How to lower your stress levels: Three things you can do to relax

Don’t have much time and feel stressed? These are some very easy things you can do which have been shown to help you feel more relaxed.

Visiting an art gallery might be as effective at reducing stress as immersing yourself in nature or doing a yoga class, according to research from King’s College London. In the study, the hormone cortisol dropped by an average of 22 per cent in those viewing paintings at the Courtauld Gallery in London, while those who looked at copies in a normal environment experienced only an 8 per cent reduction.

But what if you’re wound up and don’t have time to visit a gallery in your lunch hour? There are other ways you can relieve stress, fast:

Put the kettle on

Have a cuppa.

About four in ten people find that drinking tea or herbal infusions helps to lower stress and anxiety, according to a review at Northumbria University. Camomile, lavender, rose, jasmine and passionflower teas are considered soothing, but black and green tea also do the job.

Some of the effects could be down to the amino acid L-theanine that is naturally present in tea leaves and was shown in a 2021 study to promote feelings of calmness. Others have found it reduces spikes in stress hormones such as cortisol. At University College London, scientists who asked participants in a study to complete challenging tasks while monitoring their stress hormones, blood pressure and self-rated levels of anxiety reported that cortisol levels plummeted 47 per cent in a group given tea, compared with 27 per cent in a group who took a placebo.

Breathe deeply

Deep breathing through the abdomen can naturally lower our heartbeat.

Many of us carry visible signs of stress – rounded or hunched shoulders, for example – that affect how we breathe. “If we can change this, we begin to uncurl and relax,” says the osteopath James Davies, author of Body: Heal, Reset and Restore. “Deep breathing through the abdomen rather than the chest can naturally lower our heartbeat which helps to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.”

Think about filling your lungs with air so that your abdomen expands as you slowly breathe in and contracts inwards as you exhale. The NHS suggests simple techniques such as breathing in through your nose counting steadily to five, and out through your mouth counting to five again, for at least five minutes.

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Chew sugar-free gum

Try some sugar-free gum.

Sugar-free gum containing sweeteners could also reduce stress levels. A 2022 review of more than 400 adults conducted at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine found that “chewing gum is an inexpensive, well-tolerated, safe and effective way to relieve anxiety and stress”. Other studies have shown the rhythmic chewing of gum seems to lower cortisol production.

This article originally appeared on The Times.

Originally published as How to lower your stress levels: Three things you can do to relax