Ways to De-Stress Yourself in 10 Minutes or Less

1 Deep breathing exercises. It doesn’t take a long time to relax when you’re doing deep breathing. There are many different types of deep breathing exercises that can get you into a relaxed state really quickly. One great example is alternative nostril breathing in which you plug one nostril, breathe in slowly as deeply as you can and then cover the other nostril and breathe out. Repeat this as long as it is comfortable to do so. It should take less than ten minutes and you should find that any stress you were feeling at the start of the exercise has diminished.

2 Enjoy a brisk ten minute walk. Getting outside and getting moving are both great ways to clear your head. A brisk walk gets the blood flowing and your lungs breathing better. This helps to make your mind focus better and reduces the immediate sense of stress that you may be feeling.

Of course, it’s better if you can take twenty or thirty minutes at a time to walk out your stress but even ten minutes can do wonders compared to not taking any time at all.





3 Choose one song per day to listen to. With the amount of music we have accessible to us online and on our personal music players, it isn’t difficult to take only five minutes to find a piece of music that will relax us that day. Take the other five to simply listen to it. See how relaxed you feel when you’ve done this every day for a week.

4 Take ten minutes at night to yourself. End the day the way that you began it so that you go to bed without stress on your mind. Get away from the spouse and the kids and the phone and the computer and take just ten minutes to yourself without any interruptions. Don’t over-think the day at this point; just put it behind you and be in the moment. Wash your face with warm water or enjoy a cup of tea or do whatever it is that allows you to relax alone for just a short period of time.

5 Write out the positive. Whenever you feel yourself getting too stressed out, grab a journal and a pen and head somewhere quiet. Brainstorm a list of the positive things that are going on in your life or a list of things that you are grateful for. Re-focusing on the positive for ten minutes by yourself can bring you back to a happier place and reduce the feeling of stress in your life.