Did you know on average it takes 30 days to turn an action into a habit? That’s why this Stress Awareness Month the Stress Management Society are encouraging us all to take part in their 30-Day Challenge.

The 30-Day Challenge encourages us to pick one action each for our Physical, Mental and Emotional Wellbeing and complete an action each day. By completing the challenge, we will maximise our chances of achieving a positive behavioural change.

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How does it work?

Lockdown restrictions are easing, and we finally get to go out and about and begin to meet family and friends again. However, with many of us studying from our student rooms it’s still vitally important to ensure we’re all looking after ourselves.
So, for each day in April, we each need to focus on three aspects of our wellbeing – Physical, Mental and Emotional. On each day we should make a commitment to ourselves of what we’ll do for each one.
3 commitments per day for 30 days. That’s it. And it’s up to you if you have the same commitment for each day or a different one per day or perhaps one per week. For example, you could say to yourself that you will:

• Physical – Commit to a 30-minute HIIT workout every other morning in April. On the other days, I will go for a 40-minute walk.
• Mental – Commit to spending 45-minutes each evening learning Spanish on Duolingo.
• Emotional – Commit to keeping a journal of my thoughts/mood for the entirety of the 30-Day Challenge.

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30-Day Challenge Commitment Ideas…

Physical:

• Studying online? Commit yourself to take regular screen breaks and get up from your desk and move about.
• How’s your sleep? Commit yourself to a set bedtime for the 30 days.
• Drink enough? Leave the energy drinks in the shop and commit yourself to drinking 2 litres of water per day.
• What’s your screen time? Commit yourself to switching off from your socials for 3 hours each evening.
• The fridge your best mate in lockdown? Balance out the snacking with some physical activity; every time you take a mouthful commit yourself to reciprocate it with a minute of activity.

Mental Commitments for the 30-Day Challenge:

• Got a lot to do? Commit yourself to writing a to-do list on paper, prioritise it, and tick off the list as you go through the day.
• Ground yourself – Commit to spending 10 minutes each day completing a grounding exercise. Mentally note five things you can see, 5 things you can hear, 5 things you can touch, 5 things you can smell and something you can taste.
• Need some me-time? Commit yourself to take some time out to do something you enjoy; watch a film, spend an hour on the PS5, go for a walk; whatever you feel like doing to just switch off from the stress of daily life.
• Believe in yourself – Write down your strengths; what are some of the things people have said about you that have made you feel good?
• Like to colour in? – Commit yourself to a session of Mindfulness colouring each day; switch off and focus on the here and now by spending an hour a day completing an adult colouring book. The Stress Management Society have a free download here for you to print out.

 Emotional:

• Reach out – Commit to getting in touch with an old friend – pick up the phone and say hello. Likewise, if you’re not feeling okay reach out to your friends and family, keep in contact and keep talking.
• Positivity – Commit yourself to writing down 3 positive things that have happened to you each day.
• Switch off to negativity – Commit yourself to limiting the news you watch or read and focus on trusted sources for your news.
• Do you reflect? – Commit yourself to spending just 5-minutes a day reflecting on what has happened during the day, it should help you switch off and get a good night’s sleep.

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Further reading.

To find out more about the Stress Buster 30-Day Challenge head to the Stress Management Society website and take a look at the available resources. Will you take on the 30-Day Challenge? If so, head to our socials (Facebook & Instagram) and let us know how you’ll be taking on the challenge and turning these actions into a life-long habit.

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April is Stress Awareness Month – held every April since 1992 the month tries to increase public awareness about the causes and cures of stress.