Managing Stress With Simple Stretching And Breathing Exercises

We encounter stress daily, whether we are at work in the office, site, managing our own business or even working at home. Stress management is therefore important so that we can perform better at work and at the same time maintaining our health.

Here are some simple tips to manage your stress:-

BREATHING EXERCISES

• This is done in your comfortable seated position or in “corpse pose”
• Exhale completely with a sigh to reset diaphragm
• Inhale slowly & deeply through nose. Allow stomach to expand like a balloon
• Hold breath; exhale slowly through nose, squeezing out all the stale air
• Repeat for 5 times or more

This simple breathing exercise allows you to breath in some fresh air, especially if you do it in the park, in standing position, where there are plenty of greens.

UPPER BODY STRETCHES

Standing straight, lift your head up and stretch your neck. Slowly breathe in deeply through your nose, pulling it down deep into your lungs

• Slowly exhale while turning your head to the right and then left. Dip your head and return to looking straight ahead
• Keep breathing with this deep, slow pattern and slowly rotate your head clockwise and then anti-clockwise.
• Take your shoulders back as far as they will go. Lift your left shoulder and relax it down again. Now swap and lift to relax your right shoulder.
• Swing your right arm slowly in a full circular movement to free the shoulder. Swing your left arm in the same way
• Raise and relax both shoulders. Keep breathing slowly
• Repeat 10 or more times, focusing on your breathing

Body stretching exercise helps to flex and relax your shoulder, especially after long hours of concentration on desk work.

NECK

Raise your right hand to reach over your head and behind your left ear, grasping your neck with your fingers. Pull your head gently towards your right shoulder

• Repeat with the other side
• Clasp your hands behind your head, with your elbows flared and your head bowed towards your chest
• Relax in this position for 30 seconds, and slowly push head back until you are looking at the ceiling
• Now, place the palm of your left hand on your forehead, with the bottom of your palm at the bridge of your nose. Hold your right arm across your body so that you can rest your left elbow on your right wrist
• Put against your left palm with your forehead while keeping your right arm locked. Switch hands and repeat.

Our neck supports our head, this simple exercise helps to strengthen our neck for better support.

WAIST

• Stand with your feet a shoulder-width apart, bend to the left, reaching slightly down and out as you can with your left arm. Your right hand remains on your hip. Do 10 times and then repeat with the right side.

• Now, place your hands on your hips and bend them at the elbows so that your forearms are directly in front of your chest. Keeping your hips straight, move from the waist, twisting 10 times to the left and 10 times to the right.
• Then try alternating, pausing in the forward position between each twist.

BOTTOM

Lie on your back, your knees bent with your feet apart, your hands clasped behind your head or placed under your bottom.

• Without arching your back, lift your bottoms off the floor. Squeeze your buttocks with each lift and then release as you come back to the floor.
• Repeat 10 times or more with your feet apart and 10 times with your feet together.

These stretching exercises are effective in relaxing your tensed muscles which accumulated over a period of stress. You do not have to do all these at the same time. Stretch your upper body and neck today and then waist and bottom the next day and repeat the process or you can basically focus on areas you feel more tensed.

I like simple exercise like these with consistency of 20 minutes a day and I find myself getting better-toned muscles. I feel more alert and energized for the day.

Allocate 15 to 20 minutes to do these simple exercises today and you will be amazed how relief you feel!

To your better health,

Janice