Regardless of how busy your schedule is, it is important to take the time to relax during the day. Your physical and mental health both depend on it. Here are ten of the best ways to relax when you just don't have the time.
1) Simply Breathe
As we take on stress during our day, we have a natural tendency to breathe in a shallow way, instead of the deep diaphragm breathing that encourages energy transfer and health throughout the body. Whenever you catch yourself, take ten deep breaths from your diaphragm to relax.
2) Sipping Tea
Carry around a few packets of tea so that you can make a relaxing batch at the drop of a hat. Green tea is a good choice as it calms the body and the mind and has many health benefits.
3) Stress Ball
The stress ball helps to release tension by working with your hands. If you want to relax quickly, keep this tip in mind even if you do not have an official stress ball on hand.
4) Journal
Keeping a journal helps you release feelings of tension and creates an inner dialogue that can help you solve daily problems. You can also look back on a journal to see how you have cultivated stress in your life to avoid it in the future.
5) Special Foods
There are specific foods known to relax the body that are also easy to carry around. Honey, mangoes and granola bars are just a few of these foods.
6) Drinking Alkaline Water
Drinking alkaline water to balance the pH in the body is also a great way to relax yourself. If you live in a world of processed foods, you are probably eating mostly acidic things. This naturally raises the stress level in your body and cleansing yourself with alkaline water will help.
7) Progressive Relaxation
If you feel stress in your body, one way to quickly dissipate it is to tense the body very quickly and then release it. This is an art. The first time you try it, you will be surprised at how hard it is to tense your entire body at once. Start with one part and move up gradually.
8) Creatively Visualize
Yes, we are telling you to daydream. Letting go of reality and even deluding yourself into a world of fantasy is healthy at times. Just make sure that you have an alarm clock handy so that you do not stay in that world for too long!
9) Close Your Eyes
For most people, the eyes take in the most information. If you close your eyes, you are letting a majority of the conscious brain relax itself. You do not have to take any special action - just close your eyes and let your natural body processes do the rest.
10) Take Your Shoes Off
In many cases, we wear shoes that look good rather than cater to the health of our feet. Our feet have the most concentrated area of nerve endings of anywhere in our body. Taking off your shoes for just a minute and rubbing them against something round, like a golf ball, will stimulate your entire body, relaxing it. You also relieve some stress by simply removing your feet from the tight cages you have put them in for the day!
