The first Wednesday in November is Stress Awareness Day. Wednesday was chosen because it is apparently the most stressful day of the week.

The day was started by the charity ISMA, the International Stress Management Association, a professional body for workplace and personal stress management, wellbeing and performance, which aims to promote best practice, internationally. This year it’s a single day as part of a full week of stress awareness activities.

Stress is a killer, but whilst we all think we know what it is, there’s no true or accurate definition of it.  Situations or events that put pressure on us can create stress, or it can be our reaction to these things that we describe as stress. Either way it’s not much fun.

Stress can be dealt with by managing external pressures so that stressful situations don't occur, or occur less, or by developing emotional resilience, so when tough situations poke their heads up, they don't feel quite as stressful.

It’s unsurprising that stress can worsen mental health conditions, and vice versa.

We don’t have any magic wands or cures here at easyStorage, but we do take stress seriously. Many of our customers are using storage to cope with stressful times in their lives, such as divorce, disasters such as floods or fires, deaths in families, moving loved ones into sheltered or care accommodation, or even happier, but stressful occasions such as marriage.

We have been on hand to offer practical help for many people facing stressful events in their lives.

But if stress is simply generic, caused by work pressure or a busy lifestyle, something that faces all of us at times, even sometimes  our own franchisees and employees, there are some simple steps that are often repeated, but worth revisiting as a reminder on this important day:

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1.     Exercise. The psychological benefits of exercise are well recorded and should never be understated. Even if it’s just a walk, it can ‘clear the head’.

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2.     Get a pet. Or if time and lifestyle are an issue, look after a houseplant. The benefits of having something or someone to look after are repeatedly corroborated in studies.

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3.     Eat well. Poor nutrition can create low mood and depression.

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4.     Sleep well. This is easy to say, but if you’re struggling to sleep, trying to sleep makes it worse. Learning instead to relax muscles, adopt good breathing techniques, finding ways to clear the mind and learning positivity techniques can often help.

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5.     Declutter. An overstuffed space can create an overstuffed mind, and we recently invited a specialist to offer some tips which you can read here.

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Of course, if it’s work that’s getting you down, and you’re thinking about running your own company, maybe you’d like to consider franchising – all of our ‘branches’ are actually businesses with some ‘skin in the game’ and good franchisors will soon be able to tell you whether (a) franchising, and (b) their type of franchise is for you.

And if you’re looking to change jobs, our vacancies are always on our website in case there’s something here that you’d be a great match for.

Whatever helps reduce those stress levels, we hope something we’ve written here will help.