Archives for October 2016

Workplace stress is inevitable, even if you love your job. Tight deadlines, progress evaluations, sales presentations, and unexpected or harried work travel can raise your anxiety level. Add in a boss with anger management issues, a disorganized co-worker, or other office interpersonal drama, and it’s a wonder you don’t ditch it all and move the family into a tree-hut in the woods to live by hunting, fishing, and foraging wild berries.

If that thought has ever passed through your mind, clearly it’s time for a stress-break. Here are three exercises you can do at work to help bring inner peace.

Cardio Conditioning
Most office workers spend a lot of time sitting down and staring at a screen. The only time your heart rate goes up is when the boss is breathing down your neck. This jolt will definitely pump adrenaline through your body, but not necessarily the happy endorphins that flood your bloodstream when you do a little cardio exercising.

Cardio exercising doesn’t mean getting yourself so worked up that you’re dripping sweat. Even ten- or fifteen-minute bouts of exercise that elevate your heart rate will work, such as:
– Taking the stairs rather than the elevator to your office
– Taking the long, circuitous route from your cubicle to the bathroom and back
– Taking a walk outside the office during lunchtime
– Ten minutes of in-place exercises like jumping jacks, running in place, or push-ups

Stretch Test
Stress makes your muscles bunch up, no doubt about it. Long stretches of sitting in one place can make your legs fall asleep, your ankles and calves swell, and your bottom go numb. Your neck muscles will tighten up, as will your shoulders, the two areas that massage therapists recognize as the major muscle areas affected most easily by stress.

Stretching can include:
– Yoga positions, if you practice regularly
– Rolling your neck and shoulders gently, so you don’t pull any muscles
– Runner’s stretches to lengthen the calf muscles and quads
– Back stretches by gently lifting your arms above your head, stretching side-to-side, and touching your toes

Breathing Exercises
“Take a deep breath” may seem like a cliché, but studies have shown that slow, deep breathing exercises, such as occur during meditation, can lower your heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of stress hormones in your blood. Done correctly, breathing deeply can focus the “monkey mind,” a state of stress when your thoughts swirl with deadlines, details, and the detritus of daily office life. A clearer head means a calmer worker, so the ten or fifteen minutes spent focusing on your breathing might mean a far more productive, and slightly less stressful, afternoon.

Extended bouts of unrelenting stress can cause serious physical effects, such as headaches, insomnia and back pain as well as hypertension, heart disease, and depression. It’s worth taking the time to learn positive techniques to cope with daily stress so it doesn’t turn chronic.

As the lovely, warm days of summer wane into autumn, it’s natural that children come down with back-to-school fever. While some kids may be feverish with excitement at the start of the new academic year, others will show signs of very real distress, especially if it’s their first day in a new school.

Learning how to recognize stressful situations and deal with them is a vital coping skill, so consider the back-to-school jitters an opportunity to teach a valuable life lesson.

Address The Anxiety
Young children facing their first day at school may not be able to fully articulate what is bothering them, so it’s up to you as the parent to recognize the symptoms. Those symptoms may include:

Crankiness and mood swings
– Difficulties sleeping, or “avoidance” sleeping for teenagers
– Excessive nervousness about clothing, school supplies, and overall preparedness
– Seeking frequent assurance that all will be fine
– Withdrawal from social events and friends, especially for older students
– Complaints of headaches or stomachaches that are not related to any physical sickness
– Requests not to be taken to school, or asking to be picked up early or to take a day off

Although you may be tempted to bolster a child’s confidence by offering a quick-and-breezy comment like “You’ll be fine, you’ll see,” this tactic may backfire if he believes that his underlying issues are not being sufficiently addressed.

Facing The Fears
Pinpointing the concerns that are the source of your child’s anxiety is the first step toward allaying those fears. For instance, if your child is worried about where the bathroom is in her new classroom, or whether the new teacher will be kind, then planning a quick tour of the classroom in the weeks before school begins will go a long way toward easing your child’s anxiety.

For many children, back-to-school anxiety is multi-faceted or difficult for them to articulate. In these cases, consider these tips to help ease their fears:

– Emphasize the positive by making new clothing and school supply shopping an event, and reminding them of what they liked in previous academic years
– Put them in control by allowing them to wear their favorite outfit, choose their lunch, and bring a comfort item on the first day
– Practice the before-bed and early-morning routines a week or so before school begins
– Put power in their hands by giving them small erasers or glittery pencils to offer to potential friends
– Role play likely situations
– Be calm and listen closely to their concerns as you guide them in problem solving

Sending your children back-to-school can be anxiety-producing for you, too, so make sure you take a few deep breaths as you watch them climb into that school bus. More likely than not, they’ll come bounding home with smiles on their faces and lots of stories to tell.