Can Stress Management Workshops Really Work?
By Chad Calven | May 6, 2008
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Stress management workshops are available to organizations in order to assist in helping employees to de-stress during their working day and week. The idea behind these workshops is to eliminate stress and increase employee productivity.
Seen as a way of increasing the quality of life, not just at work but at home too, stress management workshops and programs are offered to employees generally at the expense of the organization.
Generally a doctor who specializes in stress management will create a workshop or program that employees will follow over a period of time. These programs can include various types of stress-relief initiatives which could take the form of massages, consistent breaks ranging from 15 minutes to an hour and consultations with doctors, to name a few. The basic idea is to get the people involved to relax and ‘take a breather’.
Working from home is a type of workshop which could be offered by employers. It’s not something easily implemented though as there could be confrontation with the employees who cannot be out of the office due to their job roles.
There will be people, despite the stress relief benefit of working from home, who may take advantage of the situation and not have the discipline to do their job. Your home is generally a more comfortable place to be and there are added benefits of not having to deal with the stress of driving in traffic but there are also lots of distractions around the house.
Working at home as part of an effective stress management workshop should be seen as a benefit to a healthy working environment by employees and employers will have to learn to trust individuals.
When you think of all the serious health conditions and illnesses caused as a direct result of stress, it is not surprising that like stress management workshops are being implemented as a tool to combat stress in the workplace. Companies cannot afford the increasing absenteeism associated with stress.
Individual companies or consultants offer stress management workshops with the intention to:
1. efficiently lower the level of stress an individual might have in their job
2. improve productivity and general work habits of an employee
Happy and stress-free employees are generally more productive and companies realize this is more beneficial to the organization as a whole. It remains important however that stress management workshops not become a burden to employees. They need to be structured correctly and implemented consistently.
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Tried And True Techniques On How To Reduce Stress
By Ann Triune | May 6, 2008
Stress is a part of everyday life. However, it can become overwhelming after a prolonged period of time. The better we handle stress, the more balanced our life will be. Here are some techniques on how to reduce stress.
Administer Your Tasks
The only way to reduce stress at work is to avoid stalling. Instead of spending time thinking and worrying, jot down the things that need to be finished. Chop up your work and allot a time for each segment. Finish your work one at a time, and before you know it, you’d have completed your tasks without breaking a sweat!
Also make a priority list. Sometimes it’s just not possible to do everything in one day. Thinking about how to fit an impossible number of tasks in a day will only stress you out, slow you down and waste your time. Try to put more effort into more important tasks.
Take A Breather
Your body might be asking for a time out. Take in deep breaths lasting about 10 seconds and exhale in a slow manner. Get on your feet periodically and do some stretching. This will slack off all the tension building up in your muscles. Sleep for a while, because a weary body often cannot manage stress as properly. If you feel completely beat, go for a long trip.
Make your mind breath and give yourself a pat in the back for completing a task. Sit back and relax with a cup of coffee or watch your favorite show. Simply divert your concentration to something else besides work. When you do go back to your tasks, you’ll feel rejuvenated. As little as 15 minutes can reduce stress significantly.
Sometimes there’s no way of going around a deadline. This is the time when you need to request for help from others. Someone can either help you with your deadline or help you do other jobs that need to be down. Either way you’ll feel much better and less stressed.
Do Some Yoga
Yoga has been around for thousands of years. Methods include poses that incorporate lots of stretching and controlled breathing. Yoga is said to improve mental health and reduce stress. What’s great about yoga is that it can be done in any place. You may practice yoga with DVDs or enter yoga classes at the local gym.
Keep Fit
Exercise benefits both physical and mental health. It includes cardiovascular training, strength training and stretching. When we exercise, our body releases chemicals called endorphins. These are also called happy chemicals, since these naturally make us feel good.
Eat Properly
Food does have a potent effect on our bodies. If we put in the right foods, we can reduce stress the natural way. Nourishment is known to help the body better manage stress. Start with a wholesome breakfast and keep your energy up with well-balanced meals.
As you may have noticed, there are quick and long-standing means to reduce stress. All you really have to do is make the first decision to finding that calmness in your everyday activities. Take care of your mind and body for a well-balanced life.
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Yoga: An Ancient Practice to Relieve Contemporary Stress
By Kim Archer | May 1, 2008
You’re under stress, but you have to be in control all day long. Over time, that can lead to poor eating habits, the production of stress hormones and cardiac risk factors. The good news is you can reverse these risk factors non-pharmacologically and develop some habits for a lifetime that complement conventional diet and exercise. Yoga helps you to relearn that natural state that your body and mind want to be in: relaxation.
Yoga is the most prominent form of the burgeoning mind-body health movement, which includes tai chi, qigong and other meditative forms of exercise. Mind-body fitness, which derives from Eastern philosophies and religions, improves physical and emotional well-being.
The overall benefits of mind-body exercise are documented in an increasing number of scientific studies. They include everything from reducing cardiac risk factors to enhancing mood.
Yoga’s kind, gentle movements are easy on the joints and yet still improves strength and flexibility, as well as muscle tone. In fact, it can make you more youthful than the sometimes jarring effects of aerobics, weight lifting, or running.
In fact, practicing yoga can impact every part of your existence. Most modern Western practitioners, for example, focus on the physical asanas, or positions. However, many others utilize yoga as a path to bliss and live their lives in its all-encompassing embrace.
Considering yoga’s lofty goals, it’s delightfully simple and can be done anywhere, anytime. Taken to its extreme, yoga encompasses everything from a moral code and dietary practices to deep meditation. Most commonly, though, it’s a combination of asanas, meditation and pranayama (breathing exercises).
Entire books have been written on yoga breathing. Deep breathing is both calming and energizing. The energy you feel from a few minutes of careful breathing is not nervous or hyper, but that calm, steady energy we all need.
If you’re feeling particularly stressed, try this five-minute “breath break” to energize yourself and release stress. Read through the instructions several times before you actually try following the steps.
1. Sit with your spine as straight as possible. Use a chair if necessary but don’t slump into it. Feet flat on the floor with knees directly over the center of your feet. Use a book or cushion under your feet if they do not rest comfortably on the floor. Hands are on the tops of your legs.
2. Close your eyes gently and simply rest them, lids closed.
3. Think about your ribs, at the front, back, and at the sides of your body. Your lungs are behind those ribs.
4. Feel your lungs filling up, your ribs expanding out and up. Feel your lungs emptying, your ribs coming back down and in. Don’t push the breath.
5. The first few times you do this, do it for 2 to 3 minutes, then do it for up to 5 to 10 minutes. At first, set aside a time at least once a day to do this. When you learn how good it makes you feel, you’ll want to do it at other times as well.
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Walking Meditation Can Double Your Health Benefits
By Keira Adams | May 1, 2008
You probably know that walking is a great way to stay healthy physically. It provides cardiovascular benefits, burns calories, and increases blood flow to various parts of your body that need it. However, have you ever thought of combining the time you spend walking with spiritual and mental meditation, so that you can increase the benefits walking can offer you?
Oftentimes, when people take up walking, they do so because it’s an easy way to exercise that is low impact and is easy to learn. You don’t need special equipment or even a lot of time. All you have to do is put one foot in front of the other and walk your way toward better health.
However, if you combine this with meditation or mindful walking, you can get even more benefit out of this time than you would normally spend just exercising.
Walking meditation comes from the art of Ayatana; Ayatana is a Buddhist concept whereby you stay continually in touch with your senses. You don’t walk mindlessly, but focus on every step and sensation. You don’t have to increase your speed and even may walk a lot more slowly than usual at first until you are fully comfortable with meditating while you walk.
As you concentrate on your steps, focus mentally on the heaviness or lightness of your feet as they leave the pavement and then hit the ground after each stride. As you practice mindful walking, you need to concentrate on the experience and not let your thoughts wander off to other activities and worries. Focus on the process, and take note of the details involved in moving each foot in turn.
Oftentimes, traditional meditation has you sitting in a room with your eyes closed so that you can concentrate on mental clarity. However, with walking meditation, you need to see where you’re going. This means that you absorb your outside environment and process it with the mental clarity brought on by meditation.
The ideal surroundings for walking meditation are somewhere peaceful and appealing. Your neighborhood park is good; road construction is bad. Your environment should be inviting enough that time passes quickly and pleasantly. You should aim to walk for a minimum of 20 minutes each time.
As you start out on your walk, maintain proper body alignment. Keep your arms loosely at your sides and gaze ahead of you about three to six feet as you move along.
Of course, walking will help your body and your health in many ways. It provides more serotonin to improve your mood as well. If you add meditation to your walk, your exercise program will become even more powerful and further improve your mind as well as your body.
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Correspondence Courses in the 21st century
By Susan Atkinson | April 30, 2008
Correspondence courses are designed for students studying at a distance. Each course can be completed from home and includes a variety of learning assignments. Students generally communicate with their instructor via phone, mail, or email.
Correspondence courses are not only for the home learners today but can be taken by those who work 9 to 5. Many opt for correspondence courses because they allow the student to manage their time in a better fashion, thus allowing them to extract more out of each day in their lives.
Students who wish to apply credit earned through correspondence study to a college degree or a high school diploma should consult the resident institution before enrolling in a correspondence study course. Most institutions have limitations on the number and kinds of correspondence study credits they will accept.
Correspondence courses are one solution to the need for educational courses without displacing individuals from the work force and their community setting. Employers are beginning to acknowledge this method of study and valuing employees accordingly within the workplace.
Correspondence courses are among the more convenient ways to improve your technical knowledge and increase your chances for career success. If you think you may be eligible for school board assistance with fees or texts you should contact your principal or guidance counselor.
Students utilizing financial aid for semester-based correspondence courses must have the forms filed with the CSC Financial Aid Office by June 1st. Students are required to post their scores on the Student Page for all the comprehensive tests in the course in order to receive feedback. Students are provided with a textbook, practical exercises and exams which are administered by your supervisor or a bank officer.
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