How to quiet your mind?

Posted on by skjha196

Each year more than 40 million people in the world suffer from anxiety and stress and 20 million suffer from some type of depressive illness. Fear, anxiety and stress are a normal part of life, even adaptive in many conditions.

So , in the cat and rat race, we have to quiet our minds and keep calm.

There are a few steps for keeping the mind in peace and enjoying life.

1) Breath – we breathe all the time, but during relaxation time, we should pay attention to the rhythm. If we take a short quick breath, try to move toward slower, deeper ones. Lie down relax and breathe slowly and keep the mind free.

2) watch some interesting songs and movies– when people listen to their favourite songs and movies, they feel relaxed, calmer and less stressed. Heart rates and blood pressure dropped too.

3) Exercise – just 5- 15 minutes of exercise, like a brisk walk, yoga could start to calm the mind. It releases endorphin, and oxytocin – chemicals that make us feel good and can help improve our mind, focus and sound sleep.

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So, high-intensity interval training can give a big doge of them in a short time.

4) Listen to Bhajans and melodies songs– it calms the activity in the brain. Songs are a good thing to try if you are stressed.

5) Help someone – it lights up part of our brain that makes us feel pleasure and connection. Doing something nice for someone lowers stress and a lesser feeling of loneliness. It may even boost our heart health and immune response.

6) Go outdoors – Being in and around nature often makes people think more clearly and feel more relaxed and refreshed. Spending time outside can also bring down our heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormone and even muscle tension.

7) Progressive muscle relaxation – use the connection of your body to soothe your mind. Pick a body part – foot, leg, mouth, eyes- and tense it for a few seconds. Then release and relax for 10 seconds or so. Again, switch to another part and keep going until you have done your whole body. This can also improve sleep and may even other symptoms such as body ache, headache etc.

8) Hang out with a pet– whether it is in your home or a neighbour’s pet, a friendly pooch can make you feel less anxious, tensed, confused and restless. When you play with them, it seems to lower levels of the stress hormone.

9) Yoga- Yoga can help us get a fit body and mind. A regular practice session lessens anxiety and takes the edge off our natural response plus, it is excessive that builds our strength and flexibility.

10) Get creative – keep busy with some activities like reading a book, painting, and gardening which can offer an escape for a busy mind. It can help us redirect our thoughts and tune out the chatter in our heads. The key is to enjoy the process and not worry so much about the result.

11) Take a break– when you find your mind racing full speed or spiralling down a rabbit hole, change your focus: stretch, daydream, walk around, get a snack or chat with a friend. Take at least a few minutes to recharge and reset.

12) Dig in the dirt- It is not just the great outdoors and the exercise at work here. The soil itself has microorganisms that might help our focus and lift our mood.

Now, this technique teaches us to control our reactions to stress. We could trek our heart rate, body temperature and breathe too. Overall, we will figure out how to calm our body’s response on our own.

Dr S.k.jha

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Stress management: How to cope with stress at work

Posted on by skjha196

Everyone gets stressed at work. Most of us struggle with stress and that stress is what ends up causing fear and anxiety to us. Workplace stress is a problem when it becomes chronic and starts negatively impacting physical health and emotional well being.

There are two types of stress triggers:

1) The big stress triggers

a) the death of a loved one

b) a divorce

c) the loss of a job

The list is endless.

2) Daily stressors

Many of these daily stressors are not things that we can change because they are part of our everyday life, but there are things that we can do to alleviate those things.

Stress

Stress is one of the leading factors in daily life for affect the health of people.

If there is stress at work, workers who feel mildly off will feel even worse and resist coming to work. This costs many hours of productivity, especially when key personnel or production workers are absent it is estimated that around 4 billion dollars are lost on stress caused illness and absenteeism.

Stress at work

A workplace that supports stress management through a workplace wellness program not only helps its employees to handle pressure better and stay healthier during times of stress, it also sends a message that their company cares about them. This provides emotional support as well as physical support for fighting the effects of stress.

Before we come to know how to reduce stress, we have to know the sources of workplace stress.

Sources of workplace stress

1) Low salary

2) an excessive amount of work to do

3) Lack of proper training

4) Lack of social support in the office

5) few opportunities for promotion/growth

6) Loss of interest in work

7) Lack of teamwork among employees

8) Problem in sleeping

9) Trouble concentration

10) social withdrawal

The effect of stress on the body and health

Headache, dizziness, anxiety, irritability, anger, panic disorder, grinding teeth, HTN, chronic fatigue, diabetes type 1 or type 2, irritable bowel syndrome, weight gain or loss, lack of energy, depression, nervousness, increase in addictive behaviour.

So, these are some factors that stress can affect the health and body.

How a workplace wellness program can help

When employees are stressed, there is only one primary cause and several secondary causes. For instance, a worker may suffer stress due to poor interpersonal relationships with other workers and problems communicating. Addressing stress will help the worker feel better and regain connections to other workers, thereby reducing the stress in those areas.

So, a workplace wellness program can de-stress everything a worker face of like layoffs, cutbacks, firing etc– it can help with the physical effects of stress and help the worker cope when getting the pink slip.

A healthy and fresh worker will have more energy to move on and find the work solution, but an unhealthy worker may suffer even more physical ailments from stress and plunge into depression.

Many people wish that they could stay calmer and more in control during stressful situations.

Enjoy work

A lot of time, our lives are bombarded by obstacles at the workplace. Some bring new challenges to the table which is healthy for a fulfilling life, but some may be a little more to deal with that can cause unforeseen troubles like sleeplessness, losing control of any given situation, irritability and so much more.

So, there are several steps that can reduce job stress and feel calm under pressure.

1) Get a clear job description to avoid miscommunication that causes stress

2) get a new interesting job- which can satisfy your academic knowledge and skills

3) find supportive agencies and programs to help you either deal with stress — such as a wellness program

4) change positions with the company. Perhaps your technique is not in that field, where you are working. If you like the company you work for, but hate your job, get answer from your employer to get you a good job.

5) see if the company has an employee assistance program or not.

So, knowing how to relieve stress from work can be a challenge.

Here are some tips for how to relieve stress from work

1) have a self-care morning routine

2) make a priority list

3) action stops fear

4) stop multitasking

5) take breaks

6) practice self care at home in the evening

7) learn to relax

8) avoid negative co- workers

So, these are some advice or tips for enjoying the work and being stress-free. Live life longer with happiness.

Dr S.k.jha