for granted, like family, health, food on the table and even the sun shinning. When you start to see what you do have and focus less on what you wish you had, shifts can be made and stress levels can go down.

And breath
Tuning into your breathing can make a real difference to how you feel as this really does affect your body. Think about it, when you are stressed out, your breathing becomes shorter and shallower, this can make you feel worse and a vicious cycle is set in place. Meditative breathing techniques can make a big difference to how you feel and allow you to become more relaxed and able to think straight. Start by simply taking deep, full breaths in through your nose, and exhaling slowly out of your mouth. Set aside ten minutes a day, more if you can, and just sit with your breath and feel the tension lift.

Get some exercise
Yes, we are all busy but there are real benefits for our mental health if we exercise. When you move your body releases endorphins, feel-good hormones, and when this happens it helps you to feel more energised and focused. This doesn’t mean hitting the gym twice a day or training for a marathon, but simply walking the dog, getting on your bike or taking a step class are all ways to bring good vibes into your life the natural way.

Be your own best friend
Have you ever stopped and thought about how you talk to yourself? Words like stupid, slow, lazy and failure are negative phrases we often use with ourselves, but now is the time to stop and be your own best friend and look after you.

Sleep it away
When we are tired, our worries seem to get worse and we find it harder to turn off and relax. Try to get yourself into a healthy sleep routine so you are able to give your body and mind time to recuperate and catch up. A set bedtime, having a warm bath with added essential oils, doing some yoga are all ideas that can have a positive impact on your mental health.

Live in the moment
It is all too easy to think about what went wrong in the past, or worry about the future, but why not start to enjoy and appreciate the here and now? You cannot change what has happened and we do not know what will happen tomorrow, next week or next year, so savour the moment and leave those worries at the door.

Team Pure Beauty

Clear your head with Pure Beauty

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body, bonfire night, boost, busy mind, calm, Camellia, cards to write, cared for, Christmas, cleared, crazy, daily shampoo, Decleor Satin Softening Dry Oil, Dermalogica Daily Cleansing Shampoo, Dermalogica Sleep Sound Cocoon Night Gel-Cream, Elemis De-Stress Massage Oil, Elemis Exotic Cream Moisturising Mask b, enrich, expensive, expertly blended, festive Frankincense, geranium, Halloween, head, lavender, marjoram, mask, melissa, melts, Mimosa and Honey Absolute, mind, moisture lacking, moisturise, nourishing, orange, painful tension, parties to attend, party season, Persian Silk Tree and Tamarind Seed Extracts, please, Presents to buy, Relax, revitalising gel-cream, rose, rosewood, school plays, shopping bags, shower, sinks, sleep, sleep better, softer, spirit, stressful, sulphate-free, therapeutic plant extracts, tired complexions, transforms skin, wash away, wows, Wu-Zhu-Yu

With Halloween and bonfire night over, we are now driving in the fast road to Christmas. Presents to buy, cards to write, parties to attend, school plays to watch and endless people to please, this might be a fun time of the year, but it can also be a pretty stressful, expensive one too.

We have had a look at some of the products on the Pure Beauty website that let you take time out and relax, so you can clear your head and focus on what is really important in life – you!

At Pure Beauty we love the Elemis De-Stress Massage Oil and for good reason. Pure essential oils of Rosewood, Marjoram, Geranium, Melissa, and Chamomile have been expertly blended to create an aromatherapy product that soothes a busy mind, melts the painful tension from carrying all those shopping bags and allows the body to relax. Simply warm a little oil in your hands and then massage into the skin using gentle, upward movements. Not only will this leave your skin feeling soft and cared for, but your head will be cleared and thanks to the Lavender, you may well sleep better too.

Taking the Dermalogica Daily Cleansing Shampoo into the shower in the morning is one way to wash away the blues and plan for the day ahead. This nourishing, sulphate-free, daily shampoo not only leaves you with super healthy, really shiny hair that wows during the party season, but thanks to the blend of essential oils that have been used, your senses will be invigorated too.

The Decleor Satin Softening Dry Oil has a subtle, delicate fragrance, that can help you switch off from the crazy Christmas world for a little while. Enriched with festive Frankincense, Camellia, Rose and Sweet Almond Oils, this easy to apply product simply sinks into your skin leaving your body and face feeling softer, and your mind feeling calm and clearer.

The Elemis Exotic Cream Moisturising Mask blends Mimosa and Honey Absolute, with extracts of Orange and Bergamot so not only does it moisturise and enrich your skin, it also gives you time to sit back and relax as the goodness gets to work. Excellent for moisture lacking, tired complexions, this mask will not only help you look good, but the therapeutic plant extracts used, will boost your spirit too.

Finally, we wanted to mention the Dermalogica Sleep Sound Cocoon. Relatively new to the site, this revitalising gel-cream, transforms skin and because of the blend of ingredients used, it can help you sleep better too. Smoothed over the face and neck before bed, the Wu-Zhu-Yu , Persian Silk Tree and Tamarind Seed Extracts add hydration, reduce signs of fatigue, and vitality will be restored too, so you will look great on that party dance floor.

For more details or to try samples, why not get in touch today and we would love to help.

Team Pure Beauty