Top 5 Techniques to Prevent and Relieve Stress
Scientists have proven that many people are in a state of permanent stress. This negatively affects mental and physical health. We will give you some tips on how to deal with stress.
Five Techniques that Help You Say Goodbye to Stress
In today’s world, stress has become an everyday companion. The wake-up call, morning bustle, traffic jams on the way to work, pressure from the bosses, and other stressful situations, repeated from time to time. It may seem that stress is an inevitable phenomenon that it is simply pointless to fight with it in urban conditions. But this is not so – you can cope with this stress, which harms the body. This article will tell you about the basic ways to overcome stress.
A chronic stress state can be harmful. Therefore, it is important to solve the problem in the early stages, when it has not yet destroyed your physical, mental, and emotional state. Therefore, you can try a variety of techniques and find the best option for you.
#1 Meditation
This is an important skill that allows you to disconnect from the influence of the external environment and provide rest to the weary consciousness. The ability to “turn off thoughts” is especially important for residents of large cities who rarely go out into the countryside or even just into green areas that protect from the noise of the metropolis. Experts note that even a few minutes of meditation per day gives a chance to compensate for several hours of sleep and cope with a bad mood.
We can also recommend the technique of the German psychiatrist Johann Schulz, which promotes relaxation and meditation. He identified six key exercises:
- Muscular relaxation, which is made possible through the repetition of phrases such as “My right hand becomes heavy.” In the same way, you can “appeal” to other limbs of your body.
- Passive concentration, in which a person focuses on a feeling of warmth, is expressed by the phrase “My hand becomes warm.”
- Initiation of cardiac activity: “My heart is calm.”
- Passive concentration on breathing by repeating the phrase “I breathe calmly.”
- Focusing on the heat in the abdomen: “My solar plexus carries heat.”
- Passive concentration on the coolness emanating from the skull: “My forehead is cool.”
#2 Yoga
Yoga combines the advantages of physical culture and meditation: performing a variety of asanas (postures in which you need to stay from 30 seconds to several minutes), a person focuses on sensations in his own body, distracting from annoying thoughts. Besides, tension and muscle stretching during exercise accelerate metabolism, which at the physiological level helps to overcome stress. The advantage of yoga over fitness and other types of sports training is the ability to attend classes at any age, with any physical preparation, despite the presence of chronic diseases and a feeling of tiredness.
Another interesting way to help calm down and which is part of yoga is progressive muscle relaxation. With this relaxation technique, you focus on slow tension and then relax each muscle group. The technique helps to see the difference between stress and relaxation, which favorably affects the mood, including because it returns us at the current time. The essence of the exercise is to consistently strain and relax the following parts of your body for 10-20 seconds: shoulders, stomach, legs, arms, forehead, eyes, neck. With this technique, muscle clamps go away and you completely relax the whole body.
#3 Breathing Exercises
Respiratory gymnastics is especially indicated for people who, due to their personality traits, react extremely emotionally to stress, thereby exacerbating the situation. Five to ten calm breaths can protect you from rash acts, and the habit of breathing regularly through one of the special programs that require only a few minutes a day helps fight irritability or anxiety attacks.
There are several useful techniques for breathing exercises. Scientists have proven that diaphragmatic breathing is beneficial to the body. The fact is that during stress your chest contracts and your breathing becomes shallow and fast. This is a good indicator that you need to consciously change the situation.
Breathing with the help of the chest causes a state of complete alertness: the heart rate and blood pressure increase, the blood goes to the side of the brain and muscles, stress hormones are released. This is all good if something physically threatens you, but if we are talking about, say, public speaking, such a reaction does not make any sense. Therefore:
- Sit or lie down comfortably.
- Transfer one hand to the stomach and the other to the chest.
- Exhale slowly through the mouth.
- Then inhale slowly through the nose, concentrating on the stomach rising above the chest.
Also, Sudarshan Kriya Yoga is one of the methods of healing breathing. Breathing exercises in this type of yoga have been extensively studied and have proven useful in relieving stress, anxiety, post-traumatic disorder, depression, substance abuse, insomnia, and mental illness.
- Close one nostril with your thumb.
- Inhale slowly through the other nostril for 5 seconds.
- Now pinch the other nostril, releasing the first, and exhale slowly.
- Repeat the process, starting with the other nostril.
#4 Change the Environment for More Convenience
Sometimes the surrounding objects and the situation too much affect our mood, which leads to stress. Therefore, you can change certain things in life to get rid of stress. The best medicine would be a pleasant trip. If you have the opportunity to go outdoors, be sure to do it. This will lower cortisol, blood pressure, and heart rate while increasing heart rate variability. It is not necessary to go to India or Nepal, just visit the nearest park or forest.
If this is not possible, resort to visualization. Create pleasant images in your head and “send yourself on an exciting journey”. Use as many senses as possible to relax. For example, if you imagine yourself on the ocean, focus on sounds, smells, and even bodily and taste sensations. You can close your eyes, sit in a quiet place, loosen tight clothing, and focus on your breathing. Strive to focus on the present and think about the good.
To improve the effect, you can use aromatherapy – various oils will help create the perfect atmosphere. If we are talking about a universal choice that most people like, it’s lavender.
Another option is the emotional freedom technique (EFT), also known as tapping. This method is a form of acupressure, in which the points of the “energy meridians” are stimulated with the fingertips. It is called “needleless acupuncture.” This technique can be used in conditions of excitement and anxiety, phobias, obsessive thoughts, insomnia, and also to eliminate negative emotions.
#5 Psychotherapy
You can also use the services of a professional psychologist who will help you decide to rectify the situation. A competent specialist can find a problem that puts you in a state of stress, impartially assess the possibilities for changing the situation, and monitor the success of the actions taken. Even a few weeks of regular consultations help patients solve mood and behavior problems that previously seemed insoluble. There are no secrets or special techniques. The main task is to choose a professional specialist.
Conclusion
You must understand that the selected method will not be 100% effective immediately. Train, make techniques more effective and conquer stress, gaining a good mood and inner harmony.
About Author
Louis Robidoux is a blogger who enjoys writing articles that are of great interest to society. After having lots of posts published on different platforms, Louis decided to create his own site deeptop10.com where he’s covering topics about food, interesting hacks, and lifestyle.