5 tips to reduce your stress levels this year

Stressed by moving and settling in to your new home? Taking short breaks is proven to improve performance and reduce stress. You’ll be amazed by the results!

Take just a few minutes to de-stress

Your eyes are burning and your head is spinning as the deadline fast approaches - it’s a feeling of high stress that many of us are familiar with at work. Demands are also high at home: you’re expected to have a clean and tidy house and your children should be well-behaved and getting good grades at school. And as if that wasn’t enough, a full life for many people also includes doing sports, attending cultural events, and meeting friends. To top it off, you have to do all of that in a new country! It can quickly become too much.

Taking time out now and again to relax from the hectic daily routine can bring relief. Even short breaks allow us to slow down our body and mind and cope better with life’s daily challenges. However, it’s important to not take breaks when it’s already too late.

These five exercises help you relax and recharge your batteries easily during the hustle and bustle of everyday life:

1. Abdominal breathing

Breathe in … breathe out … breathe in … breathe out … the stress fades a little with every breath you take.

All of us have access to the simplest means of relaxation: breathing. When we’re nervous or stressed, we often breathe shallowly and quickly. Breathing deeply and slowly calms the whole body. This exercise can be done standing, sitting or lying down.

Here’s how: Assume a comfortable position, place your hands on your stomach and breathe in deeply through your nose. Make sure that your breath flows down into your stomach. Your abdominal wall rises. Your concentration is now entirely on your breathing. Hold the air in your stomach for a moment and then exhale in a relaxed manner from your mouth. With each repetition, your mind becomes a little calmer and more relaxed. Repeat 10 or more times.

2. Muscle relaxation

If you rush from one task to the next every day, you often unconsciously tense your whole body. This leaves you exhausted. This exercise helps you to loosen the muscles.

Here’s how: Close your eyes and tense all the muscles in your body - in your face, arms, hands, stomach, legs, buttocks and feet - at the same time for 10 seconds. Then release the tension again in a controlled manner and consciously perceive the relaxation in your whole body. It’s a good feeling! Repeat the exercise five times and then stretch and release.

3. Three-point massage

Our eyes are often strained throughout the day, especially when we’re working at a computer screen. Taking a break every so often does them good.

Here’s how: Close your eyes. Grasp the bridge of your nose with your thumb and middle finger. Place your index finger between your eyebrows. Now perform a massage by moving all three fingers in small circles for 20 seconds. This exercise is also perfect if you wear glasses.

4. Relaxation through warmth

Having a hot bath or wrapping yourself in a cosy blanket on the sofa are perfect examples of doing something good for yourself. Warmth has a beneficial effect on the body and mind and is associated in our minds with relaxation. You can also enjoy the same effect while on the move.

Here’s how: Consciously take a tea or coffee break. Hold the warm cup in both hands and close your eyes. Now run the cup over your cheeks. Enjoy the warmth and pause for a moment. Washing your hands in warm water for a moment can also help.

5. A short trip into another cosmos

Visiting another world beyond your own everyday life from time to time can be hugely liberating and provide new perspectives. If time is short, even 10 minutes a day will do. The important thing is not to create any additional pressure to perform. It’s supposed to be fun!

Here’s how: Consciously choose topics that have interested you for a long time, but which definitely don’t have anything to do with your job. Why not listen to the great classics of world literature for 10 minutes a day? Or a podcast about equality, philosophy or religion? And didn’t the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics recently upload a fascinating video...?

Be proactive in your self-care

These five activities might seem small, but their impact can be huge. Don't let stress and worry build up inside you and become something bigger and harder to deal with. Make sure you find a few minutes every day to focus on you and your needs.