Relaxation has many advantages: It slows down breathing, lowers blood pressure, reduces stress in muscles, prevents exhaustion, increases self-confidence and improves mood, concentration, and memory, so it's no wonder that we all strive to be calm all the time. However, busy daily life often compels us to deal with stressful frustrating moments in which it is hard to keep cool.
Whether it's on the road, in the office or at home with your children, different events can harm your peace, and for that, we’ve collected 16 simple ways for you to easily relax in different situations in life.
While driving, you can’t afford to relax. The body is alert, the eyes detect possible dangers and the brain tries to calculate the distance between your car and the other vehicles around to you. If all these reasons are not bad enough, add the traffic jams, the bus leaving the station without signaling, and the fact that you have a meeting that starts in ten minutes and the traffic light refuses to change. To stay cool while driving, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the following methods and tips.
1. Do some light exercise - Light physical activity has been found to reduce stress and contribute to a sense of relaxation, even if it is a very light activity. One simple way to do this is to hold on to the wheel, tense up your muscles and release. There is also another exercise you can do while waiting by a light, which is designed to strengthen the shoulder muscles: Place two hands on the steering wheel and relax the shoulders so that your elbows bend at 90 degrees, then push your hands towards the wheel and let go. The subsequent tensing and releasing were found to soothe the muscles and the body.
2. Take advantage of the waiting time at traffic lights for deep breathing - If someone cuts you off on the road and you begin to feel anxious or stressed, slowly breathe in air through your nose and then breathe out through your mouth. A deep breath lets more oxygen into the body than normal breathing and stimulates the natural relaxation mechanisms of the body.
3. Sing loudly – While radios have become more or less obsolete, there is still one place where everyone listens to them. While traffic jams and traffic can lead to tension and stress, if you turn up the volume of the radio and sing loudly, you will find that the trip to work is not so terrible and can even be nice.
4. Add natural smells to your car - You get a fragrance dispenser from the gas station and hang it on the front mirror, thinking that a pleasant smell won’t hurt anyone, but what you may not know is that different smells can affect your mood. Studies have found that mint, for example, helps maintain alertness and reduce stress, while coffee and lemon scents help improve concentration and contribute to lucid thinking.
Heavy traffic on the road can throw you off, but there are days where your workload is no less heavy and you may succumb to the stress of it all. However, certain methods of relaxation have been found to reduce stress and improve your functioning in the workplace!
5. Change the background of your computer screen - If you work on a computer, sometimes a simple action like changing your desktop background from a blank screen to a picture of nature can do wonders. Looking at nature for a few minutes, even if only through a picture, may increase your ability to concentrate and contribute to the sense of calm. Choose a favorite landscape of a place where you have been or always dreamed of being and just looked at it; your cause for stress and anxiety will simply disappear.
6. Concentrate on one task at a time - Even if your to-do list runs longer than one page, focusing on the whole thing will only lead you to feel stressed and depressed and will not allow you to do the tasks best. So, focus on a single task each time. While the amount of work will remain the same and the rest of the tasks won’t go away, focusing itself can lower your stress levels, increase concentration, and allow you to do your best on each task.
7. Chew gum - If you feel stress and are not late for a meeting, pull out a piece of gum and start chewing. In addition to its wonderful taste, chewing gum can help reduce levels of stress and anxiety, depression and exhaustion, as found in a 2011 study.
8. Listen to music with alpha sound waves – The brains electrical activity divides into 4 frequencies: beta, alpha, theta, and delta. The brain usually works on beta waves during the day-to-day operation, the alpha frequency is the frequency characteristic of the state of relaxation. During work and intense thinking, the brain transmits beta waves, which in a high amount can lead to stress and tension. Listening to music that has alpha waves can change the frequencies in the brain, allowing it to relax and the body to renewable energies. Alpha waves also improve memory and help concentration, so if you listen to this music while you work you can also be a better employee.
Our children are the light of our lives, but it is known that too bright a light can cause stress and headaches. The following tips will allow you to remain calm, even when your kids aren’t making it easy.
9. Stop looking at the clock - One of the main causes of anger is the child's lack of listening. You want him/her to take a shower at a certain time, and he/she wants to finish watching their show and shower 15 minutes later than usual. Once you are more flexible in terms of time, you will find that your kids will listen to you more, even if it takes a few minutes longer. In addition, the less tough you are and the more freedom they are given in terms of time, the freer you will be.
10. Hug your kids when you’re angry at them - Children have a special ability to make a person lose it, and often, sending your kids to their room or yelling at them only serves to increase your anger and not teach the child about his/her mistake. Instead, the next time the child argues with or raises their voice, try hugging them and so both of you will calm down and the child will learn that you can solve arguments calmly. In addition, studies show that 20 seconds of hugging may increase levels of oxytocin in the body (the love hormone), which will contribute to a sense of joy and relaxation in you and your child.
11. Exercise together - Small children need to let out a lot of energy and exercise is just the way to do it. Instead of angrily chasing after your kids around the house or at the park, try joining them and you’ll find that you (and your children) are happier and more relaxed.
12. Know your moments of weakness - Each parent learns the moments and situations of the day when they tend to be more nervous and stressed than at other times. Try to identify these moments so that you can prepare for them in advance, and neutralize the stressful factor before your children enter the picture. For example, if you get anxious about your child taking a long time to pick out their clothes in the morning, prepare the outfit together the night before. The early preparation will allow you to maintain calm and peace even in the most stressful moments.
Theoretically, your home should be a haven of peace and tranquility, but in practice, this isn’t always true and at home, you may suffer from many distractions and stressors. Therefore, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the following tips.
13. Create a quiet place for yourself - Sometimes it’s hard to find the energy to clean the house up after a long day, and the mess can lead to a sense of unrest. So, find a quiet corner in your house, clear it out of all distractions and make sure there’s a comfortable place to sit in it. Make it clear to the rest of the family that the space is for you only, then shut out that corner with a curtain and try to light it with soft light (open your window curtains during the day and use candles or dimmed lighting in the evening). Whenever you feel stress or anger, you can sit in this private corner and relax.
14. Disconnect all your gadgets- Choose an hour of the day (when you are at home of course), where you choose not to use electrical gadgets. Turn off the TV and the radio, turn off your phone, and cook nothing. You will soon find that you have little left to do but sit back and relax...
15. Hug yourself every morning - Various stretching exercises help relax your muscles and provide a sense of relaxation. Start each morning with a stretch that will help you start the day with some fun. Lie in bed, bend your knees toward your chest and hug them close to your body (if you wish you can move from side to side). Stay in this position for about 20-50 seconds, release and do it again. This exercise helps to provide a sense of relaxation and is also highly recommended for those who suffer from back pain.
