SPT-Techgirl66

Discover the Power of Self Care to Fight Stress

Posted on by SPT-Techgirl66

Discover the Power of Self-Care to Fight Stress

Chronic stress and anxiety can wear you out. However, self-care can be a powerful remedy that restores your mind and body.

Try these self-care techniques to find relief for your stress:

  1. Make your health a priority. You may have stress coming from multiple directions such as work, school, family, kids, neighbors, or others. However, it’s important to establish your health as a top consideration. Find a balance between taking care of others and taking care of yourself.

  1. Understand the fundamentals of self-care. Self-care is a conscious effort to put yourself first. It requires you to take time for activities that nourish and sustain your body, mind, and spirit.

  • When you make it a priority to take care of yourself, you build a lifestyle that focuses on healthy choices. Build self-care into your daily habits, such as eating a healthy breakfast and exercising.

  1. Start with one healthy habit a day. If self-care isn’t a normal part of your life, it may be difficult to get used to it. However, you can start with one small habit and you’ll see positive changes.

  • By implementing one healthy habit each day, you’ll begin your journey of taking better care of yourself.

  • The habit can be a tiny change, such as eating oatmeal for breakfast or having a salad for lunch. The key is to pick something small that is easy to do. Then, you can build from this foundation and add other habits.

  • If you try too many activities at once, you’re likely to get overwhelmed or discouraged.

  1. Find your own path. It’s easy to get caught up in the self-care practices that others use. However, it’s more effective to find your own path to wellness.

  • Find the tips and habits that work best for your lifestyle. You may not have time to eat a healthy lunch or exercise every day. There are other ways to take care of yourself. Be willing to experiment with different ideas to figure out which self-care practices work well for you.

  1. Continue growing. It’s not enough to add one self-care habit and move on. Stress will continue to be a factor as long as you’re on this planet. It’s important to discover new self-care habits to alleviate your stress.

  • Over time, the stress may come from different directions. For example, if your job is going well, you may suddenly discover issues at home. If your family life is fine, you may be worried about getting laid off.

  • You may feel overwhelmed at times and as if you’re taking steps back. Nevertheless, continue forward and make self-care a top priority.

  • As your life changes, your self-care habits will also change. You might find that oatmeal for breakfast starts causing stomachaches, or injuries prevent you from exercising every day. Self-care can come from multiple channels. You can change things up and still find success.

Self-care has an important role in the battle against stress. It’s a vital part of staying healthy and maintaining wellness.’

SPT-Techgirl66

Breathing Strategies To Effectively Manage Anxiety

Posted on by SPT-Techgirl66

Breathing Strategies to Effectively Manage Anxiety

It might sound odd to use breathing to manage anxiety, but there’s a good reason why breathing techniques can be so influential. Your breathing is the only aspect of your physiology that you can consciously control with ease.

You can’t:

  • Alter your digestion.

  • Change your blood pressure.

  • Decide where your body is going to store fat.

  • Alter the level of hormones in your blood.

But you can control your breathing. You can breathe faster, slower, deeply, or shallowly. You can change your breathing at will. However, you just can’t say to yourself, “I’m going to reduce my blood pressure by 10 points”, and make it happen.

Your breathing has a great effect on your physiology. Using the power of your breath can be an effective way of managing your anxiety. Best of all, it’s free and always available to you.

Follow these strategies to use your breath to manage your anxiety:

  1. Equal breathing. This technique has been around for thousands of years in various yoga traditions.

    • Close your eyes and evaluate your normal breathing pattern. Notice how many seconds you spend breathing in and how long you spend breathing out. Do this for just a minute or two.

    • Now, slowly count from 1-4 as you inhale through your nose. It’s fine to breathe through your mouth if your nose is stuffy.

    • Exhale for the same 1-4 count.

    • Neither your inhalations or exhalations should be overly full. Just breathe comfortable, full breaths.

    • Keep the counts of your inhalations and exhalations the same. Repeat for 5-10 minutes.

  2. Long exhale. This is a great breathing technique if you’re feeling panicked. It’s a very effective way to combat the effects of hyperventilation.

    • Part 1: Extend your exhalations for as long as you can. Try to squeeze out as much air as possible without making yourself miserable.

    • Then, relax and allow your lungs to naturally fill with air. You can do this by simply relaxing. It’s not necessary to actively inhale. If you’ve exhaled completely, your lungs will fill with air if you just relax. Continue for five full minutes.

    • After five minutes have passed, try this next exercise for an additional five minutes:

    • Part 2: Exhale for twice as long as you inhale. Three seconds in, and six seconds out is a good starting point. Try longer and shorter time frames and see what effect it has.

  3. Belly breathing. This is one of the more popular breathing techniques to enhance feelings of well being.

    • Lie down and put one or both hands on your belly.

    • Take a full, deep breath (you’ll feel your belly rise) and hold it for a short period of time. How long is up to you. Start with just a count of one and extend it as you see fit.

    • Relax and allow your body to naturally expel the air. You’re not intending to exhale. You’re just relaxing and allowing nature to take its course.

    • Pause again for as long as you like.

    • Repeat. Again, 5-10 minutes is sufficient, but you can always go longer if you like.

  1. Alternate nostril breathing. This is another yoga technique that people seem to either love or hate. It’s a little more complicated, so it can be distracting. This is great if you need a distraction from your anxiety.

    • Breathe normally, but only use one nostril at a time. Gently place your finger over one nostril, and then inhale and exhale through the other nostril.

    • After you complete one breath cycle, close off your other nostril and repeat the process with the other side.

    • This process can be combined with any other breathing technique. Play around with it and see what works for you.

These are just a few examples of breathing techniques that can be utilized to minimize anxiety.

How you breathe can have a powerful effect on your body and your emotions. Learn how to use your breath to your advantage. The answer to your anxiety might already be within you.’

SPT-Techgirl66

8 Little Known Techniques for Dealing with Anxiety

Posted on by SPT-Techgirl66

8 Little-Known Techniques for Dealing with Anxiety

We have lots of reasons to worry. A certain amount of worrying can be useful. It directs our attention to issues that might need to be managed. However, when worry leads to constant anxiety, things have gone too far to be useful.

We’ve all heard that we should breathe deeply when we’re feeling anxious, but there are other possible solutions you may have never considered.

Try these ideas to deal with anxiety in a way that works for you:

  1. Cold showers. When you’re anxious, your mind is racing and focused on negative thoughts. One quick way to bring your mind back to reality is to take a cold shower. It can take your breath away, but it certainly brings your mind back to the presently quickly!

  2. Hold ice in your mouth. This has a similar effect to taking a cold shower. In addition, breathing in that cold air that has passed over the ice is soothing to many people.

  3. Pretend you’re someone that handles stress and anxiety with ease. Pick someone you know that exudes calm. Imagine being in their body.

    • What would you feel? What thoughts would you notice? How do you think they would view and approach the situation that’s causing you to feel anxious? Maybe you’ll discover something you can use.

  4. Imagine yourself in a peaceful setting. What would be the most relaxing scenario for you? Would it be the mountains? The beach? A field of flowers? Who else would be there? What would they say? What would you smell and hear? What would the weather be like? Experience it fully.

  5. Do something that takes your full attention. Whether it’s doing a crossword puzzle, playing chess, or walking in the backyard. Anything that fully occupies your attention for a while will give your mind a break from whatever is bothering you.

  6. Schedule worry time. Instead of worrying throughout the day, why not schedule some worry time? You can worry all you want for 30 minutes, but you can’t worry the other 23.5 hours of the day. Just knowing that you can worry later will ease your mind and allow you to accomplish more.

    • How much time do you need to worry? Do you think that worrying for an hour would accomplish more than 30 minutes? Maybe 15 minutes is enough.

  7. Go to bed earlier and get up earlier. Going to bed earlier will allow you to get more sleep. Getting up earlier will allow you to start your day with less rushing around.

    • Try going to bed an hour earlier and get up 15 minutes earlier. The extra 45 minutes of sleep will do your mind and body some good. The extra 15 minutes of the morning will make your morning more relaxing.

  8. Go camping. Or just get out of town. Sleeping on the ground or in a different bed in new surroundings can do a lot to change your perspective and alter your mood. If you need a change of pace, give yourself one. A weekend can do wonders.

    • Where could you spend a weekend that would be a drastic change from your normal environment?

Anxiety can take all the joy out of life. When you’re worrying all of the time, it’s challenging to find any enjoyment.

Just as creating a feeling of anxiety is a skill, you can also develop the skill of calming yourself. Consider anxiety-reducing ideas that might seem a little unusual. There’s no telling what will work for you until you try.