It’s already a month since our last newsletter. It went pretty fast especially with all the love in the air. We hope you had a fabulous season of love but I wonder … was it also stress- free? Even fun things can become stressors too, you know.
Most people wear the “SO-BUSY” badge of honour with pride, sacrificing relaxation time with self, family and friends in order to keep pace with the demands at work , appear busy and relevant.
Stress is a major part of our everyday lives; we experience it one way or another. It keeps us alert and ready to avoid danger but one must learn to manage their reactions to stress. Our reaction could have a big impact on us and our quality of life because when stress persists the body begins to break down and problems occur.
In order to cope with a stressful situation, it is important to be able to identify the exact cause of the stress. Of course, the triggers of stress for each individual will vary but various relaxation techniques have been known to greatly help most people cope with stress.
Here are some practical tips. I call it the BEAN technique:
- Breathing – Muscle tension is nature’s primary way of informing you that you are under stress. The body registers stress before the conscious mind does and there are some effective breathing techniques which will slow down your system and help you relax. Deep diaphragmatic breathing will usually help oxygen circulation and help you relax better.
- Exercise – exercise has been proven to have a beneficial effect on a person’s mental and physical state. For many people exercise is an extremely effective stress reliever.
- Assertiveness – don’t say yes to everything. If you can’t do something well, or if something is not your responsibility, find a decent way to decline doing it. Some of us always want to please everybody.
- Nutrition – eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and unprocessed foods. Drink a lot of water. Make sure you have a healthy and balanced diet.
We hope to help you create a toolbox of stress-managing techniques since one strategy won’t always work for all your stressors – BEAN is therefore not exhaustive.
We look forward to navigating some more of techniques next month.
Don’t forget-The body keeps the score!!