We all are bound to have stress in this competitive environment that we live in, and if someone says that, “I do not have stress” then the person is either lying to himself or the person is really saying the truth. Well, if you do not have stress then you do not need to read this article but if you do feel that stress gets you along in your daily life then do go through this article and apply the techniques discussed in this article in your daily life.
When stress gets to be too much, it can harm your health and wellbeing. Earlier, the human being didn’t experience stress because there were not many expectations apart from food, shelter, and friendship. It is only in today’s world where there is so much of competition, you are bound to have expectations and all of the expectations are not met either. So, the result is wide occurrence of stress among us. Stress occurs whenever you the actual experiences fall below your expectations. For example, as a technical writer, you expect coordination from the subject matter experts but sometimes it may happen that they might shout at you or even treat you like a dumb terminal and might say that you know nothing. This might take a toll on you, and you may feel stressed out. Stress may also have an adverse effect upon your health such as tightening of the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and stomach and so on. It has become utmost critical to get relieved from stress before it could have a drastic effect in your whole life. There are various stress relievers that can help you feel less affected by stress in your life. Some of these stress relievers are as follows:
- Meditation
- Guided Imagery
- Exercise
- Music
- Yoga
Meditation is one of the best methods to control your body while dealing with stress. This method is also considered as one of finest relaxation technique because it allows you to relax various cells in your human body. Mediation helps you to restore the body to a calm state, thus helping the body to repair itself and prevent any damage due to the physical effects of stress. When you practice meditation, it decreases your heart rate, normalizes your blood pressure, and allows you to use oxygen more efficiently. In addition, mediation also helps you to clear your mind with all the negative thoughts that might prove to be fatal and this increases your creativity. While meditating, it is almost essential that you sit with a relaxed position and clearing your thoughts. You might choose a place that is calm and peaceful such as nearby a river, or a park or any place in your house which is peaceful. When you meditate, you must focus on a particular sound such as “oomm” or you can concentrate on your own breathing. To start with, you can meditate for five minutes and then you can graduate to over 20 minutes of mediation. Mediation is a wonderful technique to get relaxation from stress and having a perfect health. It is advisable to meditate regularly to have wonderful effects on your human body.
Guided Imagery
Guided Imagery is another simple yet effective relaxation technique that allows you to reduce tension that has occurred in you human body. It is a list of directed thoughts and suggestions that points your imagination towards a relaxed and a focused state of mind. It is based on the concept that your body and mind are connected. Guided Imagery uses all the four senses of human body, and it allows your body to respond in a manner which may appear to be real. Guided Imagery helps you reduce blood pressure and other problems related to stress. It can even help you improve your public speaking and might even help you in losing weight. You must be wondering that whether it is at all difficult to practice this technique. So, the answer is that it is not all difficult to practice Guided Imagery. Guided imagery is something that you can become successful at on your own. In order to practice this technique, you must sit or lie down in a comfortable position, close your eyes and inhale deeply. Once you get into a relaxed state of mind, envision yourselves in an environment of your choice that you have always dreamt of or you can image any scene from a movie or a novel that you read recently. As you imagine the scene of your choice, try to get involve as much as possible using all the four senses and try to find answers to questions such as what does it look like, how does it feel, and what special scents are involved.
Exercise
It is a well known fact that exercise has always been a stress-relieving technique. It provides various physical as well as mental benefits to the human body. Exercise not only keeps you physically fit but it also improves your mental health. Exercise helps you to decrease the output of stress hormones, and relaxes muscles thus lowering the resting pulse rate. Most of the fitness experts believe that every bit of exercise do count in your daily life. When we exercise, the body releases various chemical substances also known as endorphins. There are various forms of exercise that you can choose from such as Aerobics, Stretching, and so on. You can choose to perform exercise in a closed environment or with natural surroundings. However, it is always preferable to exercise in a natural environment because this activates relaxation responses deep in the brain.
Music
Music is another form that allows you to relieve stress, which is the basis for a growing field known as music therapy. One major benefit is that you can relieve stress while listening to music while you are at work or any regular activity. It allows you to find an increased enjoyment from what you’re doing regularly. You can listen to music in various no of ways such as when getting ready to work, while traveling, while you are eating, or before you go to bed. However, it is always recommended to listen to music that would calm yourself, and induces deep breathing. This also helps you in increasing production of serotonin. Always choose the music that is soothing to ears having slow rhythm.
Yoga
This form of stress reliever is an oldest and one of the finest practices that can be dated back to more than 5000 years. It combines the practices of several other stress management techniques such as breathing, meditation, imagery and movement, giving you a lot of benefit for the amount of time and energy required. Slowly but steadily more and more people are getting benefits from the practice of Yoga. Yoga derives its name from the word, “yoke”, which means to bring together. It helps you to bring together the mind, body and spirit. Yoga has a numerous effects on the human body lowering heart rate and blood pressure, reducing stress, promoting increased strength and flexibility, reducing reduced cortical levels. While practicing yoga, it involves stretching the body and forming different poses, while keeping breathing slow and controlled. This allows you to keep your body relaxed and energized.
Further, as Mother Teresa rightly said, “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."
Stress Relievers for Technical Writers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at akapoor.blogspot.com.
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