A rise in stress and anxiety can impact your professional and personal life. That stress affects you physically as well as mentally and emotionally. Most of you will have experienced tension in your shoulders, back, hands, and feet at some point. How does that make you feel?
When your body reacts to stress and anxiety it can have a domino effect on your health. What might begin as a tension headache can become more serious if left untreated. It’s not only the aches and pains you need to watch out for. Stress can develop into stomach issues such as IBS, chest pains, insomnia and fatigue, and even throat problems.
A small amount of stress is good for you; it motivates and challenges you. Consistent stress, however, wears down the mind and body.
It’s easy to tell yourself that you need to slow down, exercise more, and eat healthier to boost your wellbeing, but without addressing the root cause these challenges will continue to upset and potentially harm you.
What techniques help us deal with stress?
There are a variety of ways you can help yourself to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety from the comfort of your own home. If you have severe problems, especially where chest pains or breathing difficulties are prevalent, I would always recommend you speak with your GP for advice.
For easy techniques try one or more of the following:
Maintain an active lifestyle – this doesn’t mean you need to be running a half-marathon every other day. Activity can be a ten-minute walk after dinner, a yoga class, swimming, or dancing around your living room. Making a conscious effort to move more every day is a wonderful way to deal with stress.
Take a time out – how uplifted do you feel when you’ve had a coffee with a friend, or popped to the cinema with your children? Gifting yourself some time to do those activities that bring you joy can alleviate feelings of anxiety.
Drop the bad habits – yes, it’s easier said than done but when you cut down on smoking and drinking as ways to cope with your stress you’ll find new habits that support your physical and mental health.
Meditation and mindfulness – living in the moment, or being ‘mindful’ allows you to switch off from the past and the future and focus purely on the now. Meditation can help with this. There are many apps, CDs, and external guides to follow, or you can simply sit in your favourite chair and focus on your breathing for five minutes. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth until you feel more settled and less anxious.
Hands-on treatments – physical connection can be a powerful tool when reducing stress and anxiety. Hands-on treatments, such as reflexology or massage, are the perfect way to experience that human connection. Visiting a practitioner for regular treatments will have a long-term positive effect on your wellbeing.
“I was treated to a taster reflexology treatment, which was very relaxing. Using various massaging methods on specific points on my feet, it was amazing how effective the treatment was and Sharon certainly helped make deadline day a little less stressful.”
Sam, office worker – Tamworth
Reflexology techniques to try at home
Reflexology can be performed on feet, hands, face, and ears. When thinking of using these techniques at home, you may find it easier to work with your hands.
For a quick stress fix you can use any of these techniques, but putting them all together as a mini routine can become part of your regular self-care toolkit.
Pinch your fingertips – do this for a few seconds on each finger and thumb. Don’t press so hard it hurts your nail, but be firm enough to feel the pressure.
Rub your fingers – try rubbing each finger and thumb briskly from the base to the tip.
Tug your fingers – hold each finger in turn and rotate it gently clockwise and then anticlockwise. Finish by gently tugging the finger or thumb.
Massage the back of your hands – use the thumb of your opposite hand and gently sweep your thumb across the top of each hand from your wrist down to your knuckles.
Massage your palm – turn your hand over and using small circular motions with your thumb, massage around each palm.
Finish off by pressing your thumb into the centre of each palm with firm pressure. Take a deep breath in through your nose as you press down and release the breath through your mouth as you let go. Do this a couple of times to help clear your mind and refocus on your day.
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The benefits of regular reflexology sessions
Finding ways to reduce your stress and anxiety will help you function better at work and at home. While using self-care techniques is a wonderful start, there is no real substitute for seeing a qualified practitioner who can work with you regularly to build, boost, and maintain optimum health and wellbeing.
Foot reflexology is based on the principle that all the organs and glands of the body are represented by a reflex point on the feet. By applying pressure to these points the body can start the process of self-balancing.
It is a deeply relaxing, non-intrusive treatment that prompts inner balance, peace, and harmony. The perfect tonic to alleviate stress and anxiety.
Studies show that our stress and anxiety levels reduce when we are feeling relaxed and a reflexology treatment has a very relaxing effect on both the mind and body so will help you to de-stress.
Start reducing your stress and anxiety today by using some of the techniques I’ve talked about in this post. Alternatively, get in touch for a chat about how I can help you with regular reflexology sessions via my free Discovery Call.
5 ways to reduce stress and anxiety in your workplace
To discover five things you can do right now to reduce stress amongst your staff contact me for a copy of my download. It will help you to recognise where you can make changes to improve your workplace culture and show customers, employees, and suppliers that you take employees’ health and wellness seriously.
About Sharon
Sharon lives with her partner, Geoff, in Warwickshire and they have two adult children. She worked for over 25 years in an office environment, gaining qualifications to degree level in finance, business and management. While there Sharon witnessed and experienced many stressful situations and suffered stress-related illnesses.
Sharon was advised to make some changes to her lifestyle which included trying complementary therapies. After experiencing the benefits of complementary treatments, Sharon decided to retrain and share her knowledge and experiences to help others recognise and manage their own physical and emotional stress and anxiety levels.
Sharon has been working as a complementary therapist for over 15 years now, and she loves helping people manage and reduce their stress levels, to feel uplifted, focused, positive and empowered about their lives.
