In this article I will explain how to relieve stress and stress without the help of drugs or alcohol. In the first part of the article, doing without meaningful theoretical calculations, I will immediately give 8 tips on how you can relieve stress. You can try these recommendations on yourself today and check how effective they are.
Also, in the second part, I consider it necessary to touch on a little bit how to minimize the daily level of stress, and how to become less susceptible to stress. Many tips to get rid of stress for some reason do not pay enough attention to this. But I am focused on a long-term result and it’s obvious to me that the lower the level of stress you received, the easier it is to cope with it.
Heard the slogan "fire is easier to prevent than to put out"? Everyone needs to know what measures need to be taken to extinguish a fire, but it is even more important to understand what needs to be done to prevent a fire (for example, do not sleep with a cigarette in your teeth and working with an iron and kettle in the arms). Also with stress: you need to be able to warn him.
How to relieve stress quickly. 8 Tips
Fatigue, nervous tension, responsible affairs, relationships with people, the turmoil of the city, family squabbles - all these are stress factors. The consequences of the influence of which make themselves felt during and at the end of the day, affecting us with fatigue, nervous exhaustion, bad mood and nervousness. But with all this you can cope, you just need to know how I assure you, and without soothing drugs and alcohol.
The latter provide only short-term relief and weaken the ability of your body to cope with stress. About this nuance, I stopped in more detail in the article Myth 2 - Alcohol and pills help to cope with stress. At this stage, it is important to understand that I categorically do not advise you to relieve stress with all sorts of drugs and in this article we will not talk about all sorts of medications, we will learn to relieve stress with natural relaxation methods. So let's get started.
Tip 1 - Clear your head from unpleasant thoughts
Although it sounds trite, but not everyone can always remember this and we begin to chew in the brain annoying chewing thoughts about the unpleasant events of the current day and can not stop. It is very exhausting and plunging into despondency and in no way helps to get rid of stress. At such moments, we are simply worried about something or are trying to find for ourselves some solution to the current situation.
The key is to think about tomorrow, and now, turn your attention to something else. I noticed a long time ago how much the perception of life problems differs depending on our physical and psychological state. In the morning, being fresh and vigorous, everything seems to be on our shoulders, we can deal with everything, but in the evening, when we are tired and stressed, problems start to acquire horrifying proportions, as if looking at them through a magnifying glass.
It seems as if you are a different person. But it’s just tiredness and exhaustion that distort the view of many things, you have to give yourself an account of it, assessing your current state: “Now I’m exhausted and tired both morally and physically, therefore I don’t quite adequately perceive many things, therefore, I’ll not think about them. " It is easy to say, but, at times, it is difficult to give yourself such a sober report, since negative thoughts, it would seem, themselves climb into our heads and don’t want to leave.
But there is a small trick on how to deceive your own mind, who wants to immediately start thinking about the problem, which now seems to him extremely important. Promise yourself that you will think about it tomorrow morning, just wake up and open your eyes, and before you wash yourself you will sit down and think hard about it. So you lull the vigilance of the mind, which "agree" to make a concession and postpone the decision of this situation for later. I did this many times and was surprised to find that since the morning with yesterday's "big problem" an amazing metamorphosis occurred - it lost its significance, I even stopped wanting to think about it, it seemed so insignificant in a new perspective.
Get rid of negative thoughts. Clean your head. It may not seem so easy, but the ability to control your mind appears during meditation.
Tip 2 - practice relaxation techniques, meditate
About this so much has been said within my blog, I will not repeat. If you want to relieve stress immediately, then there is an excellent reason to try to meditate or start practicing various relaxation techniques and see how well it relieves you from stress. But there is a second good feature, the more you do meditation, the better you start to get away from problems and clear your head from thoughts and the less stress you get every day due to the fact that your mind becomes calmer.
It becomes easier for you to endure the influence of stressors, and those things that once brought you into great excitement and tension as you practice will become mere trifles: suddenly traffic jams, city noise, squabbles at work will no longer be problems and render negative impact on you. You will begin to wonder how people around you seriously and dramatically treat these trifles and worry about them, as if the whole world has collapsed before their eyes! Although they themselves some time ago upset because of the little things ...
But one separate session of meditation also bears a benefit - you experience strong relaxation and forget about problems, the main thing is to concentrate and not to let into your head the thoughts about what was happening to you today. It is very difficult to do: thoughts will still come, but try at least for a while not to think about anything and switch your attention to a mantra or an image.
Tip 3 - Exercise
Some time ago I couldn’t imagine how to relieve stress without alcohol: a couple of bottles of beer were a means of on-duty to feel good and relaxed. But then, when I took it upon myself and refused such means, I realized that a 20-minute run at a moderate pace or a trip to the gym can give a much more tangible result! (Read the article how to get yourself involved in sports)
During exercise, endorphins are released - the hormones of happiness. Being engaged in sports you get a surge of good mood plus strengthen the body. This is a much more effective means than drinking beer, as the latter only weakens your ability to cope with stress, which I have already mentioned and will talk about in the next article. And sport strengthens you morally: in a healthy body there is a healthy mind. That is, playing sports as well as practicing meditation forms in you a long-term ability to resist stress during the day.
Tip 4 - Take a contrast shower. Water treatment
You can read about the technology somewhere on the net, but in general I'm going to devote a separate article to this in the future, since it deserves it.
You did not think that so attracts some people in hardening with cold water? What makes them in such severe frosts make such, at first glance, mockery of themselves, like swimming in the ice-hole? And what stretches on the ruddy physiognomy of a bather a contented smile? The answer is endorphins, the well-known “hormones of happiness” (this is a journalistic term, in fact, they are not hormones, but neurotransmitters) that are released during a sharp cooling of the body. It would seem that they stand out here?
But now I am going to replenish the piggy bank of your erudition a little bit. Extreme sports are believed to be associated with adrenaline. This is true. But not adrenaline provokes people to dizzying jumps and stunts, not everything happens for him, as many mistakenly believe. Adrenaline - only makes the heart beat faster, increases your endurance and quickness of reaction. But those very thrills, "high" after a parachute jump give endorphins.
These are not only “hormones of happiness”, they help to anesthetize them. The body begins to secrete in an extreme situation, which it perceives as threatening and, in order to partially eliminate the possibility of death from painful shock as a result of a possible injury, the release of this hormone has such a pleasant side effect.
Perhaps a similar mechanism is triggered by the cooling of the body, since it is also stress for the body (not to be confused with the stress discussed in the article).
Contrast souls are much softer and more affordable means of tempering the body than winter swimming, they can be practiced by everyone. This procedure is not only able to relieve stress and improve mood, but also greatly hardens the body (I have stopped sick with colds at all, since taking a contrast shower, and my grandfather has taken it all his life and has never had a cold, despite his old age ).
Not only a contrast shower, but also any water procedures can help with stress relief, such as a hot bath, swimming in a pond, visiting a pool, etc.
Tip 5 - Listen to music
Any that you like. The pleasure that you get from listening to music is also directly related to chemical processes in the brain. They are triggered by a harmonious sequence of sounds (or not quite harmonious - depending on your taste) and cause a feeling of happiness and euphoria. Even sad and gloomy music can lift a mood, provided that you like it, no matter how paradoxical it sounds (at least in my case).
But just for relaxation, I personally use a smooth monotonous and slow sound, the so-called ambient musical style. To many, such music may seem very tedious and boring, but this is the whole point. Many other musical styles are characterized by an intense pressure of emotions in compositions, a fast rhythm and tempo, a sharp change in the mood tones. All this, although it can entertain and please you, but in my opinion, relaxation is not always conducive due to the fact that such music bombards your brain with an abundance of notes and musical intonations.
If you are tired and want to relax, then it is better to listen to something more contemplative and “enveloping”, you may not like this music in the beginning, but at least you will rest. You can listen to an example of compositions from the ambient genre in the audio recordings of my group in contact, for this you just need to join it (you should see the link to it on the right of the site) and click on play, having previously assumed a lying position in a comfortable position. At the same time, try to relax and “endure” at least 20 minutes, try to forget about all the problems and do not think about anything, “dissolve” in the music.
Tip 6 - Contemplative exercise while walking
To relieve stress, you can walk a little and breathe. It is better to choose a calm and quiet place, for example, a park. Avoid hype and large crowds. During the walk, again, try to relax, free yourself from thoughts, look more to the sides, direct your gaze to the outside, and not inside yourself and your problems. Contemplative exercises contribute well to calm. Sit on the bench and look at the tree, peer into every bend of it, try so that nothing else takes your attention for a certain time. This is a subtype of meditation practice that can be practiced at any time, even during the lunch break at work.
When walking pace pace - slow, do not run anywhere and do not rush. You can combine with sports, walked, breathed, reached the bar and bars - hung tightened up and stress as it happened!
If such walks cause a feeling of boredom, then we must get rid of it!
Tip 7 - Start relaxing on the road after work
I myself know that, even if the day did not turn out to be particularly difficult in terms of nervous exertion, it’s all the same, the road home can tire a lot or spoil the mood. Many don't know how to relieve stress after work and continue to accumulate it and on the way home. Therefore, while on the road, start turning off thoughts about work and current problems, abstract from what is happening, do not succumb to the general anger and nervousness, the atmosphere of which, as a rule, reigns in public transport and on the roads. Be calm, try to suppress within yourself those impulses that lead to the fact that you start to get angry at someone and swear in the rumor or about yourself. Since all this negative is able to bring the final touches to your evening picture of stress and tension and finally exhaust you. Let others get angry and nervous at the expense of themselves, but not you!
Tip 8 - stress is easier to prevent than to remove!
Here is the golden rule you must learn. In order not to get rid of stress with all sorts of killer drugs like pills or alcohol, it is better to minimize its manifestations throughout your entire day, starting in the morning. How can this be done and can it be done at all? In order to find out, first we will talk about what stress is and how it accumulates in you.
Nature of stress
First, briefly what stress is. There is one fundamental point here. It is a mistake to perceive stress as a phenomenon of an external order. It is wrong to think that it creates a stressful situation. It occurs inside us as a reaction to external circumstances, which we perceive as stressful. Feel the difference? This means that stress depends on us, on our reaction, this explains why all people react differently to the same things: someone from one unfriendly glance of a passer-by is able to fall into depression, and the other maintains iron calm, when everything collapses around.
Based on this, one very important conclusion suggests itself: how much stress we received depends more on ourselves than on what happened to us. This is a fundamental position. It turns out that, although external circumstances cannot always be tailored to the considerations of our comfort and balance (it is not always possible to find less stressful work or to leave the city for a quieter place, it is not possible for everyone), but you can always change your perception of what is happening, so that it does not give rise to nervous tension in us. And this is all real.
How to minimize the daily manifestation of stress
I have already partially answered this question in my advice: meditate, it can reduce your sensitivity to external stress factors to a minimum. Also play sports and spend more time on the air, it will strengthen your nervous system. If you are too lazy to do the latter, then start at least with meditation, it is necessary if you want to become calmer and less prone to stress! Do not relieve stress with alcohol, it only hurts your nervous system, so mental fatigue will only accumulate faster in the aftermath!
You can also read my article on how to stop being nervous. Since the less you are nervous the less stress accumulates. It is better for you to use the lessons that are presented in this article, especially pay attention to breathing exercises, their use relates to the answer to the question. how to relieve stress quickly without spending a lot of time.
And now, some more tips.
And finally, there is something very important. Be calm and cool. Remember that a lot of things that happen to you every day: things at work, the reactions of those around you, random conflicts - this is all nonsense!
Work is nonsense
Work is just a way to get money, do not take it seriously. (This does not mean that it should not be approached responsibly, it means that it is necessary to determine a place in your life for it, and not allow it to go beyond the boundaries of the area where you localized it) Your failures at work are not always identifiable with personal failures: there is often a huge gap between a person and his profession, so if you cannot cope with something at work, this does not mean that you are a worthless person (of course, many companies try to form the opposite opinion of their employees: they are not it is good for the employee to stop identifying himself with his work and so philosophically treat his failures, they want to see that you perceive corporate goals as personal goals).
Human relationships are nothing.
All relationships with strangers, intrigue - this is also nonsense and nonsense that are not worth paying attention to. What others think of you, your colleagues are their own business and their perception of you, and it can also be distorted by the peculiarities of the perceiver's personality. Less worried about what strangers around you think about you.
Не следует изводить себя и кому-то что-то доказывать ради принципа, так как все равно ничего не докажете, каждый останется при своем, единственное что получит, это большую порцию негатива. Какая-то плохая экономика! Не принимайте участия в склоках и разборках, где каждый только и делает что выпячивает свое эго, свои убеждения, свой характер. Это не те споры в которых рождается истина, это споры ради самого спора!
Старайтесь вести себя так чтобы негатив других людей не цеплялся к вам: улыбайтесь на хамство. Это не призыв подставлять левую щеку когда вас ударили по правой. Все-таки совсем неплохо ставить людей на место в определенных ситуациях и не позволять с вами обращаться так как им вздумается.
Этот совет касается того что не нужно принимать участие в бессмысленной ругани и выяснении отношений в ответ на хамство в транспорте, на работе или на улице со стороны коллег, водителей, случайных прохожих и т. д. В тех ситуациях из которых вы можете выйти с улыбкой, сохранив хорошее настроение и не испачкавшись чужой грязью и при этом не утратив своих позиций делайте так(выходите с улыбкой - победителем!), а не тратьте силы на то чтобы кому-то что-то доказать.
Короче если вам систематически хамит коллега - нужно тактично ставить его на место и больше не выяснять отношения, но не надо ругаться со всякими уборщицами, охранниками и прочими начальниками шлагбаумов, которых вы видите первый и последний раз. Судите по ситуации.
Больше улыбайтесь!
И вообще, чаще улыбайтесь!. Улыбка - волшебная вещь! Она способно обезоружить любого и отбить у него желание посылать волны негатива в вашу сторону. Поверьте, если вам нужно чего-то от кого-то добиться, за исключением некоторых особых случаев, «наезды» на личность не возымеют такого эффекта как символ доброжелательности - улыбка. В ответ на «наезд» у человека включается защитная реакция и он начинает отвечать вам тем же, даже если знает что вы правы, просто он не может по-другому, так как он оскорблен и вынужден защищаться. Негатив вызывает только негатив!
Но в то же время, вы сами должны со снисхождением относится к людям переполненным напряжением и негативом, которые не умеют
сдерживать свои эмоции и держать под контролем ситуацию: не нужно отвечать немедленным отпором на их ругань и наезды. Я об этом уже говорил, если ситуация может разрешиться без ссор, то старайтесь способствовать этому. Улыбайтесь на ругань и игнорируйте ее где это возможно. Пусть ваши мысли не занимают какие-то мелкие разборки.
Вот пожалуй и все. В следующей статье я напишу про то, почему не следует пить алкоголь или успокоительные таблетки для того чтобы снять стресс и напряжение.
