11 Self Care Ideas Guaranteed To Lower Your Stress Levels

Whether you are looking for stress relief from work, school, family, or friends, self care is the best way to get real results!

While you may not have a lot of free time in your day to day life, this doesn’t mean that you don’t have time to prioritize your self care. In fact, there are a ton of self care practices that only take 5 minutes, or less!

Here are 11 quick and easy self care ideas:

1. Try at least one breathing exercise per day

There are a billion different breathing exercises to explore, some requiring up to 30 minutes of your time and others taking less than 5 minutes. It’s fair to say that this self care idea is nothing new and you might already be considering incorporating it into your daily life. But, you may be wondering which one, if any, will work the best for you. The truth is, you may never know until you start trying them out.

One breathing exercise that is quick and will definitely lower your stress levels is Belly Breathing.

All you need to do is:

Place one hand over your belly button and the other on your chest.
As you start to breath keep the hand on your chest as still as possible.
Inhale slowly through your nose and notice the hand on your stomach rise.
Exhale slowly through your mouth and notice the hand on your stomach sink.
Repeat these steps as many times as you want.

Recommended Reading: 8 Quick and Easy Breathing Exercises to Try

2. Take a walk when you start feeling stressed

One of the best things you can do for yourself when you start feeling stressed is to move around. And you may be thinking, taking a walk around the office, neighborhood, or even the living room, sounds too easy to relieve any stress. And that’s the best part, it is super easy and quick! The next time you notice yourself feeling stressed, try taking a five minute walk wherever you are.

3. Drink A Cup of Your Favorite Tea

You’ve probably already tried tea and might even have a favorite tea that you keep on hand. While tea is a tasty drink with many health benefits, it is also a great stress reliever. Try drinking a hot cup of your favorite tea in the morning, before bed, or whenever you feel the most stressed throughout your day. You can even stick a couple of tea bags in your purse, backpack, or car so that it’s always a self care option.

If you’re not a tea drinker or don’t know your favorites yet, trying chamomile, green tea, or a stress relief focused tea blend is a great way to get started.

Recommended Reading: 10 Best Teas for Stress in 2022

4. Listen To Your Favorite Song

You probably already have a favorite song or music genre that you enjoy listening to. The next time you are feeling stressed, try taking a quick break from what you are doing to listen to your favorite music.

To take this self care idea even further, try singing along with the song or music you are listening to. Belt it out!

5. Get your daily dose of Vitamin D

Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins related to mental health and stress relief. You may be wondering how much vitamin D you need and what it does. You can find all of the answers you need in my post Vitamin Deficiency & Mental Health.

Whether you want to go outside, take a supplement, or use a light therapy lamp, your daily dose of vitamin D is key to lowering your stress levels.

6. Spend 5 minutes a day “unplugging”

Whether you work on a laptop all day, scroll through social media on the reg, or rarely sit in front of a screen, taking time away from technology is important for self care.

Try fitting 5 minutes into your every day schedule to shut off or step away from all technology. You can even “feed two birds with one scone” so to speak, by using this time to practice another quick self care idea!

7. Eat at least one raw food per day

You may have heard “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, but have you heard “an apple a day keeps the stress away”?

You probably haven’t heard this quote before because, well, I just made it up. But it is so true! Eating raw foods, especially fruits, has a ton of amazing health benefits for your mind and body.

Try buying your favorite raw fruits or veggies the next time you are at the grocery store and implement them into your every day diet.

8. Write a positive affirmation about yourself on the bathroom mirror

Positive affirmations are essentially reminders of the things you like about yourself and others. Writing a positive affirmation about yourself somewhere that you will see it multiple times a day can be a great and easy sway to practice self care.

Whether it is on your bathroom mirror, in your weekly planner, or stuck to your fridge, your positive affirmations will change the game.

9. Drink a cup of water

Drinking water is a tried and true way of feeling better both physically and mentally. And while you’re probably tired of being reminded to drink water, it really is important.

So, the next time you feel stressed, try drinking a glass of water. You might even add a lemon or cucumber slice to increase the benefits.

10. Try a 5 minute Self-Guided meditation

Much like breathing exercises, meditation is nothing new and has a ton of options out there to choose from. So you may be wondering which meditation style, if any, will work the best for you. And again, like breathing exercises, it takes trying a few first to find out.

One meditation style that is guaranteed to lower your stress levels is body scanning.

All you need to do is:

Lie down somewhere comfortable, maybe a yoga mat, couch, or carpeted floor.
Start focusing completely on one body part at time, starting with your toes and slowly moving to your forehead.
As you focus on each body part, note any areas of discomfort.
For any area of discomfort, take a deep breathe in and acknowledge it, then take a deep breath out and blow away the pain.

Recommended Reading: A Beginners Guide to Meditation

11. write in your Journal

Lastly, take time out of your day to journal. Whether you are already in the routine of journaling every day, or have never journaled in your life, this quick and easy stress relief idea is for you!

For all of your journaling needs, including handpicked daily journal prompts, preparation ideas, and more, check out my Journal page!