Stress at Work
How to Relieve Tension During the Work Day
and when you get home!

Stress at work is something we usually cannot avoid, and often cannot control. But letting go of that stress is something we must control, as it is so critical for good health.

Letting go of work stress!

Stress at Work

1. Move

While at work, even when you are busy, it is important to move. Take a break and walk around your building to help increase your heart rate and blood circulation. Just a few minutes of walking will energize you, and help to clear the mind to finish the work day.

2. Drink water.

It's not only good for you, it helps keep you moving, if only to the bathroom.

3. Practice Deep Breathing

Taking deep breaths helps to clear your mind, relax your muscles, and re-focus your energy.

4. Stretching

Neck, arm, and back stretches help to ease tension-filled muscles, increase blood circulation, and relax tight muscles when dealing with stress at work. 

Work Stress at Home

After spending hours hard at work in the office, you deserve to relax and de-stress. You may not realize it, but you tend to bring your work home with you. This happens if you allow work-related thoughts to occupy your mind even after walking out of the office. You think about work during your commute or drive home, talk about it to your loved ones, worry about it, and beat yourself up over it.

It’s time to stop wasting too much of your life on work and get the reward that you deserve. To leave your work stress behind, try to wrap everything up before you go. This will help you avoid worrying about your tasks. Start a post-work habit of relaxing your mind, from taking deep breaths to intentionally directing your thoughts away from work. Enjoy your commute by listening to music or audiobooks, reading books, or even organizing household chores.

When you get home, there are even better things to do to get rid of your tension and stress.

1. Make Your Home a Complete Place of Relaxation

It helps if you declutter your space regularly. A clean, orderly home can soothe your stress and make you focus on more positive things instead of the things that you have to clean up when you get home.

        2.Get Some Exercise

Sitting for hours in front of your computer screen strains not only your eyes but your entire body as well. Take some time to stretch those strained muscles out and get some endorphins going by exercising. These happy hormones are effective painkillers, giving you one more reason to start working out regularly.

Exercise does not have to be boring either by merely lifting equipment at the gym. You can also engage in fun activities such as swimming, jogging, hiking, boxing, and cycling, among others. Being physical reduces stress levels, boost sleep quality, and prepares your body for another busy day at work.

Studies have shown that engaging in aerobic exercise can elevate mood, improve self-esteem, and stimulate anti-anxiety effects. You don’t even need to go to the gym or hire an instructor to work out. You can follow fitness instructors on YouTube and follow their workouts at home. What’s important is that you move!

There are other exercises designed as effective stress-relievers, too.

Yoga is one of them. It requires you to execute both stationary and moving postures coupled with serious deep breathing. Yoga improves your ability to relax and introduces a healthy balance into your system. To relieve your stress, practice gentle yoga. More intense classes may be too much for you if you want to ease tension off your body after work.

You may also want to try Pilates to relieve stress at work and improve your endurance, flexibility, and strength. As a bonus, you can even get a toned body and feel better about it. You can sign up at a Pilates studio, buy DVDs, go to the gym, or watch YouTube videos.

Tai Chi is another excellent exercise. It is composed of self-paced movements and proper breathing techniques. Tai Chi helps you calm your mind. You can try it and experience it's benefits too, from better bone density, stronger immune system, lower blood pressure, and relief for the symptoms of arthritis, heart failure, and fibromyalgia.

        3. Take a Hot Bath or Shower

Soaking in warm water after experiencing stress at work helps you feel relaxed. Add some essential oils to your bath, light some candles, put on great music, and prepare a glass of wine for a truly relaxing bath time. Let your senses take in everything that your private time in the bathroom has to offer. Feel the warmth on your skin, close your eyes under dimmed lighting or watch the candles’ hypnotizing flickering flames, and breathe in the calming scent of your bath oils. You can visualize just how stress evaporated from your body right away.

        4. Meditate

Research shows that meditation may change the neural pathways of the brain, helping you cope with stress at work better. You can do a few minutes of meditation daily for it to work.

How should you do it? Sit up, fix your posture by straightening your back, and put your feet on the floor. Shut your eyes. Concentrate and recite this mantra silently or out loud – “I feel at peace.” Show yourself some self-love too by saying, “I love myself.” Recite your mantra in sync with your breaths. Don’t give in to distractions and focus on your goal to relax.

        5. Get a Massage

A massage is a great way to relieve muscle pain, get rid of stress, and ease tension. You can get it from a spa with a professional masseuse, but it might not always be convenient or practical to do so. What you may not know about getting a massage is that you can get the same benefits from it even if you do it at home. You don’t have to go out to the spa if you start using massage chairs.

Massage chairs are great investments to help with stress at work. They give you the same benefits that you get from going to a spa. These include improved blood circulation, easing tense muscles, relaxing the mind, and thanks to chairs with shiatsu techniques; a stronger immune system as the chair’s massage can increase your body’s lymphocytes.

You sit on the chair regularly to help distribute the weight to other muscles and release the pain from the shoulder, neck, and spine, promoting good posture. The massage chair that effectively helps your muscles relax also improves the quality of your breathing; promotes better mental health as more endorphins and serotonin are released; and regulate your blood pressure. If you keep using massage chairs daily, you can reduce the levels of stress hormone cortisol in your body and help you sleep better.

Stress at work is almost a given, but you should not let it bring you down and ruin your life outside of work. Instead, handle it well by doing the tips mentioned above. You might want to invest in an excellent massage chair, too, if you want a constant stress reliever in your life. 

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