Weird fact: Mangos contain a compound called linalool, the main ingredient in lavender essential oil. And you know what lavender does — ahhhhh. Analgesic-like activity of essential oil constituents: An update. Chewing gum is an easy way to keep the stress monster at bay while potentially boosting your mood and productivity Allen AP, et al.
Chewing gum: Cognitive performance, mood, well-being, and associated physiology. Instead of clenching your jaw, may as well put it to work. Trail mix, an apple, or some celery sticks provide a satisfying crunch to curb your spiral.
No need to go on a week-long silent retreat with zen-looking yogis to snag some serenity. You can meditate in as little as one minute with visualization techniques. Put your head between your knees, or stand and hang your head and arms toward your toes. Getting your noggin below your heart has restorative effects on the autonomic nervous system ANS , lessening your reactivity to the fight-or-flight response Papp ME, et al.
Increased heart rate variability but no effect on blood pressure from 8 weeks of hatha yoga — a pilot study. The good news is that taking slow, full breaths can calm you. Try a quick breathing exercise to get back to a more relaxed state. You know how your cat will go all rigid for a second, tensing all those kitty muscles and then relaxing them? That looks kind of good, right?
Well, you can try it too — or a version of it anyway. Progressive relaxation involves tensing and releasing muscles, body part by body part. You may not have time to do your whole frame in five minutes, but just arms, shoulders, neck, and head will suffice. Saying the alphabet in reverse temporarily shifts your focus from worrying about your upcoming date or pending performance review. Counting backward can also do the trick. Creative visualization is a mindfulness exercise developed by Shakti Gawain in her book Creative Visualization.
The technique involves mentally imagining what you want to happen in your life, or how you want to feel. It can slay stress fast. A little darkness behind your lids can help shut out the external factors causing you trouble. Stressors may look a little different when you open your eyes, ready to face the world again.
Rather than wringing your hands with worry, treat them to a little TLC instead. Just a five-minute hand massage could help relieve anxiety, one study shows Nazari R, et al. Effects of hand massage on anxiety in patients undergoing ophthalmology surgery using local anesthesia.
Rub your favorite cream into your palms. Massage each joint and the webbing between each finger. Clench and release your fists. Then flex your wrists. The stretch will help relieve tension from endlessly tapping at your keyboard or scrolling through your phone. But acupressure may help alleviate anxiety, according to a recent study W H Au D, et al. It seems that for every study that finds stress can be a barrier to conception, another one says otherwise.
Morray warns against rushing to find a causal relationship between stress and infertility based on the conflicting current research. Instead, she encourages her patients to focus on using stress-relief techniques as a way to deal with the inherent stresses of a lengthy treatment process.
Complementary therapies that help relieve stress can be beneficial emotionally and may possibly help with conception. The women who participated in some kind of group psychological interventions — especially those in the mind-body program — experienced increased rates of pregnancy during their fertility treatments compared to the control group who did not participate in any stress-relief support groups. But there is a big difference between trying research-based approaches to stress reduction, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, to manage the stress of infertility with the possible benefit of making conception more likely and merely trying to "just relax.
The importance of listening to someone struggling with infertility Besides lacking any supporting evidence, suggesting that all someone has to do is relax completely invalidates how emotionally challenging infertility can be. It's "disrespectful and degrading," says Bonnie Cochran, a psychotherapist in Denver who works with infertility patients. Maybe it's too much to expect emotional validation from a stranger in a grocery store, but Cochran says that many of her patients have been told to just relax when they open up to their closest girlfriends, or even their mothers about their fertility struggles.
It's heartbreaking because it means that the people you depend on for support are not listening to what you are going through and what you need. Implying infertility is your fault Even worse, the expression transforms infertility from a medical disease into a goal someone hasn't tried hard enough to achieve. Ultimately, even if the comment came from a place of compassion and is meant to comfort someone, it usually does exactly the opposite.
Ways to respond to unhelpful advice "It's incredibly painful for women hearing this to try and figure out how to respond," says Morray. The goal of mindful meditation is to focus your attention on things that are happening right now in the present moment. For example, listen to your body. Is your breathing fast, slow, deep, or shallow? Do you hear noises, such as traffic, or do you hear only silence? The idea is just to note what is happening without trying to change it.
Stress Management: Doing Meditation Write. Some people feel more relaxed after they write about their feelings. One way is to keep a journal. Use guided imagery. With guided imagery, you imagine yourself in a certain setting that helps you feel calm and relaxed. You can use audiotapes, scripts, or a teacher to guide you through the process.
You can get books and videos to do at home or take a yoga class. This process involves tensing and relaxing each muscle group. Progressive muscle relaxation can reduce anxiety and muscle tension. If you have trouble falling asleep, this method may also help with your sleep problems. Walking with a good friend can be a nice way to find social support , and walking alone can provide you with some time to think, reframe, and come back to the situation with renewed optimism. You could also listen to music that soothes or energizes you unless the noise wouldn't help.
Taking a walk can bring you the benefits of exercise —both short-term and long-term—and as a bonus, it gets you out of the stressful situation temporarily.
This can provide you with some perspective so you can return in a new frame of mind. If you're not in a position to leave where you are, you can feel better right away by practicing breathing exercises.
Getting more oxygen into your body and releasing physical tension are two ways that breathing exercises can benefit you. And you can do them anytime or anywhere, even if your demanding situation isn't letting up. If you can steal away a few minutes of peace, visualizations and guided imagery are a wonderful way to restore peace of mind.
They're easy to do and can relax you mentally and physically. With practice, you can easily access your "happy place" and quickly feel calmer when stressed. Sometimes we intensify our experience of stressful situations by the way we look at them.
If you can look at your situation differently, you may be able to put it into a different perspective —one that causes you less stress. Mental and emotional stress can be caused by pessimism, type A traits, and other self-sabotaging thought patterns. Learn how you can change the way you look at things. It will come in handy when you're stressed. Progressive muscle relaxation PMR is a technique where you tense and release all of your muscle groups, leaving your body to feel more relaxed afterward.
Just about anyone can do PMR, and with practice, you can fully release virtually all the tension you're feeling in your body in a matter of seconds. This can help you feel calmer and better able to handle the situations in front of you. Aromatherapy is another easy tool that you can use quickly.
A review in the International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences that looked at five different studies found that aromatherapy use, specifically lavender, was associated with decreased anxiety, depression, stress, and fatigue in patients with cardiovascular disease.
You can simply light a candle or diffuser, enjoy the aroma, and see if your stress levels go down.
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