Living out their own is not easy, growth is accompanied by pressure. In the face of pressure, everyone has their own customary countermeasures, but not all methods can have a positive effect.
If you are under stress for a long time, in addition to depression and anxiety, it can also cause physical ailments, such as headaches, neck and back pain, indigestion, high blood pressure, insomnia, etc. It can also slow down the repair of body tissues. Stress also slows down the repair and remodeling functions of body tissues, and allows the immune system and inflammatory system to be blocked, making people more susceptible to malignant diseases.
So we need to learn about stress management and master stress reduction techniques so that you can live a more relaxed and enjoyable life.
The book "20 Lessons in Mental Stress Reduction" is written by a number of American psychologists, recommended by 90 psychiatrists, and also written by China's famous Wu Zhihong psychologist.
The book divides stress reduction into two categories: relaxation techniques and stress reduction techniques. Relaxation techniques focus on relaxing the body, while stress reduction techniques focus on adjusting the way of thinking.
First of all, I would like to share with you the first part of the book: relaxation techniques
Breathing exercises
Breathing exercises can be effective in relieving anxiety disorders, panic disorders, depression, irritability, muscle tension, headaches, fatigue, etc.
Breathing exercises can also be effective in relieving stress.
Basic Abdominal Breathing:
1. Breathe through your nose as the air enters your nose, reaches the back of your throat, and then enters your abdomen.
2. When you exhale, press your hands firmly against your abdomen; when you inhale y, your abdomen will push your hands back.
3. Imagine your abdomen as a balloon; when you inhale, your abdomen fills with air.
Inhale ...... exhale ...... and so on
Breathe in slowly and y, so that the abdomen rises and falls, and the body will feel more and more relaxed.
Gradual Relaxation
Gradual relaxation is effective in treating muscle tension, anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, neck and back pain, high blood pressure, moderate fear and stuttering.
Basic method:
Simply put, let each muscle in the body tense for 5-7 seconds, then relax for 15-30 seconds and repeat.
1.Curl both fists, tense biceps and forearms, then relax.
2. Turn your head clockwise, then counterclockwise, then relax.
3. Wrinkle your forehead, squint your eyes, open your mouth, shrug your shoulders, then relax.
4. Open your shoulder blades outward and backward, breathe y into your chest, hold your breath, and relax.
5. Breathe y, stomach bulging, hold for a few minutes, then relax again.
6. Straighten your feet, toes pointing toward your face, shins tight. Hold, relax.
Straighten your legs, bend your toes, tense your calf bellies, thighs and buttocks, and relax.
After mastering the technique and going through a regular practice, it becomes easier and easier to relax.
Meditation for Relaxation
Meditation is useful for treating and preventing autoimmune diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and migraines, as well as providing relief from obsessive thinking, anxiety, depression, and hostility.
Basic Methods:
Sitting Position1. Choose a sitting position that is comfortable for you, with your knees comfortably apart, legs crossed, and hands resting on your thighs.
2. Keep your back straight, but never stiff, and keep your chin slightly tucked in so that the weight of your head is completely on your spine.
3, the upper body left and right, then back and forth gently rock a few times, so that the center of gravity of the upper body in the hips to find a balance point.
4. Close your mouth and breathe through your nostrils, with the tip of your tongue against your palate.
Eyes closed BreathingInhale and let the breath reach the upper chest, then the stomach, then the abdomen, where we will feel the expansion and contraction of the abdominal muscles.
MindfulnessA mindfulness that goes with the flow may help the meditator reach a state of relaxation.
TimeMeditation can be relaxing whenever you take the time to do it, even if you only practice it for five minutes a day.
There are many types of meditation, including yoga voice meditation, meditation, and counting breath meditation, so I won't go into detail here.
Visual imagery
Using imagination to relax can be a great stress reliever, and visual imagery has been popularized in medical treatments for cancer and pain everywhere.
Specific methods:
1, feeling method
We can let the brain empty, and then traced a scene, you can imagine being at the beach, the sea breeze blowing on our skin, or their own want to be in the scene, so that they are very pleasant, very relaxed.
2, the program method
Can imagine a goal that we hope to achieve, or a way to heal quickly. For example:Imagine in advance that you want to participate in the competition or speech, negotiations, etc., to preview the possible scenarios, so that you can better cope with a variety of situations, or in advance to experience a variety of ending feelings.
3. Guided method
We visualize a scene from the past and wait for our subconscious mind or inner guide to complete the missing pieces of the puzzle and make up for our inner regrets.
Visual imagery helps us to relax, but it also helps us to focus and clarify our thoughts, and regular practice will enhance our sense of well-being.
The "Relaxation Techniques" section of the book also covers applied relaxation training, self-hypnosis, autogenous relaxation training methods, and integrated application techniques, so I won't go into all of them here.
Next, we will share the second part of the content: stress reduction techniques, mainly to adjust the thinking to achieve the effect of stress reduction.
Focusing therapy
Another way to listen to the body is through focusing therapy. Focusing therapy will begin the journey of emotional healing, healing the emotional damage that has affected you so much, listening to your heart and accepting your dissatisfaction.
Outline of the stages of Focusing Therapy:
1. Choose a problem
2. Focus your attention inside your body
3. Slowly bring in your own experience and feelings
4. Wait for the experience to form and feel what your problem is causing your body to feel
5. Gradually understand our experience and describe it with Describing it in words and images
6. Feeling the experience Describing the experience Looking for a description that matches the timely experience.
7. Stay with this description and continue to feel the experience.
8. Be open and curious about the experience. Feel the feeling itself and what emotions it evokes
9. If the experience is willing to tell us more about the feeling, gently prompt it to show itself
10. Receive all the sensations and gently say "thank you" to the body
In times of stress, Focusing Therapy can help us connect with the barriers that exist between us and feeling good, and it can provide guidance on how to cope with stress.
Listening to our inner selves can make us feel better and give us more clarity if further action is needed.
Refuting irrational ideas
All irrational ideas originate in the self; some worries and anxieties are imagined, and there may be some things that aren't that serious at all.
How to bring yourself back to rationality and recognize the truth of the matter is divided into five steps.
Exercise steps:
1. Write down the truth of what happened when you were worried, only the facts, not speculations, subjective impressions or value judgments.
2. Write down the self-talk about the matter. Write down our subjective value judgments, hypothetical predictions, and concerns.
3. Pay attention to your emotional reactions and create a label with short words such as "anger," "depression," "fear," and so on.
4. Refute and change the irrational self-talk from Step 2 by doing the following.
A. Identify the irrational idea we want to refute
B. Is this idea reasonable?
C. What is the evidence that this idea is wrong?
D, What is the worst possible outcome if it does happen?
5. Be clear about your irrational ideas and compare them with rational thinking, the scholar replaces him with other self-talk.
After experiencing a stressful emotion, take the initiative to transform it into a relatively healthy negative emotion.
Facing Worry and Anxiety Head-on
Anxiety, when appropriate, can contribute to our progress, but when it is too much, it can lead to a constant state of physical alertness, which can lead to sleep problems, fatigued muscles, and lack of concentration, which can interfere with our work and life.
People who are always worried are accustomed to planning for the worst in everything. We can write down all our worries and write that we need to face the worst possible outcome, and then allow ourselves to rack our brains to come up with solutions and actions that may help us get through the difficult times.
Of course some anxiety is not going to happen at all, it is caused by our over-worrying, and by using more relaxation skills and reducing tension, we will have a lot more peace within ourselves.
Anger prevention
The skill of anger prevention is to try to replace anger thinking with relaxation to calm yourself down and reduce anger when you notice signs of anger.
Coping Thought List:
Take a deep breath and relax Anger doesn't help I can control my emotions if I stay calm My emotions won't be affected by this person Even if I get angry, it won't change her mind, it will only make me more upset Stay calm, don't taunt the person, don't attack the person I can calmly express my opinion No, I can't do that, I can't do that. I can calmly express my opinion There is no right or wrong, there are only trade-offs Get out of here, calm down, and come back to the problem I can't make people do what I want them to doWe tend to look at something and immediately jump to conclusions or interpret it from our own point of view, which is an over-generalization. Often times others have their own codes of behavior, and they usually think ours are wrong too. So think differently too.
Exercise to reduce stress
Exercise releases natural chemicals that are rejected by stress and restores the body to its normal state, and with the help of different forms of exercise, we can withdraw from stress and gain resilience.
Aerobics:Running, walking, swimming, biking and dancing are all popular aerobic activities.
Stretching exercises, such as yoga, and bodybuilding exercises can be effective in relieving stress-induced chronic muscle tension that can lead to body aches and pains.
Exercise can also help relieve irritability, depression and anxiety.
Of course, there are many other ways to relieve stress, such as watching TV, watching movies, surfing the Internet, hobbies, and eating, singing, etc., vary from person to person, effective is good.