No matter what we say about stress management techniques, there are just some days, some weeks, some months that get under your skin and stress you out. The Christmas period is one of those danger zones where everything can easily get on top of you and cause some serious stress.
It doesn’t have to be all negative, in fact, it’s normal to react to stressful situations with stressful behaviors, it’s just all about how you calm down. And while I’d love to prescribe everyone a double measure of vodka – I don’t think that’s useful, healthy or very responsible of me. So here are some healthy stress-busting drinks.
1. Cardamom and rose iced latte
Cardamom has been tested in groups of individuals with stress, and it’s been found that it promotes blood circulation in the body – both Cardamom and rose are regularly used in aromatherapy to alleviate stress and anxiety. Of course, this iced latte contains caffeine so it might not be the best ‘calm down at night’ drink. But if you still want a bit of a kick in the morning that will help to banish anxiety, this might be it. The whole beautiful recipe is available on Local Milk.
2. Honey Lavender Lemonade
Lemonade is a bit of a summer drink, I confess, but as a fizzy drink addict, I need something a little healthier that might just relax me and calm my nerves. Honey and lavender is the perfect combination. We all know that lavender can put us to sleep, relax us and help us to unwind.
Some studies have shown that lavender reduces stress in women as well as traditional pills – not sure how much science is behind that, but it’s a nice thought while you’re sipping this pretty still lemonade. The recipe can be found at Sue Bee Honey.
3. Vegan Hot Chocolate
Researchers have found that eating the equivalent of one average sized dark chocolate bar each day for two weeks reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol in stressed out people. Which is good news for chocoholics! Ready to try and get your daily intake? This healthy vegan hot chocolate from Lauren Caris Cooks will seriously relax you after a heavy day.
4. Homemade lemon balm tea
Lemon balm reportedly contains chemicals that act as a mild sedative. According to Web MD it has calming effects and many people take it for sleep problems, it can also be used for Alzheimer’s disease and ADHD as an aromatherapy to relieve symptoms and encourage relaxation.
You can make this stress-busting tea at home, Bev Cooks almost has an entire lemon balm farm in her garden, but you can source lemon balm from plenty of stores to make this gorgeous tea.
5. Blueberry Coconut Smoothie
Blueberries contain antioxidants and vitamin C, both of which help to lower stress, while the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut are said to help beat stress. So putting them together in one superpowered morning smoothie seems like a good idea, right. Bromabakery made this delicious recipe seem so simple!
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