Stress is a common condition and it can attack anyone, anytime, and anywhere. Even in this modern living, it is often inevitable. For some people, they may not be able to prevent stress. For instance, many times you cannot refuse it at work. However, you can control and manage it! The following are some best natural stress reducers you can follow!
Stress at work: how to reduce it?
Stress is a common issue in many workplaces, even some are considered normal. But excessive stress should not be ignored! Instead, too much stress can decrease the productivity. The following tips may help.
Recognize and learn the warning signs of excessive stress at your work!
When you feel tired and overwhelmed at work, you will be easier to lose confidence and concentration, making you less productive.
If you ignore the warning signs of your stress, this may lead to bigger problems.
Many times, the following factors can trigger stress at work:
- Fear or anxiety of being laid off.
- Stuff cutbacks that often cause more overtime.
- Pressure to meet the expectation but without any increase in job satisfaction.
- Pressure at maximum levels for all the time.
These are some of many factors that can cause the following over-stress symptoms:
- Problems in sleeping.
- Uncomfortable feelings such as feeling depressed, anxious, or irritable.
- Easier for fatigue.
- Problems in socializations such as social withdrawal.
- Physical symptoms may occur, too – such as headaches, muscle tension, and stomach problems (like bloating, diarrhea, and constipation).
- Loss of interest for work (apathy).
- Or even abusing alcohol.
Be smart in prioritizing and organizing!
Once you know that you have too much stress, take preventive steps for coping! One of the first steps is by having a good management for each task you have at work.
Here are some tips:
- Make a balanced schedule! Your work is important, but don’t forget for time to relax or just spending time with your family!
- Don’t make over-estimation with your schedule! It’s not bad idea to plan a good thing, but don’t over-commit yourself.
- Start your day earlier so thus you can prepare yourself better for your best day!
- You are not a super-man that can handle anything. But you can organize it better. Make a list of any task you need to prioritize and do first so thus the rest of your day at work will be more pleasant.
- Convert your big projects into small ones! For example, if you have a large project that seems overwhelming, break it into small steps by making a step-by-step plan so thus you don’t take everything at once.
Improve your emotional intelligence!
By practicing and understanding emotional intelligence, you should be able to retain a large measure of self-confidence & self-control (even when you are at workplace where the situation has grown increasingly stressful).
The following are 5 key points for stress reducers with good emotional intelligence:
- Know the time of when you are stressed, and recognize the best sensual cues that can effectively help soothe your stress. There are several senses to choose from (such as through touch, smell, sight, and taste). And the body responds to these senses can vary from person to person! You can learn and find one that works best for you!
- In order to manage your emotions better, keep connected to your own internal emotional experience! This is also important to make appropriate decision at work since your moment-to-moment emotions are linked to what you feel and your thoughts. On the other hand, if you ignore your emotions, you cannot make the decision properly since you will be poor in communication with others and not be able to fully understand your own motivations!
- Explore more the use of body language and nonverbal cues! Sometimes what you say is less effective than nonverbal signals you send out. These nonverbal signals include tone of voice, gesture, eye contact, or facial expression. To reduce your stress and tension, it’s not bad idea to use these signals when you speak to others or negotiate with a client.
- Hearty laugh and mutually shared humor in the workplace is another best stress reducer. So, it’s also important to make challenges with humor in spare time.
- Many times, conflict at workplace is inevitable. But you can resolve it positively! Even resolving it in constructive, healthy ways can boost trust between you and others which then eventually will help ease stress and tension at workplace.
Get rid of any bad things that can worsen your stress at work!
It’s difficult to make a perfect decision. You can do your best for a project, but you need to realize that there is no project that is 100% perfect. Again make a priority, if you attain perfection on anything, this will simply carry unnecessary stress.
Make the realistic goal, not vice-versa! If you try to do too much and make an unrealistic goal, you are taking yourself up to fall short!
Pay attention on your office desk, too! Some people think that office furniture is not more than accessories.
But in fact, office furniture (especially your office chair and desk) plays a key role for your productivity and ease stress at work. For instance, if your office desk is a mess, you cannot do your best in organizing your task and finally you are prone to more stress.
Remove negative thinking! If you always think the downside of every condition and interaction, this can drain your energy and motivation – making your stress level worsen!
Last but not least, remember that there are lots of things at work that are beyond your control! So, it’s better to not try controlling the uncontrollable (especially such as the habit of other people).
Good sleep
The quality of your sleep can affect your entire health, including the level of your stress. Even it may be the most important issue when it comes to manage stress.
Good sleep is not only about quantity. If you can sleep about 7 hours or more per day, but most of your sleep fall into light sleep, you are still easier to yawn. You need plenty of hours for deep sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
But this doesn’t mean that too much sleep is always good. For instance, too many hours you spend for sleep can leave you sluggish and depressed.
So, it’s better to find the ideal (the right balance of sleep) that allows your body to feel well-rested so thus you are ready for your day!
Interestingly while the quality of your sleep is essential to help control your stress, stress itself can affect your sleep. So bad sleep and stress can lead to vicious cycle.
Try promoting good sleep by establishing regular bedtime so thus your brain has its own signal to fall asleep regularly. Here are other tips:
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- Avoid drinking caffeinated beverages in the evening!
- Exercise is good, but don’t do it within about 3 hours before your bedtime.
- Bring convenience into your bedroom! This doesn’t means you need to pay and spend lots of money to redecorate the room. Just make sure you feel comfortable and fall asleep easier in your bedroom. Flip anything that can disturb your sleep from the room such as cell phone, notebook, TV, and so on.
- If necessary, take a warm bath before going to bed so thus you can feel more relax and easier to fall asleep.
How does exercise help stress, anxiety, and depression?
Exercise in almost any type and form can be a helpful agent to reduce stress and ease other psychological problems (such as anxiety and depression).
Being active and having adequate physical activities can boost the production of endorphins (feel-good hormone, improving your mood) and can be an effective distraction from daily worries.
In other words, whether it is running, yoga, or swimming – exercise can do what the stress-medication does since it allows you to have the time to be alone (in private with your thoughts, so thus you have more opportunities to let them go away).
Other numerous benefits from exercise include bloating relief, reducing the risk of obesity and other health conditions – all these things also give you less to be stressed about!
Herbs and natural therapies
It seems that stress is linked to numerous of health problems. For instance, it can cause sudden-increase in blood pressure. It also can make the pain of many conditions get worse – and so on.
And the following are some therapies and herbs for stress relief that eventually will help treat certain health condition:
Meditation
As well we know, it is a mindfulness therapy. Typically, you need to take it for about 15 to 30 minutes. For best result, it’s better to take it in a packed schedule.
It is incredibly cheap and affordable. All you need to take it is your own mind. Just go into a calm and quiet room, then focus on your mind and follow it on your breathing.
Even a small amount of peace with meditation can help release your excess stress.
Massage
Most people love massage therapy. For many years, it has been used to help treat lots of health conditions, including for stress relief.
According to the Chinese Tradition, massage can help stimulate the body to open the blocked-positive energy. And the release of this energy can help improve the overall health. Specifically, massage is helpful to reduce pain, relax tense muscles, and improve the blood flow.
Acupuncture
This eastern traditional technique also has been used for many years to help treat numerous health conditions. And in general, it can help by promoting relaxation and releasing stress. See more about acupuncture in here!
Are there any foods, supplements, or herbs for stress reducers?
There are several choices to choose from. Some of them are passionflower, aromatherapy, and B-vitamins.
Passionflower has long been considered a ‘folk herb’ for many health problems, especially such as insomnia and anxiety! Even according to some studies, it works more effectively than benzodiazepines (one of common conventional medications to treat stress).
Passionflower may help stimulate the production of GABA or gamma-aminobutyric acid, a brain chemical. And it’s thought that GABA can lower the activity of some cells in the brain, promoting relaxed feelings.
This foxy remedy is available in several choices such as teas, infusions, tinctures, or liquid extract. But it is not recommended for children, women with pregnancy and breastfeeding. If you are taking other medications, it’s also better to talk first to your physician to prevent the risk of medical interactions.
How about aromatherapy? Yap, it can be another foxy choice for your stress home remedy. A few studies found that this therapy may help provide immediate stress relief effects.
Aromatherapy works by producing smells that stimulate the brain to promote feelings of calmness and relaxation so thus it can improve mood, aid concentration, and ease anxiety. Popular oils in aromatherapy that can boost stress relief include cypress, rosemary, and lavender.
And for B-vitamins, they are well known as essential nutrient to promote proper functioning of nervous system and brain. With this function, getting plenty of B vitamins can make you become easier to control your stress tension.
B-vitamins are easier to be found in cereal grains, rice bran, nuts, and beans. If you do believe that B-vitamins can help, you may want to consider taking B-vitamin supplements, too.
But again, it’s much better and safer to discuss with your doctor before using any herb or supplement to help cope with your stress!