Quick Stress Management Techniques

There are numerous “immediate need” techniques that you can do any time and any place you are stressed. These techniques require no more than a minute or two of time to complete.

Learning to be aware of when you are stressed is a major key to relaxation since the first step to change is recognizing your “stress signature” or noticing where your body stores your stress. Do your shoulders “brace” or rise up when you are stressed? Does your stomach tighten? Do you clench your teeth? Does your back or neck ache? Your body is always showing you where you store stress, and paying attention to its cues is important for learning to change the body’s habitual reactions to stress.

I would recommend the following techniques when there is no time to relax:

When you are feeling stressed, s – l – o – w down your breath. In fact right now notice what happens when you start to consciously slow down your breathing rate. We know that the breath serves as the conductor of the body’s internal processes. In fact, a relationship between heart rate and breath has been found, which is called “entrainment” or the matching of rhythms. When you slow down your breathing rate, you also slow down your heart rate and signal to the body that you are ready to relax. I would recommend taking slow, deep, easy breathes for a few minutes and you will start to feel yourself relaxing more and more with each deep breath you take. Now what’s interesting about this simple technique of slow breathing is that you can do it when you are in a task. Your eyes can remain open, even when doing this breathing technique so you can still get your work done but internally, relaxing yourself. This is a good way for individuals who do not have a moment to close their eyes and do a stress management technique to relax even while doing their work chores.

Another exercise I like for individuals need a quick stress reliever and who worry a lot is “stop, breath, reflect and choose.” This technique would be considered a cognitive technique. When you become aware that you are thinking in a worrisome way, or fearing something, your body literally experiences it as if it were in the present. The body cannot differentiate between imagination and reality, in fact recent research points to the fact that the same regions in the brain “light up” or are triggered when something is visualized or seen in reality. When you feel yourself getting stressed, internally say: STOP, then simultaneously take a deep breath in. This triggers the body’s natural relaxation response. Then Reflect – bring in your mind – focus on what you could be thinking about that would cause you to have the least amount of stress and then Choose your new focus. This is a highly effective “instant” technique for moments when you are stressed and have no idea what to do. We know that individuals who practice some stress management technique develop a resistance to stress. So whether you practice “Stop, Breathe, Reflect and Choose” or breathing slowly and deeply during your day and when you are feeling tense, by practicing these techniques, you will be teaching your body how to relax, even during stressful situations.