Blog research! When you're stressed, what *really* helps you? There are the quick fixes, like eating chocolate, but what about longer term?
I find setting my personal values has helped me stay on track, both in and out of the workplace, as well as mindfulness, long walks and of course, chocolate!
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- Hit the gym or go for a run with a decent podcast in
- Putting my devices on do not disturb and going for a run, walking the dog or Smashing Out some yoga. Basically, moving helps because my job is sedentary/office based.I think the best solutions are simple solutions because there is less to go wrong. As a simple person, I find them the most effective.Hope that helps!
- Hello Hayley,Great question, it's going to be different for everyone but I've always found, especially when I was studying, that people would go hours, sometimes days without a break and become so stressed and not productive but would punish themselves if they took a 5 minute break.I would say my advice is more general but I think it's really important that people find the right work / life balance for them and their mental health. I find that taking a few minutes to just look out my window, walking around my flat or watching a short video on youtube help me to clear my head.We are all glued, even more so since COVID, to screens so I find a short walk with some music is the best way to de-stress. It just gives you time away from anything technology based, gives your eyes a rest and getting some fresh air and just a change of scenery can lift the mood.Lastly talking to someone else wether it be partner, friend, colleague is also super helpful.Hope this helps
- Taking a day off your phone and social media, even if just once a month. Also make time to move your body, always!
- @Kevin Banks :D
- Scotch.Weed.Sex.Rinse & repeat.
- Mmm chocolate. That's always going to be a quick and yummy solution!In terms of long term, it's about taking steps to unwind every day. You really do have to keep on top it. I like to think of the water barrel analogy. All day, you are filling your barrel with disorder and stress. You have to continuously open the tap and let some of the water (stress) out.Sleep is definitely a good release for me. I usually aim for 7-8 hours and that keeps me on top of things!
- Chocolate is the sollution to most things in my life! For me letting things go for a moment and going for a walk to clear my mind usually helps.Also a powernap helps me sometimes to reset myself.
- Talking to a family member or a close friend helps me. I think laughter especially, and just remembering not always to cry/panic but laugh as well! Taking breaks to get outside always helps and a feel good film or beautiful music. :)
- Breathing! Slowly and deeply.It literally changes your body's chemistry, releasing calming hormones to counter the stress ones we spend most of out days stewing in (look up the sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system responses if you fancy getting into the science).It's what Navy Seals do in combat to help them aim straight when being shot at. So it's also a great thing to do before presenting/speaking/interviewing – or in any situation where you're feeling stressed/afraid/frustrated/angry.A good tip: start by breathing out, fully, then let the breath fall back in naturally. Do that three times, breathing all the way into your belly.If you can do this outside, in nature, with tweeting birds – even better.To help keep stress at bay long-term, develop a practice of doing this regularly, perhaps involving meditation or yoga :)
- Hey Hayley, so my go to is just get outside, careless of the weather unless it's a blizzard or hurricane! Spend 30 minutes walking and breathing in fresh air, don't look at your phone just take in that moment and breath the stress away.Hope that helps. Also related to this is doing walking meetings, one of my fav types of meeting.
- Hi Hayley,There’s two different muscles in our brain – one that is in fight/flight mode and is a whirling dervish of stress and anxiety – the other is much calmer, thoughtful, more creative and full of ideas. Many of the useful tips like walking, exercise etc all play into strengthening the calmer 'sage' side of the brain. The more we can strengthen that side, the better at coping with stress we shall be.Look up Shirzad Chamine. He’s done a ton of research on how we can strengthen the 'sage' part of our brain so we can cope with life’s stresses much quicker. It’s fascinating scientific stuff.
- Have a 15 min shake down with Burgshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OU8BgOcX-sStop. Make a cup of herbal tea.Remember to breathe in and out.Try box breathing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJJazKtH_9Ilooks crazy but it really helps
- So many amazing suggestions here. Thanks for sharing! Exercise in some form seems to be the number one go-to. When also asking my wider networks, not many people have said 'talking about it', which makes me wonder if we rely on ourselves too much. It's great to be self-sufficient, but sometimes I think we also need to just verbalise our problems and stresses with someone, even if it's the dog! :)
- Exercise helps. Also, for me, tackling the stressor head on when it can no longer be ignored: beginning with planning and breaking it (or my schedule) down into chunks.
- Completely agree all of the suggestions below. Exercise is such a big one for me!If it's more long term, I actually find just talking to friends or family - rather than trying to tackle whatever is stressing you out on your own - really helps. A problem shared is a problem halved. :-)
- Nature, good music, or inspiring tales of real working class people...
- Walks or doing chores like laundry or cleaning works for me. Also decluttering my desk.
- I think some of it comes down to understanding how your mind and body can work together.Stress levels can be reduced with breathing and low level exercise.If a problem feels overwhelming posture can also help.By getting up and walking around it can make it feel a bit smaller.There are real benefits in going outdoors for a walk.Whilst stress encourages analytical thought, walking makes space for creative ideas and problem solving.An idea for quite a challenging brief came to me whilst out for a stroll and I almost laughed out loud.Creative thinking can have real benefits for our wellbeing - having ideas makes us feel good.
- Going for a walk. A change of scene helps me think differently, take a breath and better focus my energy.
- Hi Hayley, for me, it has to be exercise. When I'm working really hard, physically, and I can hardly catch my breath, and everything is burning, and the music in my headphones is blaring, I just forget about everything, the whole world falls away. Has always been the best medicine for me, personally.
- When I'm stressed I always remember that old saying '"You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day. Unless you're too busy, then you should sit for an hour."Doing just 10mins of meditation in the morning seems to bring clarity and focus throughout the day. It's nothing profound, but I notice the difference if I don't do it.fyi. Meditation didn't work for me /frustrated me for a long time, but a friend who worked with David Lynch and did a lot of diffrent types of meditation suggested the Sam Harris / Waking Up app which is pretty much the only one I've tried that doesn't annoy me :)
- 1) Setting small goals that i can achieve (hour by hour if needed) as sometimes I make things very big in my head which compund my stress2) Exercise/ long walk- cannot underestimate this!3) Speak to people outside of your day to day world, partners, allies, mentors can be a wonderful reset and give you a perspective that puts your stress at batHope this helps! x
- Zooming out and looking at the bigger picture, and looking at the thing that's making me stressed from a different perspective.That's quite a big, heavy one, so the other way is looking for little pockets of joy in my days and weeks. When I'm having a crappy few days it's easy to get bogged down in thoughts of "oh this sucks" and feeling like things are like that all the time. But by taking notice of the little, teeny things that make me happy makes all the difference. This could be the feeling of the first sip of coffee in the morning, or realising I have the evening free which means I can play The Sims for a couple of hours!
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