5 Stress-Busting Tricks That Actually Work!
Stress is coming for you whether you like it or not.
Stress is coming for you whether you like it or not.
The question isn’t IF you’ll be stressed.
It’s whether you’re going to let it run your life or whether you’re going to learn how to handle it like a grown adult.
Everyone bangs on about exercise and meditation for stress relief.
Yeah, great. We’ve all heard it a thousand times.
But here’s what they don’t tell you...
Your five senses are stress-relief tools you’re carrying around every single day and completely ignoring.
Today I’m giving you one trick for each sense - sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste.
No hippy nonsense.
Just practical shit that works.
Let’s dive in...
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn
#1 - Sight: Get Outside
Nature isn’t just “nice to look at”
It’s stress relief on tap!
When you spend time outside, your body physically responds by dropping cortisol and adrenaline (your stress hormones).
Your heart rate slows down.
Your blood pressure drops.
Your muscles actually relax instead of staying clenched like you’re about to get punched.
Being in nature forces your brain to shut up for a minute.
It distracts you from the endless loop of negative thoughts and worries that are running on repeat in your head.
It also promotes mindfulness.
(You can’t doom-scroll Instagram while looking at trees).
You’re forced to be present.
So next time stress starts building up, get your shoes on and get outside.
Even 10 minutes works.
Walk in a park.
Sit by water.
Stand under some trees.
I don’t care.
Just get out of your artificial environment and into an actual natural one.
#2 - Sound: Build A “Pressure Relief” Playlist
Music isn’t background noise, it’s a chemical trigger!
Listening to songs you love activates dopamine and serotonin in your brain.
That’s the feel-good hormones that counteract stress and anxiety.
Music also pulls you into positive memories and emotions, which shuts down the negative thought spiral your brain loves to indulge in when you’re stressed.
Here’s what most people get wrong...
They wait until they’re already drowning in stress to think about what might help.
Too late, mate.
What to do…
Right now —NOT later —NOW, create a playlist of 10-15 tracks that make you feel good.
Songs that hit you in the chest and make you forget your problems for three minutes.
For me? “Needin’ You” by David Morales and “Mr Brightside” by The Killers.
Instant mood shift.
When you start feeling overwhelmed, hit play and take a 10-minute break somewhere you can’t be interrupted.
(Somewhere people won’t hear how terrible your singing voice is).
The difference?
You’re not scrambling for solutions when stress hits.
You’ve already built the tool.
#3 - Smell: Create Your Own “Stress-Busting Scent”
Last July, I walked into my office and suddenly felt relaxed and excited at the same time.
The reason?
Someone had plugged in a Glade air freshener that smelled like cinnamon and red wine leftover from Christmas.
My brain immediately went into “festive mode” because that scent was tied to positive memories.
This is your olfactory system at work.
Your sense of smell is directly wired to the part of your brain that controls emotions and memories.
It’s a shortcut to changing your mood.
Most people leave this completely to chance.
Fuck that. You can engineer this.
Here’s how to build your own stress-busting scent:
Pick your lowest-stress time of day. For me, it’s early morning.
Pick an activity you do that makes you feel good. Mine is stretching.
Get an aroma diffuser and an essential oil you find calming. Lavender works for me. Pick whatever doesn’t make you want to gag.
Run the diffuser every time you do that activity for the next few weeks. Make it part of your routine.
Your brain will start associating that scent with a sense of calm and relaxation. It’s Pavlov’s dog, but you’re programming yourself instead of waiting for life to do it randomly.
Next time you’re stressed, switch on the diffuser, instant mood shift.
You’re literally creating a stress antidote you can trigger on demand.
#4 - Touch: Get a Dog (Or Borrow One)
Want to reduce stress?
Pet a dog.
Research shows that petting a dog lowers cortisol (stress hormone) and increases serotonin (feel-good hormone).
It’s not “cute”
It’s biochemistry.
Here’s a crazy stat for you..
84% of PTSD patients paired with a service dog reported a significant reduction in their symptoms.
84 per cent.
That’s not some marginal improvement - that’s life-changing.
What to do…
If you’ve got a dog, spend more time actually petting it instead of just existing in the same house.
If you don’t have a dog, borrow one.
Offer to walk a mate’s dog.
Volunteer at a shelter.
Go to a dog-friendly pub.
The point? Physical touch with animals is a stress relief you can access almost immediately.
Next time the world feels heavy, reach for some pet therapy instead of reaching for your phone or another beer.
#5 - Taste: Sip Away Your Stress
L-Theanine is an amino acid found in tea leaves, especially green tea.
It increases GABA, dopamine, and serotonin in your brain, the neurotransmitters that regulate mood, anxiety, and stress.
Translation?
Drinking green tea literally changes your brain chemistry, making you calmer.
One study showed that after 4 weeks of L-Theanine supplementation, stress-related symptoms dropped significantly compared to placebo.
You don’t need supplements…
Just drink matcha green tea.
It’s not some mystical wellness bullshit;
It’s a functional stress-relief tool disguised as a drink.
What to do…
Next time you’re feeling worked up, make yourself a matcha green tea instead of reaching for your fifth coffee of the day.
(Which is making your stress WORSE, by the way.)
Let it do its job for 20-30 minutes.
Notice the difference.
Stress isn’t going anywhere.
You’re not going to eliminate it by “being positive” or pretending it doesn’t exist.
But you CAN learn to surf it rather than drown in it.
Your five senses are tools:
Sight: Get outside in nature for 10 minutes
Sound: Build your pressure-relief playlist NOW
Smell: Create your own stress-busting scent with a diffuser
Touch: Pet a dog (or any furry friend)
Taste: Drink matcha green tea instead of your 6th coffee
These aren’t “nice ideas.”
They’re practical, proven techniques that change your biochemistry.
Stop waiting for stress to magically disappear and start building your toolkit.
You’ve got five senses.
Use them.