It has been noted many times that stress is a silent killer. This is mainly because it weakens your immune system allowing serious illnesses to take hold. These illnesses include heart disease, gastrointestinal problems, and mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression.
To guard against these (and many others that are not mentioned here) you should limit your exposure to stressful situations. But this is more easily said than done especially when you are up to your neck in an extremely stressful job or work environment.
However, there are a few ways in which you can help calm down either while at work or during your much-needed break times, or while on your daily commute on public transport.
1. Deep breathing exercises
You may feel a little daft or embarrassed performing these deep breathing exercises in public, but they will most certainly help. Concentrating on your breathing alone will pull your mind away from your job and back to yourself. The added amount of oxygen filling your body and therefore being circulated around your major organs will help your brain function better and relax your body, which is probably very tense and ridged from the stress it’s under. This will improve your performance and help you cope far better.Â
2. Move away from your workstation from time to time
It’s likely that you work at your desk, have drinks at your desk, and even eat your lunch at your desk. Although this would be seen as desirable from the boss’s point of view, it does nothing for an employee’s health. You need to have time away from your computer.Â
So, if you’re finding your stress levels rising, go fix yourself that drink, take a walk to the bathroom—even if you don’t actually need to go, stretch your legs, and shift your mind. You may find that when you return you can focus more easily or see options that perhaps you may have missed before.
3. Take your mind out of your business or your job role
Break your thought patterns by spending five minutes doing something else that you don’t find stressful. Perhaps you could work out a shopping list, surf the social media scene, or play an online game.
Whether you choose to do these while on break at work or on your commute home, it will certainly move your mind to another place and leave your work stress far behind in the office. Playing online games is great for this as they can be really quite immersive as well as fun to play.
If you like to visit a casino to blow off some steam over a weekend but don’t have the energy to drive down to a casino near you you can play casino games like blackjack, roulette and poker online.
If you live in a state like New Jersey or Pennsylvania where online gambling is legal, you can play online casino games for real money.
Final thoughts
When dealing with a stressful job, you need to take regular breaks to safeguard your health and mental well-being. Opting for breathing exercises will most certainly help, as will physically moving away from your workstation for short periods of time. However, to make sure that the stress stays at work and doesn’t make it home with you, you should endeavor to move your mind away from the office when your working day is complete, by doing something such as playing an online game on your commute home.
Also read: What Is a Contingent Workforce?
