Instant stress busters

How to go from crazed to calm

Yesterday, I stormed out of the drugstore without waiting for my prescription. True, the elder woman in front of me was painstakingly paying for her order in loose coins. But it was obvious that stress was getting to me. Our bodies are hardwired to respond to tense situations. It’s a survival thing, left over from the days when we needed to do a battle with beasts. A flood of stress hormones courses through the bloodstream, triggering a rise in blood pressure and heart rate and the causing the intestinal muscles to contract, explains Bruce Rabin, M.D., of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center. My problem, though, was that I’d lost the ability to distinguish between the threat posed by a hungry tiger and that of a tiresome customer who didn’t realize there was a long line behind her.

You can’t prevent stressful events. But you can control your perception of them. “You can fool your brain in to thinking you’re in some degree of control, and that will decrease the stress response.” Says Esther Sternberg M.D., of the National Institute of Mental Health.So how do you fool your brain? The most effective way is to interrupt the cycle responses. Try the following”

      Breathe!

When road construction has slowed traffic to two miles an hour and you need to be at your child’s school in ten minutes, you’ll probably taking rapids, shallow breaths using your chest. What’s required are deep abdominal breaths, which will suck large amounts of air into your lungs. (To achieve this, breathe so that you puff out your tummy as you inhale.) Your brain detects the increased oxygen and lowers the flow of stress hormones, Oxygen also triggers longer, calmer brain waves, the kind that are associated with relaxation. Take three to five deep breaths – no more that, or you might get dizzy.

Laugh!

No kidding: Studies have shown that people who laughed the most heartily while watching a funny movie registered the biggest drops in their level of stress hormones. When you’re under pressure, you get trapped in a cycle of catastrophic thought – This is so terrible! There’s no way out! “Humor breaks into those thoughts allowing you to regain mental control,” explains Janet Kiecolt-Glaser, Ph.D., of Ohio State Univ. College of Medicine.

Of course, when you’re locked out of your car or you’re being chewed out at a staff meeting, you can’t exactly turn on a rerun of The Simpsons. That’s why you need a comedy playlist: three or four things guaranteed to make you giggle just by thinking about them. A joke, a Saturday Night Live skit, the look on your sisters face when her favorite American Idol was picked…And if your stressing out at work or at home, surf over to any Youtube channels that features hilarious clips. “Watching one of these clips will never fail to cut the tension”.

      Chant!

Coin a soothing phrase that you can repeat. You’re not competing for a Pulitzer Prize here - something simple like “I can do it!” will work. So will a fragment of a prayer or psalm, like “The Lord is my shepherd.” The key is to practice in advance. When you’re feeling relaxed, chant your phrase softly to yourself several times. Then do it silently. “Repetitive actions like chants are a way of getting yourself into a meditative state – or near enough to help you relax,” says Dr. Sternberg.

      Personalize!

It may help also help to have your own instant de-stressor, something that you know will lift your mood. These strategies shared by some of the “netizens” worldwide might help you out:

·      “I do a yoga move – you scrunch up your whole face, eyes closed then open your eyes and mouth as fast as you can. It looks funny but it’s great.” – Marie

·      “I count to ten in all the languages I’ve tried to learn. My brain is so focused that by the time I’m at five, the worst is over.” – Denise

·      “I clasp my hands behind me and push them as far as they can go. My stress tends to center in my back, so stretching releases a lot of the tension.” – Arthur

·      “I take two minutes to look at a gardening magazine. Flowers even pictures of them, always help me relax.” – Roselle

·      When I’m standing in lines, I do little exercises: mostly leg lifts and head rolls. It calms me and makes me feel I’m not wasting my time.” – Anna

·      “I picture my son asleep in his crib. Even though he’s now in college, the image of that peaceful face and those tiny curled-up fingers still makes me forget whatever was stressing me out.” - Kim