Self-Care Activities for Women to Reduce Stress

Women lead very stressful lives.

Multi-tasking, running between work and family duties, worrying about job security and relationship dynamics – all of these create a lot of extra stress.

Self-care means performing little acts of caring for yourself before your stress mounts up and becomes overwhelming. Once an elevated stress response becomes established, you may require outside care by a professional counselor. Stress may also produce physical and psychological symptoms that need a doctor’s care and/or medication.

Therefore, try a few of the self-care activities listed below to ‘catch’ your stress while it is still manageable. In addition, these activities bring fun and joy to your life, so you might make them part of your routine anyway, even when you are less stress.

Here are a few self-care activities to help you reduce stress

• Music and dance

Are you by yourself right now? Why not put on your favorite music and dance, all by yourself, around the living room.

The physical exercise will release endorphins to make you feel better. Furthermore, dancing to music helps you to express your feelings.

• Snuggle and nap

And here is the opposite strategy: snuggle under your blanket and take a brief ‘power nap’ of 20 minutes or so. Research has shown that brief day time naps are perfect self-care activities that relax and refresh your mind and help you stay alert for the rest of the day.

• Take a forest bath

Yes, you read that right. In Japan, a brief walk in the forest is called a forest bath. It is calming and refreshing for the senses because you see a lot of relaxing shades of green, you hear soothing sounds and you smell the scent of trees and plants. Thus, the walk in the forest is a total immersion – like a bath! And like a bath, it leaves your spirit renewed.

• Journal and photo journal

Writing down your thoughts, whatever they are, reduces stress because you engage with negative emotions and transform them through writing, instead of suppressing them.

Or take pictures of the world around you, wherever you are.

Experiment with looking at details that you would otherwise not even notice, or try to take in the whole panorama.

• Pet care

One of the best self-care activities is connecting with an animal. Cuddle your cat, walk your dog, feed your goldfish! Your pet will respond to your care by giving you a lot of attention and affection. Very good for reducing stress.

(If you don’t have a pet, try going for a walk and observing the wildlife. Even watching birds in flight over a cityscape can give you a sense of freedom and relief.)

• Baking for fun

Baking has become a nationwide hobby.

Making cakes and cookies in particular, are very popular self-care activities and it is easy to see why.

You can spend just a few minutes throwing together a microwave cupcake and almost instantly enjoy the smell of baking in your home. Or you can de-stress by creating an elaborate cake with several tiers and fillings. This activity relieves stress because you focus on small, manageable, enjoyable tasks with a positive outcome in the near future.

And don’t forget the potential for playful artistic expression when you decorate your cake!

• Be your own best friend

Perhaps the most profound and most effective self-care activity of all.

Imagine for a moment that you are your best friend (real or imaginary) and you observe the stress that you are going through right now.

What would your best friend say to you?

What would she suggest?

Would she take you away on a self-care activity? Would he provide other ways of stress-relief? Would she maybe just listen to you and validate your feelings?

All these things that your best friend can do, you can also do yourself. The idea here is to become your own best friend.

Try one or several of these self-care activities right now, and plan a few more over the next few days. And why not go away for a day next week to immerse yourself even deeper in self-care and friendship?

Women need to be strong and we also need to take care of ourselves.