Four Destress Tips for the Workplace

Work is the biggest source of stress in many people’s lives, and it’s one source that can’t be avoided, at least not in the short term. This makes managing stress at work vital to our work performance and overall health. There are many ways you can destress at work. Here are just a few.

Deep Breathing Exercises

Taking a short series of deep breaths is an excellent way to reduce stress in any environment, including at work. Long, deep breaths calm the body and help reset the nervous system. This reduces blood pressure, cortisone levels, anxiety, and other symptoms of stress. A short set of deep breathing exercises can do wonders to lower your stress levels at work. Three to six deep breaths are ideal and will take you less than five minutes. You don’t even have to leave your desk to use this method, and you can use it as often as needed.

Mini Meditation Sessions

As with deep breathing, meditation forces the body to slow down and helps reduce stress. It doesn’t take a lengthy mediation session, either; a five-to-ten-minute session is all you need to destress enough to feel better. Find a quiet place or go outside, set a timer, and meditate. If you need help, many guided mediation apps and programs have specially designed mini sessions.

Physical Movement

Exercise and burning energy will reduce your stress. You probably can’t leave work to take an aerobics class in the middle of the day, but you don’t have to in order to destress. Stand up and do some stretching exercises. Stretch out your arms and back and feel the stress leaving your body along with the tension. Take a short walk to increase the benefits. A lap or two around the office will reduce your stress and make you more alert and productive. Try to work a longer walk into your lunchtime routine. A ten-to-fifteen-minute walk in the middle of the day will make your stress levels plummet.

Music

Music has been scientifically proven to alter our moods. It is one of the best ways to lower your stress levels at work and elsewhere. Find some music you like that soothes and calms you and put it on your phone or your computer to listen to when you start feeling stressed at work. Keep a set of headphones at work, so you have them handy.

These four tips will help you destress at work in the short run. However, if your job is chronically stressful, you might want to consider more long-term, systemic changes, such as delegating tasks, altering your workload, or even changing careers. Your health is worth it.