Joey’s Road - Stress

Tools

By KULR Staff

Story Published: Nov 4, 2009 at 11:00 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 4, 2009 at 9:24 PM MST

BILLINGS - Too-much-to-do may not be entirely true. For people who have trouble fitting in everything that needs to be done in the day, licensed clinical social worker Cheryl Ikeda offers some simple techniques for managing the stress that can go along with a busy schedule.

“The number-one stress strategy, for all of us, no matter what our circumstances, is breathing,” Ikeda says, pointing out that for such a simple sounding idea, it can have a big effect on stress reduction.

She suggests a breathing exercise that can be done in only minutes. It involves a subject taking a short period of time to stop whatever they are doing and focus their attention only on taking several deep breaths. The technique works well with slow, large breaths, with the person’s belly expanding and contracting. After the exercise, a person can then return to their previous activity with a much lower stress level, Ikeda says.

“If you have five minutes, it would be great, but if you have 30 seconds, just to focus on that, it’s a huge factor,” Ikeda says.

In addition to this technique, she also suggests focusing on one task at a time, not thinking as much about other tasks while one task is being done, keeping good nutrition, exercising right, and even developing a lighter attitude.

“Having some play and laughter in your life. We don’t always take time just to be, and to relax, and enjoy something in our lives, and that’s so important,” Ikeda says.

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