Stress Management Techniques Are Perfect Stress Busters

By Zeynel Bakema


In our hectic day to day life, often we get exposed to stress. There are different reasons for our stress and there are various ways to alleviate it. Stress can create an imbalance in our personal and professional lives. Most of us often fail to understand the source or cause of such stress. It is essential to cope up with stress at various stages of our life to lead a healthy life with our dear ones.

Seeing things through from start to finish is important, as it can be tempting to start one piece of work, then another and have several projects on the go at once. This can apply equally at home or at work; starting to clean a room, then doing a little ironing, then the garden can result in nothing being finished and leave a dissatisfied feeling at the end of the day. If a work task has to be left part way through make sure that you make clear notes so that it can be resumed efficiently once you return.

Once you get to know the chief reason behind your stress, you can easily manage it. All you need is spend some time with yourself and family away from tedious activities of your daily life. This helps in relieving your tensions and keeps you totally relaxed. A weekend getaway or a holiday to a hill station can also be a wise option to get rid of your stress, breaking free of the shackles of social events and work pressures. An exercise regime followed regularly acts as a positive catalyst in reducing stress levels. You can also join yoga classes or seek professional help from experts who can help you out with best stress management techniques. Various programs and counseling by professionals help to eliminate all issues related to stress in an easy and reliable way.

Look at the big picture: Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run.Have role models: Emulate people who have had success that you admire. Learn about the struggles they have had during their career paths and the techniques they used to overcome difficult times.Be more assertive: Do not take a back seat in your life. Deal with problems head on, doing your best to anticipate and prevent them. When you have got an exam to study for and your chatty room mates just got home, say up front that you only have five minutes to talk.

Focus on priorities: Write down your priorities and celebrate when you reach each one. It is one of the best tools to achieve the desired goals.Do something you enjoy everyday: Make time for leisure activities that bring you joy, whether it be playing the piano or working on your bike.Keep your sense of humor: This includes the ability to laugh at yourself.Exercise regularly: Make time for at least 30 minutes of exercise.Eat a healthy diet: Well nourished bodies are better prepared to cope with stress, so be mindful of what you eat.Reduce sugar: Sugar provides a crash in mood and energy. By reducing the amount of coffee, soft drinks chocolate and sugar snacks in your diet, you will feel more relaxed and better.Avoid drugs: Avoid alcohol and cigarettes. Self medication with alcohol and drugs may provide an easy escape from stress, but the relief is only temporary. Do not mask the issue at hand; deal with problems with a clear mind.

Remind yourself to value the other areas of your life, your family, friends, hobbies and interests as well as work. By introducing stress management techniques it becomes easier to find a balance between all those different areas. You establish a better quality of life and establish a healthy work/life balance that brings satisfaction, pleasure as well as challenge and only occasional stress.

Try it right now:Relax your body and free yourself of any signs of tension. Allow your tongue and jaws to relax. Drop your shoulders away from your ears. Let your abdomen relax and become softer, freeing yourself of all tension from that part of your body. Become aware of your breathing just as it is. Inhale and take in a deep, full breath.Allow the breath to flow all the way down into the lower belly. You can imagine that there is a small balloon in the belly. As you breathe in, allow that balloon to smoothly inflate. As you breathe out, feel how the balloon easily collapses. Take in several of these measured, gentle, deep breaths.

Then begin to become aware of a slight pause that spontaneously takes place at the end of each out-breath. Give yourself permission to remain here without rushing to take the next inhalation. Allow the next inhalation to surface when your body is ready to welcome it.Take pleasure in the comforting tranquility of the pause. Float peacefully in the silence of this pause between exhalation and inhalation, letting the breath happen of its own accord. Let the breath breathe you!

The act of tuning into something like this has profound physiological effects and can help you reduce your reaction to emotional tension faster and with greater ease. It is certainly not comfortable to be worked up. Allowing an activity to help you cope is a great way to learn how to stay calmer.

Another wonderful way to find deep belly breath is to lie face down on your belly. In this position, the only way you can breathe is diaphragmatically.Lastly, it can sometimes be useful to let yourself sigh out loud with the out-breath. Sounding is a wonderful way to let go of stress and tension.Deep, diaphragmatic, soft-belly breathing has a profound effect on the body. Just three minutes of soft-belly breathing can shift your body out of Stress Response mode into the Relaxation Response! And if you can remain in that Relaxation Response for just 20 minutes each day, you will go a long way toward offsetting the destructive effects of chronic stress on your body.




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