Tip’s to De-stress Your Life

Eat and Drink Wisely

Any stressful situation is going to feel worse if you are not taking care of your physical health. Eat regularly, including breakfast, drink plenty of water and reduce alcohol consumption. For further advice, please enquire about our Body Composition and Healthy Eating options.


 

Exercise Regularly

For control of stress, you don't need to do lots of exercise. A daily brisk walk can be enough. However, the fitter you are, the better you feel about yourself, so be sure to make the most of our extensive fitness timetable


 

Communicate

Misunderstandings can be a cause of stress. Don't bottle up grievances, but don't express them angrily either. Learn to make a calm, assertive statement of your feelings and needs and be prepared to listen and respond to those of others. Also, don't keep your pleasures to yourself. If you are having a good time or feeling happy, say so. Express gratitude. If you like someone, make sure they know. It's much more relaxing to have happy people around you, so help them to be so.
 

Think Positively

Learn to like, respect and accept yourself. If you are constantly critical of yourself and put yourself down, when you come up against a true adversary you will be outnumbered.
 

Rest

Time spent resting is not time wasted. At the end of the day, allocate half an hour to winding down before bed. Perhaps take a short walk, have a warm bath, a hot milky drink, for example. Have you thought of a relaxation CD, available in our Boutique? Better still, a Sleep Strategies session with our stress management expert.

 

Plan and Enjoy Regular Treats

We all need a variety of experiences to remain emotionally healthy. Spend time with friends. Take up a hobby. Do something new from time to time. Perhaps spoil yourself with one of our exclusive luxury treatments such as the Wave Translator, Aloe Vera and Lavender Envelopment or the Chakra Journey

 

Foster Good Relationships

We all need to give and receive attention. Some of the worst stresses come from failed relationships which could have survived perfectly well if they had not been taken for granted and neglected. If you need people around you, say at work, to be civil and friendly, treat them that way. Remember, the best way to control someone else's behaviour is through example.


 

Enjoy Life

This is the only chance you get. Actively concentrate on life's rewards rather than its irritations. They usually occur in equal amounts, and your perception depends on your attitude. When terrible times come, as they may, you will be stronger as a generally happy person than as a generally miserable one
 

Relaxation Exercise
 

• Choose a quiet place where you will not be interrupted. Play very quiet, slow instrumental music. Sit or lie in a comfortable position, making sure that you are warm and that you feel well-supported, including your head. Regular practice of this simple exercise can have a huge influence on your general well-being.
• For a minute or two, concentrate on slow abdominal breathing. Breathe in deeply, watching your abdomen rise. Hold the breath in your lungs for a few seconds then let it fall out in a rush. Close your eyes. Now, as you take each breath in see it as a stream of sparklingly clean air entering and penetrating your whole body. As you hold the breath for a couple of seconds, see your tension as a lump of grey material at the centre of your body, then as you exhale, see a thick layer being stripped off from the lump and expelled with each breath. Let the lump get smaller and smaller until at about the tenth breath the last of it is breathed out. Then breathe normally and forget about it
• Now, feel the heaviness of your own body. Imagine the bed or chair is actually pressing upwards under you, rather than your weight pressing down. Move your attention first to the place where the back of your head is supported and feel the pressure, then to the place that supports your feet. Keep all of your attention in those two spots and feel that the rest of your body is suspended between them like a hammock.
• Now return your attention to your breathing and after five or six deep, slow abdominal breaths, open your eyes and allow yourself to return to your usual surroundings. Think about how it feels to be relaxed, let yourself yawn a bit then get up slowly and have a drink of water before getting back to your everyday tasks.
• Don’t forget our fitness timetable includes a number of unique relaxation classes. Why not try Chinese Wand, Dragon Fan or Tai Chi Sword.

Time Management Tips

• Write down tasks as they are received. Memory gets less reliable as we get older and this process begins at about age 18.

• Make a list of regular (weekly?) tasks and allocate each to a regular time slot. Don't deviate from this unless absolutely necessary. Don't allow other people to control the routine, e.g. don't be afraid to say 'Of course I will do that job for you, as soon as I have finished my weekly report'.
• Practice some effective but inoffensive ways of saying 'no'. Books on the subject of assertiveness will give tactics.
• Divide lengthy tasks into shorter components and be consciously aware of having completed each one. That way you will feel pleased about your progress rather than oppressed by what remains to be done.
• Do tasks requiring concentration and thought when you are freshest. For most people this will be around mid-morning, but follow your own body clock.
• Actively look for tasks that can be discarded or delegated. Then delegate and don't interfere. Try sharing tasks - if you are a real workaholic, tell yourself you are doing this in order to pick up methods of work and thought from others, to your own advantage.
• Set priorities. Sounds obvious, but the only way to make this effective is to remember that you can only accomplish so much in one day, so put at the top of your list the things that really matter for that day. Do not take on more when you know you will not complete.
• Think of the 'to-do' list as if it were like a roller towel. Things that are really important and can only be done by you will come round again.
• Avoid procrastination. Do the tough jobs when they present themselves - later you may be even more busy. When you have done a tough job, take a moment to feel satisfied that it is over.
• Don't pursue perfection. Congratulate yourself when you have achieved a realistic target then move on.
• On your next visit to the Hall please enquire about our Lifestyle Analysis and Personal Visualisation one-to-one sessions.

laterlife interest

The above article is part of the features section of laterlife.com called laterlife interest. laterlife interest contains a variety of articles of interest for visitors to laterlife.com written by a number of experienced and new journalists.

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