When faced with something unknown, it can be challenging to stay strong and move forward. We’re all facing challenging times, and we’re here to give you strategies and techniques for managing stress.

Resiliency and stress

Stress can pay a toll on your mental and physical health. While some stress is normal, too much can negatively impact your well-being. The good news is, there are ways to combat stress and promote mental health – even when social interactions are not available.

Here are a few free meditation apps that work well to help with stress and anxiety:

  • Calm: A meditation app that promotes better sleep and helps reduce stress.
  • Headspace: An app promoting mindfulness for everyday life.
  • Insight Timer: An app promoting better sleep that also helps with stress and anxiety.

Deep breathing exercises and resiliency

Did you know that deep breathing exercises are one of the best ways to manage stress and help support your well-being? Mindful breathing is a technique that helps you manage both the physical and emotional symptoms of stress. Try it today.

Promoting healthy thinking and avoiding negative self-talk

Healthy thinking is a positive way of reassuring ourselves that’s proven to help in times of stress. It allows us to look at the present and future, and make smart decisions about what to do next. Part of this involves limiting negative self-talk.

We’re all guilty of negative self-talk from time to time. This could be a personal jab or just repeating statements in our head about our failures or inability to hit a goal. Everyone has some negative self-talk from time to time. The more we can work to avoid it (especially during stressful times), the more we can promote healthy thinking. Here are some tips to limiting negative self-talk during tough times:

  • Try to get a good understanding of your situation and what’s happening that’s causing the negative self-talk.
  • Allow yourself to feel sad, bad or down – but only for a short amount of time.
  • Say something positive to yourself that is absolutely true.

Here are some other helpful resources worth checking out relating to resiliency and managing stress:

HealthPartners plan members- sign in to your HealthPartners account and explore more

Get started by signing in to healthpartners.com, click the “Healthy Living tab” under “My Plan”. Then click “Go to your well-being program” and locate the Tackle Stress and/or Healthy Thinking activity.