stress management
Abhishek Agarwal asked:


Managing Stress is as much a physical issue as it is a psychological concern. To boost the benefits of counseling, experts of stress management and therapists keep advising their clients to get busy in any exercise training program. People who are suffering from extreme stress mostly complain of weakness, sluggishness in going about daily work and also feel that they are unable to perform to the fullest.

Let us assume that you are determined to go through a stress management exercise program, how do we begin then? If you have not been active for a long time and have been leading a sedentic life, the best way to start is by walking. It can become quite enjoyable for sure when you take pleasure in small things like noticing surroundings - the green plants around, the chirping birds, the different types of buildings, the people around etc.Walking briskly can be a good exercise and eventually you will start to feel better and less stressed.

While starting on a stress management exercising program, keep in mind that exercise trains but too much of it can strain. This means that you should work at a comfortable pace and level. If you overburden yourself, there are chances that you will get more stressed than before. You should exercise at a level and frequency that you enjoy and become healthier rather than causing harm to yourself. Have fun while running and enjoy every movement of your body without any strain .

You don’t need to be a professional runner to achieve the beneficial effects of stress management program. In fact, researchers have proved that any physical exercise of moderate nature 30-40 minutes daily gives many health benefits. By moderate, we mean exercises like cycling, gardening, brisk walking and performing household chores.

Since physical exercise requires good concentration, you will have no time to think about your problems. This will slowly rid you off the stress eventually. This is called a type of selective awareness.

Strenuous exercise can provide even better results and benefits. To obtain cardiovascular benefits from strenuous exercises, the heart rate should be raised to 60%-80% level.

For example, if your age is 30 years, your target heart rate should be 190 beats/minute. You should adapt your self to your training program so that heart rate during exercise is between 60%-80% of 190 beats/minute or in other words between 114-152 beats/minute.

For the desired results of the training program, you should exercise 20-30 minutes for 3-4 days every week. Since cardio respiratory endurance decreases after 48 hrs, you must ensure that you exercise at least three days in a week. You can schedule your exercise in your daily routine in a manner comfortable to you. This way, you will approach it like a commitment that has to be kept and will be more than ready to exercise rather than finding excuses to exercise when you get time and putting it off continuously for a later date.

Managing stress through training can benefit everyone. People who go through such program are able to relieve stress through exercise even if they have problems like physical disability, shortage of time or low level of fitness. To assess and properly find out how your body is responding to specific types of exercises, learn to listen to the body. The following are the signs of over exhaustion and give you signals to cut down on your exercise routine.

- Muscle and joint Soreness

- Feeling of heavy in arms and legs

- Not able to relax

- Continuously feeling tired

- Bad appetite

- Under weight

- Problem such as Constipation and diarrhea

- Repeatedly getting injured

American College for Sports Medicine advices that testing should be done before starting any exercise program. They suggest that for healthy people below 45 years, and people below 35 years with some health risk factors but negligible symptoms of disease, a stress test is not mandatory. However, those over 45 years and showing some symptoms of diseases (cardiac, metabolic, pulmonary) and those actually having one of these types of diseases must be given a stress test before they start managing stress through training program.

stress management
Ashish Jain asked:


For managing the stress, there are two types of methods such as temporary methods and the permanent method. Temporary methods are many, but the permanent method is only one-meditation! That is the ultimate stress management product.

Meditation leads to a state of supreme happiness. But in this mad race of materialistic world, many say that they don’t have time for meditation. What a strange paradox! Meditation leads you to happiness. And you don’t find time to become happy! Don’t feel alienated with stress and be in the know of stress management balls.

Coming to the contemporary methods of stress relief, one of the popular one is-achieve stress relief through stress balls. When you are under stress, to remain without activity will add more to your stress. You are restless, and to find a way out, take something in your hand, and squeeze it. Play with it in style. It will take care of your tensions and concerns. It is a sort of diversion from the brooding state of your mind. You have something else to do than the useless thinking that goes to increase your stress and tension. Stress balls are found to be good at their limited stress relief act.

Why these stress balls do what they do- to relieve stress to some extent? Before answering this question, let me tell you the common reasons for your stress. Motivated desires are the cause for your stress. When such desires are not fulfilled, you begin to worry and this mounting worry is the cause of your stress. You expect your particular wish to fructify in a particular manner. When that does not happen, you are frustrated and the stress process begins.

The stress balls are available for the asking. You get them in departmental stores, job fairs, business/industry gatherings. They perform their job well, and you feel good handling them. You feel, as if you are engaged in some creative activity. You enjoy that unique, relieving noise. You feel some good activity is happening. It is plain joy, no reward of punishment activity. In fact, to play with it is equivalent of doing some exercise. So, it gives the benefit of an exercise and reduces the level of stress.

Another variety of stress balls is liquid balls. They too are excellent to relieve your worries. You will not get much resistance as you work out on them, but the unique feel good experience, will relieve you of the stress. You get stress balls in pairs also. This is a Chinese variety. Rub and bang the balls against each other. The peculiar noise and the physical activity work like a double benefit scheme. The desired object, stress management is achieved.

Management business is to manage…and in this case, why not do it with stress balls?

stress management
Tim Staines asked:


Today, there are so many options when it comes to stress management. There are those who opt for more advanced techniques such as using medications or undergoing some medical procedures. And there are also those who opt for more natural means of managing stress such as massage therapy.

Effectiveness of massage therapy in managing stress

Massage therapy has become a significant part of general health care for many people living in todays stressful world. Many professionals and even traditional healthcare systems all throughout the world recognize that traditional means of managing stress such as in massage therapy could be effective in treating chronic ailments caused by stress and could can and contribute to a higher sense of general well-being.

To many, stress management through massage therapy is considered as the modern antidote for stress because it helps combat stress by trying to reduce the tension build up in the muscles. Aside from boosting the bodys immune system, massage therapy also prevents the decrease in circulation and nutrient delivery to tissues which many people who are stressed often are prone with.

Popular as an ultimate stress reducers, many healthcare professionals make recommendation to their patients people, especially those who live by the rule of stress to undergo massage therapy in their health care treatment plans and stress management strategies.

Benefiting from massage therapy

Statistics show that the most common cause of todays health problems is stress. Aside from improper diet and unhealthy life style, prolonged periods of stress subconsciously affect many systems of the human body.

Aside from being an effective means of managing stress, massage therapy poses a lot of benefits to people. Primarily, it can develop, maintain, rehabilitate, or augment physical function. Among the extensive benefits of massage therapy, most people consider the therapeutic affect of the treatment on their bodies. Since massage therapy causes diverse physiological effects due to the therapists hands moving over the body, its therapeutic effect is proven to improve health by acting directly on the muscular, nervous, circulatory and immune systems.

It also helps relieve or prevent physical dysfunction and pain. And since it targets body parts, which are prone to stress, massage therapy also relaxes tight and tense muscles while improve circulation, recovery time, and immune system function, which reduce overall stress.

Concentrating in creating different movements that can physically stretch muscles, ligaments, tendons, and fascia, massage therapy also encourages the circulation through the tissue, inhibit muscular spasms, and be either sedating or stimulating to the nervous system. And with the continuing research on the beneficial effects of massage therapy, its effectiveness was also discovered in controlling chronic or acute pain.

With the array benefits massage therapy offers to people specially in stress reduction and in creating a sense of relaxation and well-being, it is no wonder that a wide patronage of it will increase energy and will improve peoples outlook on life.

When using massage therapy as a stress management option, it is very important to understand that elementary knowledge of it is not enough for ordinary individuals to practice it and benefit from it.

Being a regulated health profession, massage therapy requires professionals who have completed hours of education at accredited schools and have extensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology, assessment, bodywork techniques, and pathology to know when massage therapy is or is not suitable.

stress management
Sandra Hishinuma asked:


We often think of stress management as a serious subject.  And although the subject is serious, stress can ruin lives, managing it effectively need not be.  There are ways of having fun while managing stress.  The following are some fun ideas for effective stress management.

Squeeze that ball.  I’m sure we’ve all seen them.  We may even have one or two on our desks.  I’m talking about that squishy rubber ball that’s supposed to help relieve stress.  Yes, squeezing that stress ball really can help you effectively manage stress.  By squeezing a stress ball, you contract the muscles in your hand and arm.  As you release, your muscles relax, releasing tension and relieving stress.  So squeeze that ball and take out all your frustrations.

Play a game.  Dust off some of those boxed games you have sitting in your closet.  Although it may sound a bit silly, playing a game of Candyland or Twister can bring a smile and laughter that can help manage the stress that we tend to bottle up inside.  Playing the games can bring us back to a time when we were carefree and stress was not yet part of our world.

Call a friend.  We all enjoy connecting with our friends.  During times of stress, our friends can be an important sounding board to help us talk through our stress and calm us down.  It is especially important that we feel we have friends we can reach out to that can help us manage our stress.  Besides, once you’ve calmed down, you’ll be able to focus on more enjoyable topics to talk about.

Plan something fun.  Set aside time to participate in something you enjoy doing on a regular basis.  Taking an art class, planning a weekend getaway, or playing a round of golf with your friends can help effectively manage your stress.  By participating in something you enjoy, you are able to take your mind off things that cause you stress and help you relax.

Take a vacation.  A few days off will help you recharge your batteries and help you relax.  Employers give you vacation time for a reason.  Don’t be afraid to use it when you need a mental break from work.  You can’t function at peak level on your job when you feel stressed and burnt out.  A few days vacation will help give you some breathing space away from your job to wind down.  You can then return refreshed and rejuvenated to your job and work at optimum level again.

Read a book.  If you can’t take a physical vacation, take a mental vacation to relieve stress.  Whether you enjoy mysteries, romance, or sci-fi, a book helps to take you away into another world.  We can imagine being a part of the story when reading a book.  This mental escape helps to take our mind off the things that cause us stress in real life and frees our imagination to become a part of the story we are reading.

These are a few ways you can have fun while managing your stress.  What you are trying to accomplish is to give your mind and body a break from the everyday things that cause stress in your life.  Try to pick a few to incorporate into your life and see how much fun and easier life becomes.