Contributed by Sophia Smith
Pre-wedding jitters are unavoidable and mostly wonderful, but a bucket-full of butterflies in your belly cannot really be easy to handle when you have a guest list to manage, a venue to find, and the ideal gown to choose. The endless list of chores and responsibilities makes it impossible to truly relax. Unless you prepare a stress-detox plan, that is!
All brides and grooms-to-be need to do everything in their power to make their special day joyful, and the days that come before it. So, to prevent your wedding butterflies from turning into full-scale anxiety, you need to focus on strategies that will help you minimize stress, from regular workouts to improving your nutrition: here are a few time-tested additions to your own stress-beating routine!
Try mindfulness meditation
Every bride and groom need a way to slow down once in a while, and prevent getting worked up over another wedding planning problem that is bound to come up. Knowing that the next few months will be hectic, you can prepare your mind for the rush by teaching yourself to slow down and breathe with the help of meditation.
To give your meditative practice a boost in case you’re not new to the concept, you can get a comfortable meditation cushion to truly build the right setting for your relaxing sessions. Alternatively, you can start a meditation journal to slowly transform it into a habit and use it to stay mentally healthy and strong well after the wedding.
Amp up your exercise routine
All the chores on your to-do list for the wedding are likely going to keep you occupied and force you to spend your energy on prepping for that beautiful day. However, that is no excuse to avoid the gym or any other form of workout for that matter – this is the perfect way to keep stress at bay, to stay healthy both physically and mentally, and to improve your sleep quality (and we’ll get to the importance of that habit shortly).
So, when you’re feeling low, you can use a high stim preworkout supplement based on ingredients such as caffeine or TeaCrine, known to elevate your energy and keep your performance spot-on. Add to that, you’ll spread out your energy throughout the day more evenly, and your body will recover more easily for the next training session. That’s a single alteration in your nutrition to stay consistent with your workouts and ultimately stay resilient to stress.
So much more than beauty sleep
Everyone has a different self-care routine when you’re getting ready for your wedding day, but one key ingredient for every bride and groom should be sleep. Without it, you risk overflowing your body with cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, which means you’ll be more prone to cravings, poor eating choices, and less training, all of which will play havoc on how you feel and how you look.
Instead, craft your own eight-hour sleep schedule and rev it up with the help of a powerful night-time facial mask to truly pamper your pores. Not only will the down-time be essential for your skin health and that bridal glow, but you’ll also notice a great difference in your mood, as your stress levels will float away.
Take active breaks during the day
When you work for hours on end, especially sitting at a computer, it can get difficult to find the strength to move on to another activity that demands zeal and vigor. This is a perfect opportunity to elevate your heart rate, get your muscles to work through the stress, and partake in a mild or moderate activity such as a walk in the park instead of a sedentary lunch break.
Light stretching exercises are also great between your work sessions to help you reduce muscle tension and keep your body in top shape for the wedding. Just make sure you take regular breaks and choose the right movements to get your whole body moving, and your mind will follow!
Dance it out
Let’s face it, on some days, you’ll have so much energy that you won’t be able to contain yourself, but on others, you’ll wonder how you can get up in the morning at all. It’s on those low days that you find yourself struggling to stick with your workout routine or your daily schedule. To help elevate your mood and keep your energy up, you can actually combine two activities: listing to your favorite tunes at home, and dancing to your favorite music!
Music is an incredibly powerful healing tool, it helps even people with chronic pain issues and severe anxiety and depression, which means you can use it as an ally to ward of pre-wedding anxiety with ease. Plus, you can burn more calories in the process.
Stress might be a natural part of the wedding planning process, and the sheer excitement might be more than enough to keep your mind constantly buzzing, but you can definitely prep yourself better and unwind regularly. Add more physical activity into your day, balance your energy, get enough rest, and the days before the wedding will be brimming with joy, sans the stress!