Today is Lifeline Stress Down Day. Lifeline Stress Down Day was created as a fun, and easy initiative to help people reduce their stress through promoting happiness in the workplace and in life, while also raising vital funds for Lifeline Australia. Lifeline Australia reported that at least ninety per cent of Australians feel stressed, while at least seventy-four per cent are stressed from their work. Although it may be common knowledge for people that work may often cause stress, the ways to relieve those workplace stresses are often less well-known. If you’re currently feeling stressed, anxious, or are wanting to feel a little calmer while working, here are four techniques to help de-stress yourself while at work.
Take A Walk
If you live a sedentary lifestyle at work, one of the best ways to reduce your stress is to get up and go for a short walk. Although walking may have many physical benefits for your body, walking can also provide many benefits for your mind. When you go for a short walk, this may boost your endorphins, which may reduce your stress, and improve your overall mood. Recent research has shown that walking may help your blood flow, which may reduce your stress and other potential health diseases. When you go for a walk, this may give you the opportunity to de-stress yourself by escaping the work environment for a moment, and taking a break from your worries by enjoying the world around you.
Use Essential Oils
Aromatherapy may be a natural remedy for many people experiencing stress at work. Using essential oils can be used for a variety of purposes, such as managing pain, helping digestion, and reducing stress and anxiety. There are many theories on how aromatherapy works, but one theory is that when you smell essential oils, this may stimulate the smell receptors in your nose to send messages to your nervous system to relax your body and mind. Although there are many different essential oils and each has a different relaxation purpose, some of the best smells for reducing stress are lavender, ylang ylang, clary sage, and sandalwood. The best way to use essential oils to reduce your stress is by rubbing a few drops of the essential oils into your hands, cupping your hands over your nose, and taking a few deep breaths while enjoying the scent.
Listen To Music
Music can become a powerful tool for de-stressing yourself at work. Many research studies have discovered that music may help calm your nervous system, and may also boost the feel-good chemicals in your brain. Music may also influence how we feel through the specific music we listen to. For example, if the tempo of the music is slow, your heart rate and blood pressure may slow down as well, or, if the tempo is fast and upbeat, the music may raise your breathing rate and make you feel excited. Listening to your favourite song, or calming music at work may reduce your stress levels, and help improve your work efficiency and creativity.
Have A Reading Break
One way to instantly de-stress yourself while at work is, when you are on a break, to pick up a good book for a quick read. Reading a good book, especially fiction, may engage the mind and bring out your imagination, which may also make your brain become fully focused on the single task of reading rather than the work happening around you. The University of Sussex reported that people who read for only six minutes showed slower heart rates, less muscle tension, and reduced stress levels than people who weren’t reading. Although reading a good book may seem to be a dying act to some people during the technological age of social media, the benefit of reading is still alive and well in reducing stress, and helping people feel calmer and happier.
How everyone experiences stress may be different for each person. Although dealing with stress at work may be difficult, there are small and useful techniques to help bring your stress levels back down. While it may not be possible to avoid all stressful workplace scenarios, finding relief through those various techniques to help bring down your stress may help ease the mental and emotional strain you have at work. This year for Lifeline Stress Down Day, we encourage you to celebrate the day by bringing fun and laughter into your workplace to help reduce any stress, or by donating to Lifeline Australia and helping Lifeline’s vital crisis support services.
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