There are two sides to effective stress management. The first is reactive- learning to spot the warning signs of unhealthy stress levels, learning your triggers and finding effective ways to calm down and unwind.

The second part of stress management is proactive: it involves building practices into your life that make you more resilient to stress and better able to cope with it when it rears its head. Both types are very important, but it’s learning to stress-proof your life that will keep you feeling healthy and well in the long-term. Here are some strategies you can use.

Cultivate a strong diet

What you eat has a huge impact on basically every part of your existence, from your physical health to your energy levels, how you feel and your mental capacity. Eating the wrong foods can leave you feeling sluggish and lacking in energy reserves when challenges come your way, so pay attention to your diet and try to make some healthy changes where they’re needed.

Diet and stress levels is a huge topic, so it’s well worth doing your research and finding out more about the best food and drink to bolster your stress resilience. The general principle is to eat foods that keep your energy levels consistent across the day and avoid anything that will cause your blood sugar or cortisol to spike and dip.

This means eating more of:

● Complex carbs- wholegrain bread, cereal, brown rice and pasta
● Protein- eggs, red meat and nuts
● Fish- especially fatty fish like salmon and tuna

And less of:

● Processed carbs and fats- typically found in ready meals
● Sugary snacks
● Caffeine
● Alcohol

Get into an evening routine

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of a stress-proof lifestyle. A good night’s rest resets your body’s levels of stress hormones, helps your brain process the day’s experiences and keeps you energized for tomorrow.

Feeling tightly wound can make it very hard to switch off at night, so it’s a good idea to develop a calming bedtime routine so that your brain knows when it’s time to rest and is more easily able to fall asleep.

Start your routine 60 to 90 minutes before you want to hit the pillows. Try to fill this time with relaxing activities such as reading, yoga, light housework or a bath. Also try to keep screen time to a minimum as the light from screens can keep your brain feeling alert.

Over time, sticking to the same routine will mean that you naturally get sleepy at the same time, and are more likely to benefit from a full night’s rest.

Connect to a community

Difficult times are so much harder to handle alone. But if you have a community of people around you, you’ll feel much more confident taking on whatever life throws at you.

Close friends and loved ones can offer you invaluable emotional support during tough times, while also suggesting practical solutions to your problems based on their own experiences. It’s also nice to have some friends who you can just switch off and have fun with, no matter what else is going on in life.

Start investing in good relationships with the people around you and they’ll be there for you when you really need them.

Learn to be mindful

Mindfulness is definitely one of the best skills to learn for dealing with stress and improving your mental health overall. It’s tough to master a new skill when you’re exhausted and your plate is already full with other demands, so start practicing now and you’ll have this invaluable ability to turn to when you need it.

Mindfulness is the art of letting your thoughts and experiences come and go without getting bogged down in them or letting them dictate how you act. You can practice mindfulness using guided audio meditations (available online or through a range of apps) or by simply focusing your attention on everything around you and taking in all the sights, sounds and smells you can perceive.

Regularly practicing this skill has an almost unbelievable range of benefits, stemming from an improved ability to switch off from negative thoughts before they escalate. Regularly using mindfulness can:

● Reduce stress
● Increase resilience
● Fight symptoms of depression and anxiety
● Reduce susceptibility to physical illness
● Improve memory and concentration
● Help regulate emotion
● Promote better sleep

Practice speaking up

Finally, remember that communication is a skill like any other. Letting people know that you need a bit of help and asking for help don’t come naturally to everyone, so you’ll want to make sure you have some experience to draw on before it really counts.

Start by asking for help in little day-to-day matters at work or at home. The more you get used to it, the easier it becomes— and the more help and support you’ll get from those you ask, which is nice too.

It’s also good to practice communicating your limits and letting people know when you’re having a hard time. The simple act of saying no can bring up a lot of feelings of guilt and insecurity, which can make you want to continue to suffer in silence or try to shoulder unreasonable burdens.

Learning to be assertive and state your needs firmly and calmly is a skill that will help prevent other people inadvertently adding to your stress levels and will help you feel more confident when engaging with others. You can learn assertiveness skills through practice, or by talking to a qualified therapist about some tried-and-tested communication styles.