Nurse Audrey’s Stress Relief Blog

In these busy days, one may ask: “Who has time to pause?” Life seems to be filled with one rush after another leaving us little time to pause and reflect. But there is value in taking strategic pauses throughout a busy day. These pauses produce a natural, powerful rise in our biological energy. It is this biological energy that influences, in a positive way, our thoughts, feelings, attentiveness, and actions.

The busyness that many of us experience from day to day is often the result of our desire to get ahead and stay ahead at any cost. And in the process, we sophisticated humans look more like the gerbil running on his treadmill in a cage getting nowhere fast (unless he uses the treadmill to exercise and build up his cardio-vascular system; if so, he is wiser than most of us humans give him credit.) At any rate, we too can be so busy spinning our own wheels, doing more while accomplishing less. What we are experiencing here is called “impaired alertness.” This is numbness of the mind and body brought on by us pushing ourselves harder and longer while sleeping less and less. Our energy thus becomes depleted and we subject ourselves to fatigue and many health problems.

We may think that we are alert, but in reality we are driven by energy that is produced by tension and stress. Thriving on this type of energy can escalate to greater physical and mental breakdown. Studies show that when we work longer than twenty or thirty minutes on a single task without a short break, our problem-solving time increases 500 percent and we become irritable and short-tempered.

There are two different ways to rejuvenate and increase our production while reducing stress:

1. Strategic pauses which involve only thirty seconds taken every half hour

2. Essential breaks which involve two or three minutes, taken two or more times a day

Use your pauses or breaks in the following strategies:

• After sitting sedentary, get up from your chair and rejuvenate yourself by stretching, or by doing a simple exercise such as wall pushups. Research shows that by simply standing up every half hour, we increase our alertness and energy by up to 30 percent. Also, even a slight slump of the shoulders depletes lung capacity by as much as 30 percent.
• Take a few deep breaths and relax your breathing. When we chronically under-breathe or have frequent halts in breathing, we are depriving our body of oxygen, leading to tension and tiredness. Practice deep breathing on a regular basis and you will experience relaxation and vigor.
• Eyestrain is a common cause of fatigue. An interesting fact is that the tiny muscles in the human eye use more energy than any other muscle fibre in the body; consequently, eyestrain often results. To reduce eyestrain, pause and look away from your task. Some say that looking at a red object is best, but a picture of your favorite nature scene will also do. In some studies, it was found that those who spent all day at desk jobs but took pauses to view nature scenes nearly doubled their job satisfaction ratings. In addition, they felt less frustrated and were more patient.
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Points to Ponder

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.
Sydney J. Harris

Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax.
William S. Burroughs

Sometimes the most urgent thing you can do is take a complete rest.
Ashleigh Brilliant

Until next time, this is Nurse Audrey signing off!