Kaip išvengti streso darbe

Have you ever experienced an anxiety attack at work? This happened to me recently.

Last week, I had to quickly, one by one, finish a few things. As I tried to decide what to do first, I felt thoughts swirling and colliding in my head. When I managed to cope with this hell, my head was a complete mess.

And what did I do? Deep breath — from the very center of the body. I imagined the crown and arrows growing from the shoulders in different directions. She stood for a while, then walked around the room and returned to work.

This simple anti-anxiety remedy isn’t always easy to apply, especially if you’re multitasking and there are a lot of distractions around. I only mastered it after I signed a book contract and got so nervous that I got back and stomach pains. The sedative could not be taken all the time (it is addictive), so I had to look for more natural ways.

First of all, I turned to clinical psychologist Belisa Vranich, who teaches — or rather, retrains — people to breathe. I felt that I was not breathing correctly, she confirmed this.

Like most people, I breathed «vertically»: my shoulders lifted up as I inhaled. Also, I was breathing from the upper chest, not the main part of the lungs.

Vranich taught me how to breathe correctly — horizontally, from the center of the body, where the diaphragm is located. She explained: you need to expand the stomach during inhalation through the nose and retract during exhalation.

At first it seemed inconvenient. And yet it is a natural way of breathing. When society starts to put pressure on us, we turn to the wrong way. Due to work stress, we try to pull ourselves together, shrink — which means we begin to breathe quickly and shallowly. The brain needs oxygen to function, and such breathing does not provide enough of it, making it difficult to think normally. In addition, the digestive system does not receive the necessary massage from the diaphragm, which can lead to a number of problems.

Stress puts us into fight-or-flight mode, and we tense our abdominal muscles to appear stronger. This posture interferes with calm, clear thinking.

The fight-or-flight response was formed by our distant ancestors as a defense against predators. It was so important to survival that it still occurs in response to stress.

With a reasonable level of stress (for example, a realistic deadline for completing a task), adrenaline begins to be produced, which helps to get to the finish line. But if the level is too high (say, a few deadlines that you just can’t meet), the fight-or-flight mode kicks in, causing you to shrink and tense up.

When I started writing the book, I felt pain and tension in my shoulders and back, as if my body was about to hide from a dangerous predator. I had to do something, and I started going to posture correction classes.

When I said that I was working on my posture, the interlocutors usually became embarrassed, realizing their own «crookedness», and immediately tried to bring their shoulder blades together and raise their chins. As a result, the shoulders and neck were pinched. And this just cannot be allowed: on the contrary, you need to gently relax the contracted muscles.

Here are some basic principles to help you get through the day.

First, imagine your crown. You can even touch it to understand exactly how it is located in space (you may be surprised how wrong you are). Then imagine horizontal arrows moving outward from your shoulders. This expands your chest and allows you to breathe more freely.

Try to notice when you strain some part of the body more than necessary. For example, the majority of the mouse should be controlled by the fingers, not the palm, wrist, or the entire arm. The same applies to typing on the keyboard.

You can master the «Alexander method». This technique was invented in the XNUMXth century by the Australian actor Frederic Matthias Alexander, who used the method to cure hoarseness and possible loss of voice. He came up with the concept of «pursuing the ultimate goal». Its essence is that when you strive to be somewhere, at that moment you seem to be not present in your body.

So, in order to read something on the computer, we lean towards the monitor, and this creates an unnecessary load on the spine. It is better to move the screen towards you, and not vice versa.

Another important component of dealing with stress is movement. Many mistakenly believe that being in one position for a long time, they concentrate better. What you really need to improve concentration is to move and take regular breaks, explains Alan Hedge, professor of ergonomics at Cornell University.

Hedge claims that in the process of work, this alternation is optimal: sit for about 20 minutes, stand for 8, walk for 2 minutes.

Of course, if you feel inspired and completely immersed in the work, you can not adhere to this rule. But if you get stuck on a task, it’s enough to move from one room to another to reset your brain.

According to Professor Hedge, the chair is an «anti-gravity device» and gravitational stimulation is very important for our body. NASA research has shown that in order to work effectively, we need to constantly feel the effects of gravity. When we sit down, stand up or walk, we receive the appropriate signal (and there should be at least 16 such signals per day).

This basic knowledge of the body — so simple and clear — can be difficult to apply in a stressful situation. I still sometimes find myself frozen in a chair at the moments of work blockage. But now I know how to act: straighten up, straighten my shoulders and drive the imaginary lion out of the room.

Source: The New York Times.