Teen Forums - Teen Chat, Teen Help, Teen Advice & Support

I think this thread might be useful for a lot of people. I need to find out what ways i could reduce stress. School, life, hard work, its all stressful. Ive tried meditation and listening to music but to me it reduces stress only at that moment while im meditating or listening to music. So those are the healthy ways. Then later i started smoking (not a lot 1-3 cigs a week) and it worked, i still was awsome at school,grades didnt drop, and had no stress at all apparantly its not healthy, my mom caught me from my blood test. So i stopped smoking, i wasnt addicted, just wanted to relax. And later i got stressful again, parents, school ect. and i couldnt fall asleep, so my mom bought me this healthy medicine. It was a drinking medicine, made from certain plants (it tastes like yuck and i hate it ) but it worked. I dont have the medicine anymore though and i dont want to start using it cuz it makes me really sleepy. So i need ways to relax, can anyone give me any ideas??

-by me

get some fresh air (walk your dog, go shopping, etc) and play sports.
works for me.

Well, the cigs aren't 'apparently' unhealthy, they ARE unhealthy..they're downright dangerous to your health! So, it's good you're not using them.

Stress is a part of life, so it's good to come up with ways to relieve it. Don't dismiss mediation or those other activities you've tried, you can't eliminate stress, but you can manage it, and if something works, even if it's temporary, it's still works...and it's still useful. You just need to find more of those activities, and engage in them more, rotate them.

My ideas are all here.

the third method is good my sister has a pet and when im sad or even stressed her dog comes and makes me play or wants me to pet him. i asked my parents for one but they wont let me due to the fact that i travel a lot. :( so when i live along theres no living soul in my flat

-by me

Exercise is a great way to make you feel less wound up, and it has the advantage of being healthy and engaging. Is there a particular sport or fitness that you like or are intrigued by? A lot of people seem to recommend yoga because it's synonymous with meditation, and, I assume, relaxing. I mean I love just having that first stretch in the morning, so I imagine yoga could work brilliantly.
I find that physical excursion helps me release tension, and if I do enough or if I do something enthusiastically enough (oi oi) it tires me out to the point where I have no trouble falling asleep. Another advantage of exercise is that you can integrate it into a routine so, theoretically, it could help manage your stress long-term. Having something to go to when you're stressed and take your mind off of things sounds great on paper huh?

What about typical 'girly' stress relievers? Spa days, weekend breaks, long baths, retail therapy? They might be inconvenient for everyday stress relief (aside the long baths I suppose), but you could always plan ahead - then you'd have something to look forward to and the knowledge that you'd be able to take some genuine, uninterrupted time to yourself in the near future.

When I'm stressed out, I like to whack this [rainymood.com] and this [amazon.co.uk] on. I find that deep blue lights and the sound of the rain help me de-stress, and I also love sounds akin to a hoover. Is there a particular colour or sound that you find comforting?

STOP. ARE YOU READING THE ABOVE POST?
If not, do it. I'm beginning to get the impression that 50% of TF is populated by literate parrots/sentient mirrors.