STRESS REDUCING TIPS FOR MASSAGE STUDENTS
Being a student brings a certain amount of stress that cannot be avoided. School is a constant balancing act of a full life against academic
responsibilities. Below are 60 suggestions to reduce stress and develop
a habit of daily relaxation.
1)
Breathe using deep abdominal breathing not shallow
chest breathing. Expand your abdomen as you breathe in through your nose, hold
a few seconds, and then release the breath out through your mouth. Pause a few seconds before the next
inhalation.
2)
Maintain a balanced nutritious diet. Eat more fresh
fruit and vegetables, and whole grains.
Choose lean meat and fish.
3)
Limit the intake of salt, refined sugar, and alcohol.
4)
Exercise at least three times a week for 30
minutes. Be sure to include weight
lifting as part of the regime. Exercise will help you forget about stressful
events that occurred during the day.
5)
Stretch often and regularly. Stretching reduces loosens
stiff and tense muscles as well as increases blood flow. Stretching also
decreases stress and anxiety.
6)
Get sufficient rest. When you are well rested, you are
better able to perform your best and deal with stressful situations. Be sure to
get 7-8 hours of sound sleep each night.
7)
Drink water daily, at least ½ ounce per 1 pound of body
weight per day. If you become
dehydrated, you may feel lethargic and low in energy, and hence more
susceptible to stress.
8)
Start the day with 10-15 minutes of morning meditation
or just quiet time. Schedule stress
breaks of at least 15 minutes to relax, especially on crowded days. Breathe slowly and deeply while allowing your
body and mind to rest in a comfortable position.
9)
Laugh often.
Surround yourself with positive, happy people. Go to a comedy club. Tell stories with friends. Watch a Monty Python or Marx Brothers movie.
10) Know
and be able to identify stress triggers. Once you know the source of stress,
you can develop strategies, such as slow deep breathing, for stress management
when confronted with these triggers.
11) Adopt
Reinhold Niebuhr’s serenity prayer as one of your personal philosophies: “God
(or your personal higher power), grant me serenity to accept the things I
cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know
the difference.”
12) Seek
professional help when needed. If stress becomes too overwhelming, spend time
with a mental health or pastoral counselor.
Counselors can assist you with strategies for better coping with stress.
13) Try
using positive visualization or guided imagery.
Think about a time or place when you felt relaxed and contented. As you
visualize the calm setting, recalling sights, sound, and even scents. These can help produce relaxation.
14) Combine
deep breathing with positive visualization or guided imagery. Combining these two stress reduction
techniques is very effective in enhancing relaxation.
15) Regard
each day as a blessing. Also realize
that life if a mixture of experiences some pleasant and some unpleasant. Learn and grow from the later.
16) Try
progressive relaxation, which involves systematically tensing and releasing
various muscle groups in an orderly sequence (from the face downward for from
the feet upward). This will help induce
relaxed and help you recognize the onset of muscle tension.
17) Monitor
and control your spending. Financial difficulties increase stress. In essence,
spend less than you bring in. If you need help seek expert commission-free
financial advice.
18) Maintain
a positive attitude. It is best to see the glass as half full rather than half
empty. Look at challenges as opportunity for grow.
19) Learn
Tai Chi or Yoga. These activities are
excellent for reducing stress by quieting the mind and promoting full deep
breathing.
20) Surround
yourself with positive and supportive people. Minimize contact with those who
are negative.
21) Talk
to friends and family members. While they are not mental health counselors,
talking to them gives you an opportunity to express feelings and share ideas.
22) Participate
in community worship services. Regular visits to a place of worship are a great
way to connect with others and enhance spiritual and emotional health while
managing stress.
23) Help
others less fortunate than yourself. Ironically, this not only benefits others,
but also provides an opportunity to focus on concerns other than your own.
24) Take
a course or workshop. It does not have to focus on stress or time
management. Learn about something you
are interested in such as history or photography.
25) Smile
when you feel stressed. Research indicates that smiling rather than frowning
can help you feel happier, lowers your heart rate, and decreases respiration
rate.
26) Set
achievable goals. A goal will help focus your thoughts and actions on areas you
feel are important. When these goals are achieved, you feel a sense of
accomplishment, which can reduce stress.
27) Avoid
over-committing yourself and start saying No to things that do not support your
goals or priorities.
28) Begin
accepting responsibility for your decision, those that brought you to where you
are in life. With this attitude, you are no longer a victim and rather become
an empowered individual and problem solver.
29) Read
self improvement books. These books, which are usually written by world-renown
authors, contain insights into many facets of life related to stress
management.
30) Visit
self improvement websites. Like books, these websites contain a lot of useful
material related to stress management. Unlike books, they also can contain
telecommunications such as podcasts or blogs.
31) Keep
a journal. Use it daily to explore your
thoughts and feelings. Journaling reduces stress by taking internal process,
committing them to paper, and then reflecting or clarifying them.
32) Take
a hike (or just a leisurely stroll). This not only reduces stress but is a
great form of exercise. In fact, make walking a daily activity.
33) Why
worry when you can pray! If you believe
in God, pray and pray often. Don’t just pray for help, but tell God (or your
higher power) what about your day and how it made you feel. Talking to the all
powerful and merciful is a great form of stress relief.
34) Listen
to enjoyable music. Music has the ability to alter mood and relieve
stress.
35) Drink
herbal tea. Different herbs, such as chamomile, are known for their soothing
effects.
36) Ask
people you admire (such as your instructors) how they cope with stress. Look around and note people who remain
composed under pressure. Adopt some of their stress reducing strategies.
37) Develop
a relaxed attitude and sense of appreciation and gratitude towards work and
relationships.
38) Practice
reverie. At the end of each day, spend
time in reflection. Review the interactions you had with people. If a situation
generates stress, replay it over and over again until it becomes mundane. Then see the situation again with a new
scenario, while vowing to behave more appropriately in the future.
39) Enjoy
more leisure time. Write down 10 things
you like to do, cut out these 10 items, and place them in a small bag or
box. When you are feeling stressed,
reach in and select one. Read the thing
you enjoy and do it!
40) Develop
a hobby. Becoming immersed in an enjoyable and interesting activity is a great
form of stress relief.
41) Take
up indoor or outdoor gardening. Gardening is a great form of physical activity
and it teaches important lessons of cause and effect. Research indicates that being in a garden,
even viewing a garden, relieves stress.
42) Sing.
Yes, singing can be a fun and liberating form of stress relief. Sing loudly
when possible. You don’t need to be on key, just enjoy yourself. PS – Students love when instructors begin
lecturing in opera.
43) Look
for opportunity while being an optimist. “The pessimist sees the difficulty in
every opportunity; the optimist, the opportunity in every difficulty.” ~ L. P.
Jacks
44) Develop
negotiation skills, creating a win-win in every situation. This not only helps resolve stressful
situations and conflicts, but also promotes confidence and assertiveness. Such
skills will help create more satisfying relationships.
45) Laugh
often. Laughter is a wonderful stress management tool. It promotes deep
breathing, reduces muscular tension, and stimulates the production of
endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers.
46) Delegate
tasks you do not like to do. This helps
to manage your workload, increases your effectiveness, and enhances your own
enjoyment.
47) Know
and respect your limits. Don’t try to fit too much into a day and avoid over
committing yourself to the point of break down.
48) Take
frequent holidays or vacations. This
gives you an opportunity to recharge your batteries, reconnect with yourself,
have fun, and prevent burn out.
49) Squeeze
a stress ball. By simply squeezing the
ball over and over, you tense the muscles in your arms. After releasing, your
muscles will become quite relaxed, and the stress will slowly go away. Because
stress balls are small you can take one with you wherever you go. You can make one by filling a deflated balloon
with 1/3 to ½ cup of cornstarch.
50) Honor
your emotions by expressing them appropriately.
Keep a journal, see a counselor, or join a peer support group.
51) Indulge
yourself. “You know, sometimes you do
something for no reason at all,” says Tom Hanks as Forest Gump. Self-Indulgence
and pampering oneself are nurturing, frivolous, and direction-less activities
we do for ourselves. Pampering just plain feels good and is more akin to
play. Here are a few self-indulgent
confessions, I mean suggestions: finger-painting, eating outdoors, comfortable
lounge wear, and going to the movies and watch two or three feature films,
back-to-back, while eating more than your share of Snowcaps.
52) Play
games. Yes, playing card or board games
can reduce stress. Games that involve more than several players such as Twister
or Pictionary encourage playful interaction with others.
53) Stimulate
yourself intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally on a regular basis. Go to
art galleries, museums, worship services, and concerts. Read a novel, write
poetry, or see a foreign film. Talk about religion and politics with someone
who has differing philosophies.
54) Go
to a stage production. This can a
ballet, opera, or show from Broadway. If
it is a musical, locate the soundtrack and learn a few songs. Sing them loudly when you are stressed
out.
55) Avoid
chemical aids. If you have a problem
with recreational drugs or alcohol, see help from a substance abuse
counselor. Oftentimes, substance abuse
is linked to stress and learning stress reduction techniques is an important
part of therapy.
56) Simplify
meals.
57) Eat
a meal by candlelight.
58) Avoid
all forms of tobacco.
59) Write
a faraway friend.
60) Get
a massage.
