3 Proven Ways to Relieve Stress and Leave the Office Healthier
Is it just us, or is stress at an all-time high? With fewer boundaries between work and play, with the magical but hectic holiday season approaching, and following perhaps the most intense political season in recent American (and Facebook) history, it feels a bit like stress is the new norm. Too often, this stress is felt most acutely in the workplace. Deadlines and details can feel never-ending, only exacerbating the stress we feel about everything else. To help us deal with the pressures at work and elsewhere, we are exploring three proven ways to relieve stress and leave the office healthier than when we arrived.
1. Grab your headphones. Developed by neuroscientists, this playlist is composed of the most relaxing songs on the planet. The top song, titled “Weightless,” was produced by Mindlab International following research on the stress responses of study participants. The song produced a greater state of relaxation than any other music tested to date, resulting in 65% less overall anxiety. So the next time you’re sitting back down at your desk after a long meeting, tune into this playlist for some helpful recuperation.
2. Take a deep breath. Repeat. Have you ever stopped in a stressful moment and noticed that you’re breathing has quickened? Or, worse, that you’re holding your breath? That’s because your stress and your breathing rate are intertwined. Measuring your breath is one way to improve those stress levels. As one doctor explains, when you take slow, steady breaths, your brain gets the message that all is well. Controlled breathing is thought to adjust the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, which can slow heart rate, digestion, and the release of stress hormones, altogether promoting feelings of calm. So when you’re about to burst at the seams, inhaling for five seconds and exhaling for six seconds might just turn your day around.
3. Find the right support. As we’ve heard from our doctors, stress has a thousand side effects, from muscle pain to sleep problems to trouble focusing. These side-effects of stress can be offset with the right support at work. In one workplace performance study, an ergonomic intervention provided a study group with significant improvements in both health and productivity. Employees who received a Leap chair and ergonomic training reported significantly lower pain and discomfort in symptom surveys than the control groups. What’s more, after being trained on the Leap chair’s ergonomics and using it for one year, the group achieved up to a 17.8% increase in productivity. With stress being a common denominator in health costs and productivity measures, supportive seating solutions can help deter those symptoms.
While we can’t promise to do away with stress entirely (because all the flights departing for Turks and Caicos tomorrow are booked), these solutions might help to relieve stress at work and help you leave healthier. Do you have other suggestions to relieve stress? Share in the comments below!
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