We’ve been lucky enough to be Bird & Blend‘s chariTEA of the quarter for the last 3 months!

It means that those lovely Tea Birds at B&B have been donating all the proceeds from their delicious Vicky’s Sponge Cake tea to us. And the grand total is in!

Bird & Blend raised £4441 for HATW! 😍😭🥳

This is an amazing and game changing amount for us, so a huge huge thank you to Bird & Blend (and everyone who bought their tea to help support us!)

So to celebrate, we wanted to share a few tips that we’d put together for an event we did in B&B’s Cardiff store! Read on for some ideas on managing stress, getting a good night’s sleep, and managing anxiety.

Connect with nature

If you’re feeling stressed and looking for a way to manage that a lil better, get outside! There’s loads of research out there about the benefits of connecting with nature. There’s something amazingly calming about just pausing and engaging all your senses outside – connect with the sights, smells and sounds all around you! And if you’re looking for ways to connect with nature (without necessarily needing to frolic around in a field) check out THIS VIDEO!

Identify your stressors

Sometimes life just feels overwhelming and stressful and messy. It’s easy for it all to feel like just… life overall is stress. But it’s really helpful to try and detangle it if you can. Try and identify if there’s been a particular issue, event or person, for example, that’s particularly causing you stress and getting you down. Once you know what you’re up against, you can get a bit of an action plan together to tackle it.

Remember it’s ok to say no!

You’re only human! Don’t feel like you have to say yes to everything. It’s ok to say no. It’s ok to take time for yourself. And it’s most certainly ok to set boundaries and ask people to respect those. Having less stuff on your plate, and more time to process & deal with it, is gonna make for less stress in the long run.

We’ve shared a bunch of tips before now for getting a good night’s sleep so we won’t go into loads of detail here, but here’s a couple of tip top top tips on getting a good night’s sleep:

Limit your screen time

Oh aye. It’s no surprise that starting at your screen & scrolling through TikTok right before trying to go sleep ain’t gonna help. Put your devices down & catch your brain switching off a bit more easily! Maybe try reading or writing – you could even use one of these Positive Planners!

Set a bedtime and stick to it!

Your body & brain are really good at figuring out a routine. And once you get used to going to bed at the same time, your body will start to release some hormones that naturally make you feel sleepy. So by hitting the hay at the same time every day, you’ll find it easier to drift off gently!

Lay off the caffeine

Another one that’s maybe obvious. But storming through a can of energy drink right before going to bed isn’t gonna do you any favours. This was a particularly useful tip in the context of Bird & Blend, cuz they make some delicious decaffeinated teas packed full of ingredients that can help you wind down. Plus there’s something really nice and comforting about a warm drink before bed anyway. Top stuff.

Grounding 5-4-3-2-1

We kinda touched on this up there with ‘connecting with nature’ but this is one of our favourite coping techniques for managing anxiety. The idea is to identify:

5 things you can see

4 things you can touch

3 things you can hear

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

By engaging all your senses in this way, it helps ground you and keep you in the present moment. Super handy for dealing with panic attacks wherever you are!

Eat a healthy diet

There’s a load of research out there to support the idea that the stuff you put into your body has an effect on how your brain is. A healthy, balanced diet can mean your blood sugar levels are more stable throughout the day, which will help with feeling a little better equipped for fighting off stress & anxiety! This can also include being mindful of your caffeine intake (which will help with getting a good nights sleep!)

Find an app that works for you

There’s a bunch of apps out there that are handy for managing all sorts of areas of mental health. We’ve got a few that we love using personally over on our R E S O U R C E S page. It’s important to find one that you get on with and that works for you. So if there’s another app you find that’s helpful for you, get in touch with us so we can add it to the resources page for people in the future!

Did you find this helpful? If you did, we’d love it if you’d help us make more stuff like this by grabbing some of our merch with a message! It’ll make a huge difference to us, and you’ll end up with a fresh new look too! Win win!

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