Who likes to struggle with their productivity on a daily basis? Even professionals at some point get stressed up due to handling too much workload. And thanks to such cases, there are an innumerable amount of resources available to handle stress to boost productivity. Here are 7 simple five-minute hacks at your disposal.
There’s a thing about the stress that it’s sneaky, it can curl up inside your head and decrease your productivity. And if you’ve got an important work project to complete you can’t lose your focus. However, to be at your rescue, I have made this list of simple five-minute hacks that can help you to de-stress your mind so that you can focus on your important tasks.
1. Guided Imagery
Guided imagery also known as guided affective imagery is a type of relaxation technique to reduce stress. It can help you to relieve stress and anxiety almost instantly with not much effort. Guided imagery is a simple technique to learn and master and trust me it can lighten up your mood very quickly.
To get started, all you need to do is sit in a quiet, calm, and comforting place and start imaging yourself being in a “happy place”, like the one place where you would like to visit or one place you had the most amazing memory of, like a beach with a nice sunset, drinking beer while listening to some good live music. And simply close your eyes to walk yourself down that peaceful road for five minutes after that open your eyes and return to the present scenario.
2. Deep Breathing
Meditation is one of the best ways to eliminate stress. Just by doing some simple deep breathing exercise’s you can relieve your stress to a great extent. One such exercise you can do is 4-7-8 deep breathing exercise.
To get started all you need to do is, once again sit in a quiet, calm, and comforting room, and get yourself comfortable so that you can do this exercise. And after you get comfortable, close your eyes and inhale a deep breath to a count of 4 seconds, then hold your breath to a count of 7 seconds, later release your breath through your mouth by making a ‘whoosh’ sound.
Try this exercise to a round of 4 full breaths through each nostril, meaning 8 times altogether, and if possible do this exercise twice a day to master this five minute hack as in the beginning it can hard for you.
3. Drink Tea
Sipping a hot cup of tea can have a soothing effect on your mind. Not only drinking tea is beneficial for your health but it can also calm your mind with a comforting effect to reduce stress. There are many different types of tea that you can drink although, a Japanese study has proved that drinking green tea is more effective.
4. Call your Friends
Friends are a great source to get social support whenever you’re stressed. They can give you a sense of belonging, and self-worth in tough times. Not only that they can also lighten up your mood through various jokes, or remembering the memories of a party where you guys had lots of fun.
According to a study, it is noticed that talking to friends can release oxytocin which is a natural stress reliever and another study found that people with fewer social connections are bound to suffer more from depression and anxiety.
5. Take a Walk
Just like breathing, walking is another stress reduction technique that can help you to relax and relieve your stress in 5 minutes. Walking not only involves muscle movement but can also change the frame of your mind through different scenery. For example, instead of looking at your laptop you can go for a quick stroll in the park.
And the same way as guided imagery can make you stress-free through a change of scenery, a five-minute walk can do the same wonders on you. Think of moving as a moving meditation, it is a great exercise to rejuvenate your mind and body.
6. Get a Hug
Another way to get social support is by hugging or cuddling your loved one, be it your spouse, children, or even your pet dog. Hugging someone releases oxytocin and lowers cortisol which can help you to reduce blood pressure and heart rate as they both are physical symptom stress.
7. Write it Out
One of the major reasons people are more stressed is due to too much workload they handle. And with so much pressure to deal with it becomes almost impossible for anyone to focus on a specific office task which leads to a decrease in productivity.
The best way to deal with such pressure is by writing it down on paper. When you pour out all the thoughts from your mind on to a piece of paper makes them seem less intimidating, and you can focus your thoughts on more into positive ones.
Try writing down your thoughts for a few days and see if there’s any pattern between your thoughts so that you can understand what things are stressing you out and try improving them.
Thus, this were 7 simple five minute hacks to relieve your stress and increase productivity.