The word stress was coined only eighty years ago, yet it is a feeling most people experience every day.
The prescription: slow down, take some personal time, and smell those beautiful roses. Chances are you are the one responsible for your misplaced chi. So when your energy and concentration wane, you may need to find a few hours or a few days to de-stress and revive your inner strength. Here are a few recommendations.
Knead away tension
What could be better than having someone smooth away your stress? A good massage therapist can do wonders for an aching back, calves, shoulders, and more. There are many different massage techniques, from Swedish massage (the one you’re thinking of) to Japanese Shiatsu to Watsu® (which involves being floated and stretched in water). Block an hour and a half out of your busy schedule, check out the menu at a day spa, and order up a massage treatment that strikes your fancy.
Remember your Z’s
Catching less than the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep could be stressing your body. A National Sleep Foundation poll found that 39 percent of American adults get less than seven hours of sleep each weeknight, and 37 percent are so sleepy during the day that tiredness interferes with daily activities. Tips for nocturnal serenity include avoiding caffeine close to bedtime, exercising regularly (but not within three hours of climbing between the sheets), and keeping your bedroom dark, quiet, cool, and comfortable.
Do a digital detox
Aside from your watch, is your cell phone the accessory you wear most? Is losing your internet connection as disabling to you as having the water shut off? If so, you need a twenty-four hour digital media fast.
Try an experiment on your next vacation day—leave your phone charging in the bathroom and the computer turned off. You may experience a couple of withdrawal symptoms: phantom vibrations in your pocket or the paranoia that you’re missing something critical—or worse, being reported missing. But on the other side of the digital detox, you’ll enjoy the peace of a real wireless day.
Find an escape
Taking your mind on a vacation for a few hours can do wonders. Go on a mental journey by finding an amazing book to read (see examples on pages 16–23), movie to watch, or play to attend. Getting outside your own head and into an imaginary world can be a nice mental relief.
Why not yoga?
Sure, it’s become trendy, but folks have been practicing yoga for hundreds of years in order to relieve stress. Don’t worry if you can’t touch your toes; yoga isn’t really about being a human pretzel but more about breathing and creating balance. Put on some comfortable clothes and find a local studio or gym that will let you visit a class and see if it’s for you. Who knows, wheatgrass juice may be next.
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Article written by Robert G. Gardner
