Stress in the workplace is inevitable and it’s not always bad. However, when you’re experiencing chronic stress from your job, you need access to relaxation techniques in the workplace to stay healthy.
You can’t always leave your job and you may not want to, so you have to learn ways of managing your stress and taking care of yourself. These 28 techniques will help you respond to stress in a healthy way while allowing you to experience the healthy benefits of relaxation.
This post is all about relaxation techniques at workplace.
RELAXATION TECHNIQUES:
1. Focus on your positive emotions
The first step towards relaxing is to notice what’s happening inside your head. When we’re stressed, we tend to think about the same negative, stressful thoughts over and over. This is why it’s helpful to refocus ourselves on positive emotions.
You can start off the day with three things you’re looking forward to, end the day with three reasons to be grateful, or spend five minutes journaling about what went well during the day.
2. Consider doing something silly like getting your new favorite chair
It may feel silly to get yourself something new as a way of dealing with stress. And, it is, if all you do is get yourself something new and avoid using the rest of the tools on this blog.
However, when you get something new and fun for yourself, something that’s functional and brings you joy, that item can be the reminder you need during the day that it’ll be okay.
When you’re stuck at work and stressed, you can feel trapped. That’s small reminders can have a big impact on your mental health.
3. Monitor your emotional health to avoid burnout
Take note of how you feel throughout the day. Everyone has off days when they want to stay in bed and argue with everyone and everything. That’s normal and it doesn’t automatically mean you’re headed for burnout, but it does mean that you need to watch out for yourself.
Identify patterns of behavior or feelings that stay with you for a long period of time. Maybe you can start a journal or log your mood in an app to keep track of it.
4. Try body scan meditation
Find time to be alone or undisturbed and close your eyes. Whether you take ten minutes out of your day or five minutes, notice the sensations in your body.
If you’re feeling strong emotions, ask yourself where you feel it and take a deep breath. Let yourself feel your emotions wherever they pop up for you.
5. If you struggle to find time to relax, try one-minute meditations
No matter how busy you are, you can find time for one-minute meditations. These meditations can help you develop the skills to meditate, respond appropriately when your mind wanders, and decrease the impact of stress on your mental health.
Most importantly, you can re-center yourself in the moment and pause the workplace stress for long enough to remember that your health is important, valuable, and worth taking care of.
6. Put effort into having that difficult conversation
Have those difficult conversations. This tool can apply to every area of your life, from talking to your boss or your coworker to talking to your partner or yourself.
When you’re unhappy at work and coping with chronic stress in the workplace, you can’t show up to any part of your life as fully as you could otherwise.
Maybe this means you leave your job and talk to your partner about how you’ve been feeling. Or maybe you try to talk to your boss about creating more boundaries at work.
7. Relax using visual imagery
Visual imagery allows you to close your eyes and envision yourself somewhere else. You can use guided imagery as a different form of meditation that focuses your thoughts while also giving you a break from the real world and taking you to your happy place.
This will be most effective if you have a quiet place where you can be undisturbed for a couple of minutes. Visual imagery relaxes you by removing your focus from your current environment and inducing a relaxation response from imagining you’re in a different, more calming place.
8. Create a few to-do lists to ease your mind
To-do lists may calm or stress you out, so use your best judgment as to whether this tool is for you. To-do lists, even though they will never capture every little thing we need to get done and they’re never ending can calm us in two ways.
First of all, we get to put everything down on the page or screen so that our brains don’t have to do all of the heavy lifting.
Second of all, by putting it down on the page or screen, we get a realistic idea of how much or little needs to get done and we can create a system to complete it all.
9. Remind yourself to consistently put in a conscious effort
You’re worth the effort it takes to figure out better ways of managing your work-related stress. It’s hard to change habits and work on top of the work you do every day to stay afloat at work and at home.
You have a lot going on and work stress is not helping. Remember that you’re worth the time it takes to practice relaxation techniques and develop better ways of dealing with workplace stress.
10. Make self-care and relaxation a regular practice
You’re taking the first step towards lowering your stress levels by learning about relaxation tools at the workplace. But, you can go even further by making stress relief a part of your everyday routine.
Maybe this looks like starting off the day with a gratitude practice, taking five minutes of your lunch to meditate, and ending your day with a walk around your workplace before you go home. Small steps will make a big difference, especially when you practice them over time.
11. Get out and get some fresh air
Get out of the office or out of the house and breathe some fresh air. You can go for a walk or sit on a bench and let the fresh air reduce your stress all on its own.
Use this tool whenever you need to escape and get immediate stress reduction. While fresh air will not fix the root issue behind your stress, it will get you out of your work environment, so you can focus on feeling calm and relaxed.
12. Move your body and engage in physical activity
Physical health and mental health are deeply connected. This means that when one suffers, the other one will probably suffer too. However, the good news is that the reverse is also true.
When you move your body and engage in physical exercise, you feel better. So, get your heart rate up from good stress on your body and do some walking, running, or strength training to lower your job stress.
13. Consider how the stress of your personal life affects you in the workplace
Work is stressful and we need to address the role of work-related stress in our lives. But, we also need to address the role of our personal lives in the amount of stress we deal with in our daily lives.
Maybe you’re fighting with your partner so that the work deadline is even more terrifying or your kids are keeping you from getting quality sleep and you can’t focus on your job.
Notice the connections between your personal life and work life to better address the sources of your stress.
14. Avoid working long hours to separate work from your personal life
There are some jobs where it’s almost impossible to avoid working long hours. However, if your health is negatively affected by your work, then maybe it’s time to step away from the stressful job and set some boundaries or find a new job.
It’s a privilege to choose your job and relocate when you’re not happy, so you may not be in a position do that. It’s still important to recognize that your health should never compromised by your job and you deserve better.
15. Work on some simple stretches, even if you’re at your desk
Take a minute and slowly reach your arms above your head. Roll your head around your shoulders and rotate your shoulders slowly. Listen to what your body needs from you and stretch that body part.
Maybe your neck is tight and you need to touch your toes to release tension. Or maybe your shoulders ache and could benefit from you standing up for a few minutes.
16. Learn that everyday stress is beneficial and healthy
The best way to relax in the workplace is to rethink our response to stress. Stress, just like anxiety, is a normal part of life and it’s not inherently unhealthy. We’ve been taught that stress is scary and harmful to our health.
In reality, stress is only harmful to our health when we treat it like it’s harmful. Instead of reacting to stress by immediately using breathing techniques and relaxation practices, we can remember that stress is helpful.
It prepares us to take on something new and challenging. Chronic stress is the stress that’s harmful to our health.
17. Look into wellness programs in the workplace
Identify wellness programs hosted by your employer. They’re designed to improve employee health by focusing on mental and physical well-being. Plus, they show your employer cares about your health and wellness enough to invest in a program at work.
18. Notice when your body reacts with a fight or flight response
Identify the signs of a fight or flight response in your body. This can look like your body getting hot, your heart racing, the sudden urge to leave the situation, and more.
Your unique response will be different than how other people respond, so it’s important to notice the symptoms of a stress response in your body.
19. Ask yourself about job satisfaction
Think about your level of job satisfaction. You can think about this on a few different levels including the type of job you have, the quality of work you can accomplish, and the industry you work in.
Maybe you do a job to pay the bills, but you still love doing the job well and feel satisfied with a job well done.
Maybe you’re working your dream job, but it’s starting to weigh on you and it’s not your dream anymore. Ask yourself what you love about your job and, given the opportunity, it’s time to move on.
20. Find a quiet place to take a breath
When all else feels overwhelming and stressful, you can always find a quiet place to take a break from work for a moment. Escape to the bathroom if there’s no other safe place for you to get some peace and quiet.
Once you’re in a safe place, take a breath deep enough that you feel it fill your entire chest and exhale slowly. This process can ground you in the moment and slow down your body, which also slows down your mind.
21. Try some mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation can happen anywhere, as long as you can close your eyes and not get distracted. All you need is to close your eyes and work on clearing your mind. Meditation is a skill, so the first time will be difficult.
You’ll let thoughts in and you won’t know how to get them out of your head. This is okay because the act of learning how to notice thoughts and let them leave, while being compassionate to yourself when you struggle with that, is part of the meditation process.
22. Talk to a family member about your stress and anxiety around work
Open up to someone you trust. Sometimes, talking about your feelings and the stress you’re experiencing is enough to decrease it.
Remember that the people in your life want to be involved and that you’re never a burden to the people who care about you. Let them know how you’re feeling and let them know whether you want to talk through possible solutions or for them to just hear you out.
23. Work on staying in the present moment
Notice the moments when you start worrying about the future or regretting the past. Anytime that you are not thinking about where you are in the current moment, acknowledge it.
Odds are you’re tensing up and stressing out in addition to thinking about the past or future. So, notice it and be kind to yourself. Remind yourself to come back to the present with a breath in and out.
24. Try some deep breathing exercises
The easiest way to dive into a deep breathing exercise is by inhaling slowly until you feel your diaphragm fill with air. Hold for five seconds and exhale for five seconds. Then, once you’ve exhaled completely, hold for five seconds and repeat the process.
If this doesn’t feel right for you, you can also focus on exhaling for longer than you inhale to slow down your body and relax your mind.
25. Slow down your day with tai chi
The beauty of tai chi is that it’s a slow exercise that moves your body without requiring high-intensity movement that could get you sweaty at work or hurt your joints.
If you find a space where you are comfortable practicing it, then it’s a great way to recharge and step away from work stress. When you feel like your day is going too quickly, tai chi will help you slow it down.
26. Identify what your body’s stress response looks like
Everyone reacts to stress differently. Some people like to talk nonstop about their source of stress whereas others prefer to keep it locked in their head. Either way, notice what stress looks like for you. Notice how your body reacts.
Maybe you feel numb and shut down, you can’t stop talking to anyone who will listen, or you feel your chest getting tight. The first step is to notice what happens to your body when you’re stressed so that you can start identifying moments when you’re stressed and don’t realize it.
27. Avoid stressful situations if possible
The goal is never to avoid your source of stress because that prolongs the issue instead of taking care of it.
However, when you need to learn stress management on a basic level and you feel too overwhelmed for that to happen, then the first and easiest option is to avoid stress until you learn coping mechanisms.
28. Take a moment for some progressive muscle relaxation
Start from your toes. Gradually tense each muscle and move up your body until you reach your head. Contract your muscles by squeezing or clenching as tight as you can while staying comfortable.
Then, release the tension and allow the muscles to relax. This practice will help you relax your body and allow you to target the muscles that hold the most muscle tension when you’re stressed.
