Managing Stress

Everyone knows that person who, “thrives under pressure,” the one who can deliver no matter how much is piled on. And while the brain does work harder under pressure, it doesn’t necessarily work better. Procrastination is innate; there is a tendency for humans to disassociate from how waiting for work to pile up til the last minute will affect their future self. Sometimes we won’t even work until the reward is literally looming before us (i.e. the next day.) This is a perilous way to live, and one that leads a lot of people into lives of chronic stress and muscle tension. Rather than joining in this legion of stressed out, stress-hungry people, we encourage you to try being proactive about stress and managing it to your benefit. Here are some techniques that can be used in the office: 

• Squeeze a stress ball: take it out on the ball, let it absorb all your tension.
• Cool down: stress has a way of making our blood boil, leading to distraction and anger that can be counter-productive. A great way to combat this is by putting a cool towel over your wrists. 
• Massage yourself: Acupressure points are great for releasing tension, but sometimes just rubbing your hands can do wonders. If you can, roll your shoulders and neck around a few times to dispel the tension that accumulates during a day seated at work. 
• Chew gum: masticating is powerful; clinical studies show that chewing gum lowers anxiety levels. 

The point is this: next time you are grinding through a day of work with a deadline looming large, instead of pushing on to the point of breaking, grab a piece of gum and chew, bust out a doodle to stimulate your creative side and reward complex, or take a vigorous walk outside to get some refreshing exercise in the sunshine, and then try pushing on. I promise you your productivity will go up without the accompanying stress. The time spent doing this will be recompensed by the boost in productivity and you will still meet your deadline, just with less brain damage, and that is totally worth it! For help on managing stress in all phases of life, give our office a call to schedule an appointment today.