Are You Needing A Pick-Me-Up During Your Work Day?

Imagine this; you just finished work, and your hard work and patience paid off, then you realize you’re about to go home. Again. 

This is often the problem when a person focuses too much on their work. They no longer notice that their bodies also need a break from the stressful environment they just experienced. They forget how to relax and treat themselves after a hectic work schedule, and there may be times that we think relaxing is just a waste of time and money, but our body truly needs to relax. Relaxing isn’t only about being on the bar and interacting with other people. Often this is just being in your home, sleeping, and doing nothing just to feel at ease or binge-watching your favorite movie. According to an article posted by Justine Clarabut in 2019, when we relax, it helps us think clearly and feel calm when it comes to decision-making. Relaxation slows our heart rate, reduces blood pressure, and it also releases tension in our body. Relaxing also helps to increase the blood flow in our body and improves digestion. 

If you need a pick-me-up, here are some tips on what to do!

1. Do Breathing Exercises

Breathing exercises are another way to calm down and release stress in the simplest way. But, how do you do breathing exercises? According to a 2020 study created by Healthwise and posted by the University of Michigan Health, anyone can do different breathing exercises! These are:

• Belly breathing
  Belly breathing is also known as diaphragmatic breathing. It’s a type of breathing where it strengthens a person’s diaphragm. To learn more about this breathing exercise, Healthline has provided some instructions on doing different kinds of belly breathing here.
  
• 4-7-8 breathing
  4-7-8 breathing is based on the pranayama breathing exercises. Pranayama breathing exercises are an ancient exercise that clears the physical and emotional obstacles in a person’s body to free the breath. Hence, the life energy (known as prana) flows! To exercise this kind of breathing, WebMD has provided instructions for the pranayama-based exercise here.
  
• Roll breathing and;
  Roll breathing is also known as pinwheel breathing. This provides multisensory feedback to help a person breathe deeply! Alberta has provided instructions on how to do this breathing exercise, but a warning as this breathing exercise can be a little bit dizzy on the first try!
• Morning breathing.
  As the name suggests, morning breathing is a breathing exercise that a person can do first thing in the morning as you wake up! This exercise helps relieve muscle stiffness and clear clogged breathing passages. The instructions can be found on the PeaceHealth site right here!
  

Here is also a few podcasts that you can listen to while doing breathing exercises:

• ‍Stress Management: Breathing Exercises
• Breathing to reduce stress podcast is here

2. Aromatherapy

According to a 2020 research by Elizabeth Scott, it has not been proven yet if aromatherapy is equivalent to any stress-relieving techniques though benefits are coming from it! Aromatherapy can reduce the perception of stress, increase contentment, and decrease cortisol, also known as the stress hormone in the body that increases sugar levels. Aromatherapy is also known to be effective when paired with massage for people experiencing anxiety and depression.

If you’re new to aromatherapy, then this is an open door to learning it! There are different types of essential oils used in aromatherapy. Lavender is the most commonly used essential oil for aromatherapy because of all the other benefits this has! It is popularly known to make the mind calm and even lessen headaches.

3. Warm baths

In movies, we have all seen those famous bath scenes where the character just sits in the bath, relieving the stress they have after a long day, which is true. According to Dr. Mark Khorsandi, Stress causes the muscles to contract, and warm baths can help those muscles loosen up, leading the body to relax! Warm baths can also lower your blood sugar and help you eventually fall asleep better since it calms the mind, too, preparing it for a good night’s sleep!

4. Or just spend the day with your pets.

Spending the day with your fur babies may also help you feel relaxed! It is also proven that people who own pets are less likely to suffer from depression than people who don’t own pets. Playing with your pets can also help you release happy hormones known as serotonin and dopamine, which can help you feel calm and relaxed. Other benefits of owning and spending the day with your pets are:

• They help you feel less anxious.
  Owning a pet can help you build your self-confidence and help ease anxiety when meeting other people in public, especially if you’re the type to be awkward when meeting new people. Pets can be the start of every conversation since almost everyone is interested in the ongoing life of every pet owner!
  
• They provide companionship
  They increase your urge to exercise since pets are known to like walks, jogging, or generally the outside. Because of this, they help your body become active and healthy. With companionship, pets can also prevent triggering the symptoms of depression!
  

Key Takeaway:

After a long day of work, we should always take care of ourselves and not criticize ourselves when it comes to having some alone time to help our body relax. By means of relaxing, this isn’t always to spend money on something for yourself, but rather it’s to rest our body and mind from the hectic day at work.