Stress Managementstress Reduction Quick Calmers Quick Relaxation Office Stress Workplace Stress
Stress management is a skill that should be in every worker’s tool kit regardless of what they are employed to do. It improves health, wellbeing, personal life and career performance. But many stress reduction techniques focus on emptying out what has built up during the working day. They often require a certain amount of time and privacy that are only possible outside working hours. Below are a few quick and discreet tips that can be used at the office when stress first starts to rear its head.
StretchCat lovers will know how the unfettered feline luxuriates in a long back-lengthening stretch. Find somewhere private (like the washroom) and reach for the stars in all directions, not a warm-up stretch but the kind cartoon characters do when getting out of bed. To release even more tension, build it up first: clench every muscle until you judder then let go.
Breathing ExercisesMany relaxation techniques have breath and breathing at their core. Despite popular advice to “take deep breaths”, the breaths should be slow rather than deep – the opposite of hyperventilating. Coupling slow breaths with pleasant images enhances their effects. Full relaxations aren’t possible in a busy office but there are quick calmers that draw a minimum amount of attention, like the one below:
Get ready to take in a big breath. As you inhale let your eyes travel up the wall from floor to ceiling slowly, as if you’re watching a rising balloon. Pause briefly at the top then imagine the balloon becomes a feather drifting leisurely back down as you exhale. Once it reaches the floor, pause again and repeat. Each repetition will make you more relaxed.
ImageryMental pictures can also work by themselves. “Grounding” is one such technique aimed at helping people feel more solid and unflappable. Imagine you’re like a great tree and feel your roots growing down to the centre of the earth, or that a solid iron bar extends from the top of your head to the centre of the earth. Feel the soles of your feet solidly planted on the floor and the weight of your body on your chair.
Symbols and RitualsRoutines are not drudgery when it comes to stress reduction. A little routine or ritual to perform at the beginning and end of each day, like starting with a cup of coffee or emptying your wastebasket before you go home, are like psychological “in” and “out” doors which separate work time from the rest of life.
Symbols can also be handy for minor but inescapable irritations. You can’t do much about them but they don’t have to prey on your mind. Keep a sheet of unusual or coloured paper handy. Co-worker making loud personal calls on his mobile again? Tear off a corner of your page and put it in a special box or envelope on your desk. Difficult customer? Tear off a bigger piece. Empty out your box or envelope at the end of the day. Symbolically, this takes the irritation out of your head and turns it into something physical that you can put to one side.
De-stressing ConversationsWhen tensions start to rise in a conversation, people often speak more rapidly and their vocal chords constrict raising their pitch. Reversing this trend can calm both parties. Slow your pace of speaking down just a tad and deliberately lower (deepen) your pitch. Use “active listening” which gives full attention to the person your speaking to until they’re completely finished then pause a moment before you come in. It’s a well-known technique for improving communication but it also keeps your mind from racing ahead and gives you time to think.
DistractionThere’s really no such thing as “switching off”, only “switching to”. Minds rarely go completely blank, so instead trying to block or remove stressful thoughts, find a replacement. It can be something as simple as reading the newspaper during your coffee break or popping into a shop at lunchtime. Unfortunately, sitting of a park bench or going for a walk don’t always work because your mind can wander. Distractions should be like micro-vacations which are involving an take your attention away to something unrelated to work.
Most stress reduction techniques work by re-creating the physical and mental patterns associated with relaxation and the opposite of what people normally do under stress. When people are stressed, for example, they tend to breathe and move quickly so deliberately slowing these down increases relaxation. The same is true for mental restlessness. One of the chief symptoms of stress is jumping from one half-finished thought to another, so the key to relaxing is concentrating on one thing at a time. With this in mind, it’s possible to break patterns of stress before they take hold.
