7 Things You Can Do At Your Desk That Will Help You Relax Immediately
You're still processing the fact that Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States while sitting at your desk. You need to relax stat and take a breather.
Or maybe it's Monday morning, and you're sitting at your desk and contemplating your workload from the previous week. You just want to scream, mostly because it's Monday.
Or maybe, you're having a good day at work, but something else is happening at home that you can't seem to stop thinking about, but you don't know what to do.
So, how you can de-stress and keep calm at your desk?
Here are seven things you can do at your desk to relieve stress immediately:
1. Get a stress ball.
Studies show squeezing a stress ball can alleviate tension and build muscle. Squeeze for a count of three, and repeat for 20 minutes.
There are several emotional benefits to stress balls such as releasing tension, stimulating your nerves and enhancing your mood.
By focusing on squeezing the ball in itself, you distract your mind from whatever is stressing you out at the moment.
2. Stare at a picture of your loved on your desk.
According to a study done by UCLA psychologists, the mere thought of a loved one has been proven to reduce pain.
According to study co-author Naomi Eisenberger,
When the women were just looking at pictures of their partner, they actually reported less pain to the heat stimuli than when they were looking at pictures of an object or pictures of a stranger. Thus, the mere reminder of one's partner through a simple photograph was capable of reducing pain.
Other studies show that simply looking at pictures of our loved ones can alleviate stress.
You can have a framed pic of your SO at your desk, or you can simply pull out your phone when you need a break and look at all the fun times and memories you've shared together.
3. Post a positive quote on your desk and read it every day.
When you're feeling groggy or unmotivated, you can reaffirm why you are working so hard and why you should keep going.
A few motivational quotes that are always good are “remember why you started.”
Because positive affirmations do work, and they have an effect on our daily habits and thinking.
If we can get rid of negative thoughts and habits and become positive creatures of existence, then we can progress and do our jobs more efficiently with a positive attitude.
4. Have a cup of tea.
Yogi Kava Stress Relief tea is always a good idea.
Whether you're a tea connoisseur or not, this tea has been promoted to put the mind in a tranquil and calm mood.
The ingredients of the tea include kava root extract, carob pods, cinnamon bark, ginger root, Indian sarsaparilla root, barley malt, cardamom, stevia leaf, hazelnut flavor, licorice flavor and cinnamon bark oil.
Let's all keep calm and have some kava tea at work.
5. Play music on your headphones.
Music has several therapeutic effects that not only help you relax, but may also reduce emotional and neuropathic pain.
In people with heart conditions such as coronary heart disease, music may reduce blood pressure and respiratory rate.
It's also been useful in other disorders and conditions such as mood disorders, depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, strokes, Tourette's syndrome, aphasia and speech disorders.
Overall, listening to music at your desk can reduce your anxiety and improve your mood.
6. Meditate.
Breathe in, breathe out and just relax.
Take it easy. Just keep telling yourself you can do it.
Just taking a moment to close your eyes and shut out the universe can give you a new perspective.
Meditation can increase self-awareness, reduce negative emotions, help you focus on the present, build skills to manage stress and gain new perspective on stressful situations.
7. Perform an act of kindness from your desk.
Giving something to someone reminds us why we're all here in the first place.
If you perform an act of kindness, it will make you realize life is bigger than the stressors you currently think are enormous.
Performing an act of kindness will help you not to sweat the little things.
Whether that's signing up to volunteer for a community project or telling someone you appreciate them with a quick text, it can set the mood for the rest of your day.
When you give and help others, you realize life is much broader and bigger than the problems you create in your head or the papers and loads of amount of work sitting at your desk.
These are just a few of the several ways you can de-stress immediately from your desk.
If all else fails, you can just look at videos of cute puppies.
