Instant Stress Relief

Small doses of stress can work as a performance enhancer but getting “stressed out” can prevent you from making critical decisions, interfere with your personal relationships and make you irritable and unpleasant to be around. Large doses of stress over a prolonged period of time can lead to serious health problems including disease and depression. Our culture has become so high stress in recent years that infirmities linked to stress are rising to unprecedented levels.

There are a number of techniques you can practice that provide instant stress relief. It is important to research and test different methods to find what works the best for you. Everyone reacts differently to stress so everyone will react differently to stress relief techniques.

Perhaps the oldest and most time tested method of instant stress relief is Yoga. The primary aim of Yoga is to calm the body and mind and to improve overall health. It relieves tension and helps to decrease negative thinking. There are many different types of yoga, do some research to find will work best for you.

Alphabiotics are considered by some to be a major breakthrough in the area of instant stress relief.  It is a therapeutic process that helps the body to handle and overcome negative stress. The body is allowed to gently realign towards balance.

The chair massage is one of my favorite methods of instant stress relief. It’s ideal for the workplace and many therapists will travel from site to site to administer the massages. The massage therapist will focus mainly on the shoulders, back, neck and arms. It only takes about 10-15 minutes, great for work breaks or lunches at the office.

Another important, although sometimes difficult, method for instant stress relief is the power of positive thinking and happiness. Your overall happiness should be a priority in your life. You need to create a positive environment around you to help filter out the negativity. Happiness is like a muscle, the more you exercise it the stronger it gets. Make a list of the things that make you happy. Make it a point to focus on the things that you have and are grateful for.

Most of the time people neglect to take deep breaths. Taking shallow breaths can actually increase tension. Inhaling deeply into your lungs releases toxins and relaxes your muscles. Getting more oxygen into the body and releasing physical tension are effective ways to achieve instant stress relief.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation is a process by which you tense and relax your muscles in specific groups. This can be performed at work, at home or in the car. It’s a skill you must develop but it can help you feel calmer and also help you handle complex and stressful situations.