Ways to relieve psycho-emotional stress. Nervous tension, how to relieve stress

In this article I will explain how to relieve stress and tension without the help of medications or. In the first part of the article, without any substantive theoretical calculations, I will immediately give 8 tips on how to relieve stress. You can try these recommendations on yourself today and check how effective they are.

Also, in part two, I think it's important to touch a little bit on how to minimize your daily stress levels and how to become less stressed. For some reason, many tips for getting rid of stress do not pay enough attention to this. But I am focused on long-term results and it is obvious to me that The lower the level of stress you receive, the easier it is to cope with it.

Have you heard the slogan “it’s easier to prevent a fire than to put it out”? Everyone needs to know what measures need to be taken to extinguish a fire, but it is even more important to understand what needs to be done to prevent a fire (for example, do not sleep with a cigarette in your mouth and with an iron and a boiler working in your arms). It’s the same with stress: you need to be able to prevent it.

Fatigue, nervous tension, responsible affairs, relationships with people, the bustle of the city, family squabbles - all these are stress factors. The consequences of which make themselves felt during and at the end of the day, affecting us with fatigue, nervous exhaustion, bad mood and nervousness. But you can cope with all this, you just need to know, as I assure you, without sedatives and alcohol.

The latter provide only short-term relief and weaken your body's ability to cope with stress on its own. I discussed this nuance in more detail in the article. At this stage, it is important to understand that I categorically do not recommend relieving stress with any medications and this article will not talk about any medications, we will learn to relieve stress using natural relaxation methods. So let's get started.

Although it sounds banal, not everyone manages to always remember this and we begin to chew the annoying cud of thoughts in our brains about the unpleasant events of the current day and cannot stop. This is very exhausting and depressing and does nothing to relieve stress. At such moments, we are simply worried about something or trying to find some solution for ourselves to the current situation.

The key is to think about tomorrow, but now, turn your attention to something else. I have long noticed how the perception of life's problems differs depending on our physical and psychological state. In the morning, being cheerful and fresh, everything seems within our reach, we can figure everything out, but in the evening, when fatigue and stress fall on us, problems begin to take on terrifying proportions, as if you are looking at them through a magnifying glass.

It seems as if you are a different person. But it’s just fatigue and exhaustion that distorts your view of many things, you must be aware of this when assessing your current state: “now I’m exhausted and tired, both mentally and physically, so I don’t quite adequately perceive many things, therefore, I won’t now think about them." It’s easy to say, but sometimes it’s difficult to give ourselves such a sober account, since negative thoughts seem to creep into our heads themselves and don’t want to leave.

But there is a little trick on how you can deceive your mind, which wants to immediately begin thinking about a problem that now seems extremely important to it. Promise yourself that you will think about it tomorrow morning, as soon as you wake up and open your eyes, and before you wash your face, sit down and think about it intensively. This way you lull the vigilance of the mind, which will “agree” to make a concession and postpone the solution to this situation until later. I did this many times and was surprised to discover that in the morning an amazing metamorphosis took place with yesterday’s “big problem” - it lost its significance, I even stopped wanting to think about it, it seemed so insignificant in the new perspective.

Get rid of negative thoughts. Clear your head. It may not seem so easy, but the ability to control your mind comes during meditation.

A lot has been said about this in my blog, I won’t repeat it. If you want to relieve stress immediately, then now is a great time to try or start practicing different ones and see how well they relieve you of stress. But there is a second good feature here, the more you meditate, the better you become at abstracting from problems and clearing your head of thoughts, and the less stress you get every day as a result of the fact that your mind becomes calmer.

It becomes easier for you to bear the influence of stress factors, and those things that once brought you into great excitement and tension will become mere trifles for you as you practice: suddenly traffic jams, city noise, squabbles at work will no longer be problems and have an impact on you. negative impact on you. You will begin to be surprised at how the people around you take these trifles seriously and dramatically and also worry about them, as if the whole world had collapsed before their eyes! Although some time ago we ourselves were upset because of little things...

But one single meditation session also has benefits- you experience strong relaxation and forget about problems, the main thing is to concentrate and not let thoughts about what happened to you today into your head. This is very difficult to do: thoughts will still come, but try not to think about anything at least for a while and switch your attention to the mantra or image.

During exercise, endorphins are released- hormones of happiness. By playing sports you get a surge of good mood and strengthen your body. This is a much more effective remedy than drinking beer, since the latter only weakens your ability to cope with stress, which I have already talked about and will talk about in the next article. And sport strengthens you morally: a healthy body means a healthy mind. That is, playing sports, as well as practicing meditation, builds your long-term ability to resist stress during the day.

Have you ever thought about what attracts some people to hardening with cold water? What makes them, in severe frosts, commit such, at first glance, mockery of themselves as swimming in an ice hole? And what brings a satisfied smile to the bather’s rosy face? The answer is endorphins, the well-known “hormones of happiness” (this is a journalistic term; in fact, these are not hormones, but neurotransmitters), which are released when the body suddenly cools down. It would seem that why should they stand out here?

But now I’m going to add a little to your erudition. Extreme sports are believed to be associated with adrenaline. This is true. But it is not adrenaline that provokes people to perform dizzying jumps and stunts; it is not for the sake of it that everything happens, as many mistakenly believe. Adrenaline only makes your heart beat faster, increases your endurance and reaction speed. But those same thrills, the “high” after a parachute jump, come from endorphins.

These are not only “hormones of happiness”, they help relieve pain; the body begins to release them in an extreme situation, which it perceives as threatening, and in order to partially eliminate the possibility of death from painful shock as a result of a possible injury, the release of this hormone begins, which has such a pleasant side effect.
Perhaps a similar mechanism is triggered by cooling the body, since this is also stress for the body (not to be confused with the stress discussed in the article).

A contrast shower is a much gentler and more accessible means of hardening the body than winter swimming, anyone can do it. This procedure is not only can relieve stress and improve mood, but it also greatly strengthens the body (I have stopped getting colds AT ALL since I’ve been taking a contrast shower, and my grandfather took it all his life and never got a cold, despite his old age).

Not only a contrast shower, but also any water procedures can help in relieving tension, such as a hot bath, swimming in a pond, visiting a pool, etc.

Any one you like. The pleasure you get from is also directly related to chemical processes in the brain. They are triggered by a harmonious sequence of sounds (or not entirely harmonious - depending on your taste) and cause a feeling of happiness and euphoria. Even sad and gloomy music can lift your spirits, provided that you like it, no matter how paradoxical it may sound (at least for me).

But specifically for relaxation, I personally use smooth monotonous and slow sound, the so-called ambient musical style. To many, such music may seem very tedious and boring, but that’s the whole point. Many other musical styles are characterized by intense pressure of emotions in compositions, fast rhythm and tempo, and sharp changes in mood shades. Although all this can entertain you and give you pleasure, in my opinion, it does not always contribute to relaxation due to the fact that such music bombards your brain with an abundance of notes and musical intonations.

If you are tired and want to relax, then it is better to listen to something more contemplative and “enveloping”; you may not like this music at first, but at least you will relax. You can listen to an example of compositions from the ambient genre in the audio recordings of my group in contact. To do this, you just need to join it (you should have seen the link to it on the right side of the site) and click on play, having first taken a lying position in a comfortable position. At the same time, try to relax and “stand” for at least 20 minutes, try to forget about all the problems and don’t think about anything, “dissolve” in the music.

To relieve stress, you can walk a little and breathe. It is better to choose a calm and quiet place, such as a park. Avoid noise and large crowds. While walking, again, try to relax, free yourself from thoughts, look around more, direct your gaze outward, and not inside yourself and your problems. Contemplative Exercises good for calming. Sit on a bench and look at the tree, peer into every bend, try not to let anything else occupy your attention for a certain time. This is a subtype of meditation practice that you can do anytime, even during your lunch break at work.

When you walk, your pace is slow, don’t run anywhere and don’t rush. You can combine it with sports, take a walk, breathe, get to the horizontal bars and parallel bars - hang, pull yourself up and the stress is gone!

If such walks cause a feeling of boredom, then

Tip 7 - Start relaxing on the road after work

I know from myself that even if the day did not turn out to be particularly difficult in terms of nervous stress, then all the same, the road home can be very tiring or ruin your mood. Many people don't know how to relieve stress after work and continue to accumulate it on the way home. Therefore, already on the road, start turning off thoughts about work and current problems, abstract yourself from what is happening, do not succumb to the general anger and nervousness, the atmosphere of which, as a rule, reigns in public transport and on the roads. Be calm, try to suppress within yourself those impulses that lead to you starting to get angry at someone and swear out loud or to yourself. Because all this negativity can add the final touches to your evening picture of stress and tension and completely exhaust you. Let others be angry and nervous to their own detriment, but not you!

Here is the golden rule you must learn. In order not to have to get rid of stress with all sorts of lethal means like pills or alcohol, it is better to generally minimize its manifestations throughout your day, starting in the morning. How can this be done and can it be done at all? In order to find out, first let's talk about what stress is and how it accumulates in you.

The nature of stress

First, briefly about what stress is. There is one fundamental point here. It is a mistake to perceive stress as an external phenomenon. It is wrong to think that it is caused by a stressful situation. It arises within us as a reaction to external circumstances that we perceive as stressful. Do you feel the difference? This means that stress depends on us, on our reaction, this is what explains why all people react differently to the same things: someone can fall into depression from one unfriendly look from a passerby, while another remains iron calm, when everything around is falling apart.

Based on this, one very important conclusion arises, which is that how much stress we received depends more on ourselves than on what happened to us. This is a fundamental position. It turns out that, although external circumstances cannot always be adjusted to the considerations of our comfort and balance (finding a less stressful job is not always possible or leaving the city to a quieter place is not possible for everyone), but you can always change your perception of what is happening, so that it does not create nervous tension in us. And this is all real.

How to minimize daily stress

I have already partially answered this question in my advice: meditate, this can reduce your sensitivity to external stress factors to a minimum level. Also, exercise and spend more time outdoors, this will strengthen your nervous system. If you’re too lazy to do the latter, then at least start with meditation; this is a must if you want to become calmer and less stressed! Don't, it will only harm your nervous system, so mental fatigue will only accumulate faster in the future!

You can also read my article about that. Because the less nervous you are, the less tension accumulates. It is better for you to use the lessons that are given in this article, especially pay attention to the breathing exercises, their use is precisely related to the answer to the question how to relieve stress quickly without spending a lot of time.

And finally, something very important. Be calm and calm. Remember that many of the things that happen to you on a daily basis: things at work, the reaction of others to you, random conflicts - this is all sheer nonsense!

Work is bullshit

Work is just a way to get money, don't take it seriously.(This does not mean that you should not approach it responsibly, it means that you need to determine a place for it in your life, and not allow it to go beyond the boundaries of the area where you localized it) Your failures at work cannot always be identified with personal failures: there is often a huge gap between a person and his profession, so if you can’t cope with something at work, this does not mean that you are a worthless person (of course, many companies try to form the opposite opinion in their employees: it is not beneficial for them that the employee stopped identifying with your work and became so philosophical about your failures, they want to see that you perceive corporate goals as personal goals).

Human relationships are nothing

All relationships with strangers, intrigues are also nonsense and trifles that should not be paid attention to. What others think about you, your colleagues, is their own business and their perception of you, moreover, it can be distorted by the personality characteristics of the perceiver. Worry less about what strangers around you think about you.

You should not exhaust yourself and prove something to someone for the sake of principle, since you won’t prove anything anyway, everyone will remain with their own, the only thing they will receive is a large portion of negativity. Some bad economy! Do not take part in squabbles and showdowns, where everyone does nothing but stick out their ego, their beliefs, their character. These are not the debates in which the truth is born, this is controversy for the sake of argument itself!

Try to behave so that the negativity of other people does not cling to you: smile at rudeness. This is not a call to turn your left cheek when you are hit on the right. Still, it’s not a bad idea to put people in their place in certain situations and not allow them to treat you as they please.

This advice concerns the fact that you do not need to take part in senseless swearing and showdowns in response to rudeness in transport, at work or on the street from colleagues, drivers, random passers-by, etc. In those situations from which you can leave with a smile , maintaining a good mood and not getting dirty with someone else’s dirt and without losing your position, do this (come out with a smile - a winner!), and don’t waste your energy trying to prove something to someone.

In short, if a colleague is systematically rude to you, you need to tactfully put him in his place and not sort things out anymore, but you don’t need to quarrel with all sorts of cleaners, security guards and other barrier bosses whom you see for the first and last time. Judge the situation.

Smile more!

And generally speaking, smile more often!. A smile is a magical thing! It can disarm anyone and discourage them from sending waves of negativity in your direction. Believe me, if you need to achieve something from someone, with the exception of some special cases, “attacking” a person will not have the same effect as a symbol of goodwill - a smile. In response to a “collision,” a person activates a defensive reaction and he begins to answer you in kind, even if he knows that you are right, he simply cannot do otherwise, since he is offended and forced to defend himself. Negativity only causes negativity!

But at the same time, you yourself should treat people filled with tension and negativity with condescension, who do not know how to
restrain your emotions and keep the situation under control: there is no need to respond with immediate rebuff to their abuse and attacks. I have already spoken about this, if the situation can be resolved without quarrels, then try to contribute to this. Smile at swearing and ignore it where possible. Let your thoughts not be occupied by some petty disputes.

That's probably all. In the next article I will write about why you should not drink alcohol or sedatives to relieve stress and tension.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely get rid of stress; it will always accompany us throughout our lives. But it is quite possible to reduce the impact of stress on a person to a minimum.

Stress resistance is a person’s ability to withstand the effects of stress factors. This is a kind of stress prevention. There are the following ways to prevent stress:

• physical: sports, proper nutrition, fresh air, good sleep, timely rest;
• psychological trainings: affirmation, meditation, “health formula”;
• household: engaging in hobbies (for example, needlework, running, swimming, walking, hanging out with pets);
• spiritual:

1) know yourself at the genetic level
2) learn to live in accordance with your own genetics
3) clearly define your place in space, do what you love.

You can learn more about these and other methods of energetic protection from stress by making an appointment with a practical psychologist in Simferopol.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FATIGUE

A broad concept associated with the loss of mental energy and the need for its restoration and rest.

This is a long period during which a person feels a certain loss of strength on a psychological and physical level. The body loses the ability to fully recover during rest.

The causes of psychological fatigue can be long-term stressful conditions, problems at work, personal difficulties, monotonous and monotonous activities, boring and unloved work. Sometimes you can experience psychological fatigue, even while doing what you love, if you don’t switch or change the environment in time. Often young parents, despite great joy, become victims of psychological fatigue due to a monotonous and busy schedule.

In most cases, fatigue can be overcome with proper rest. But, unfortunately, this does not always help. It all depends on the reasons that caused this condition. First you need to find out what exactly takes away a person’s strength and vitality. These can be strong experiences, obvious or hidden from your consciousness. Strong emotions, resentment, pride, guilt or unfulfilled debt. Unfulfillment in terms of work activity or in terms of family and relationships. There can be a lot of reasons, and they are not always obvious and understandable to a person.

If you don’t know what exactly caused your condition, seek help from a psychologist in Simferopol, Victoria Solovyova. She will not only be able to find out the reasons for your psychological fatigue, but will also help you return to a normal lifestyle filled with energy, joy and meaning.

Ways to combat psychological fatigue:

• A sufficient amount of high-quality drinking water will help replenish the lack of energy.
• A proper diet will allow you to eat on time and reduce the feeling of weakness and powerlessness.
• Daily physical exercise will increase blood circulation, relieve internal tension and fatigue, and help you feel cheerful, full of strength and energy.
• Adequate sleep is the key to the proper functioning of our nervous system; it provides both physical and psychological rest.
• Communication with pleasant people will help you switch gears and recharge with positive energy.
• Attending various events dedicated to self-discovery and self-improvement will add meaning and awareness to your life. For example, psychological trainings at the Victoria Solovyova “Getting to Know Yourself” center already at the first visit allow you to get rid of accumulated psychological fatigue and evoke a desire to act and move forward.

PSYCHOLOGICAL (NERVOUS) TENSION

This is a psychological condition in which a person constantly experiences excessive psychological tension, nervousness in communicating with people when performing any activity.

This condition usually has a bad effect on a person’s performance. Leads to various errors and inadequate reactions to current events. Causes unpleasant emotional experiences and a feeling of dissatisfaction for a person. Being in this state, a person can show uncontrollable aggression and provoke conflict situations. It is difficult for him to control his own emotions.

There are many factors that can cause nervous tension in a person:

prolonged stress, heavy workload, fatigue, conflictual relationships, communication with unpleasant people, complex and confusing life situations. Lack of opportunity for self-realization and career growth. Conflicts in the team. Family problems. Financial difficulties. Bad habits, alcohol abuse.

If your nervous tension is caused by some unresolved problem or difficult life situation, you cannot do without the help of a qualified psychologist in Simferopol. In this case, only by getting rid of the cause can the problem be solved, and with it the psychological stress will go away.

Very often, the cause of this condition is also the unfavorable environment that surrounds us. Modern man is acutely aware of the negative factors of city life. Accelerated pace of life, heavy workload. You have to communicate with a large number of people who carry different, often negative, energy. In this case, in order to prevent the appearance of nervous tension, you need to pay more attention to your lifestyle, try not to accumulate negativity in yourself, but get rid of it in a timely manner.

Ways to deal with psychological stress:

Passive - you can be alone, watch your favorite movie, read a good book, take a walk in the park, listen to pleasant music, drink soothing herbs, get a massage, go to the sauna, do breathing exercises, do aromatherapy.

Active - take a trip, preferably to a place where you have long wanted to go, or to a place where you once felt very good. Try outdoor sports games. Prepare a delicious unusual dish. Rearrange the room, update the interior.

Visiting beauty salons, light shopping, and gatherings with friends are also useful for women. For some people, spring cleaning works well.

For men - fishing, bowling, billiards, watching sports matches in the company of friends.

Modern cities can offer us many more ways to have fun and relax. Everyone can choose according to their own taste.

Stress translated from English means “pressure, tension” and is a complex of physiological reactions that occur in the human body in response to the influence of various unfavorable factors (stressors).

The factors that cause stress are varied and varied. For example, a sharp sound, high or low temperature, fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, etc. can lead to stress.

Moreover, stress reactions are inherent not only to humans with their highly developed nervous system, but also to lower animals that do not have a nervous system at all, and even plants. Thus, it becomes clear that stress is not just nervous tension. This is the response of an organism or any living system or tissue to a demand placed on it. The main and ultimate goal of such a response is to adapt to changed conditions. stress was proposed by the Canadian physiologist G. Selye in 1936. It is appropriate if we talk about stress in general.

If we are talking about stress as a risk factor for arterial hypertension, then we mean psycho-emotional, nervous stress. Psycho-emotional stress is an integral part of the lives of people in developed countries. Here a person is constantly, every day, faced with an accelerated pace of nervously stressful life and work with a shortage of time, and difficult interpersonal relationships. In this case, long-term conflicts often arise, which are a source of negative emotions. Of these, the strongest, most persistent, and slowly passing are socially determined: work, family, everyday.

Particularly stressful for a person are life situations that are beyond his control (death of loved ones, natural disasters, etc.). Scientists Holmes and Rage, based on many years of research, have compiled a list of the most common changes in life that cause stress. Some of them are given below. The sequence in this list is determined based on the emotional significance of each event.

As can be seen from the table, the most dangerous for a person are intense traumatic events caused by the loss of very close people.

Is it possible to live without stress? Science says it's impossible. After all, we must constantly adapt to new conditions. Life is a constant source of change. By and large, life is the main source of stress, so you can completely get rid of it only with the arrival of death. It is impossible to eradicate stress, but we have the power to arrange our own lives in such a way that we receive pleasant stress and free ourselves from unpleasant ones. Yes, it turns out there are also pleasant stresses.

Stresses are divided into emotionally positive (birth of a child, promotion, etc.) and emotionally negative. In everyday language, when we say “fighting stress”, “consequences of stress”, we usually mean the emotionally negative type of stress.

There is also a difference between short-term and long-term stress. They affect health differently. Long-term stress has more severe consequences.

How does stress occur?

When a conflict situation requires a quick reaction and an immediate response, the adaptive mechanisms inherent in nature are triggered in our body. Biochemical reactions occur at an accelerated pace, increasing the body's energy potential and allowing it to respond to threats with triple strength. The adrenal glands increase the release of adrenaline into the blood, which is a fast-acting stimulant. The “emotional center” of the brain is the hypothalamus. It transmits a signal to the pituitary gland and adrenal cortex, which increases the synthesis of hormones and their release into the blood.

Hormones change the water-salt balance of the blood, increasing pressure, increasing heart rate, increasing the need for oxygen in the heart muscle, narrowing the cerebral, renal and peripheral arteries, stimulating rapid digestion of food and releasing energy, increasing the number of leukocytes in the blood, stimulating the immune system, provoking the occurrence of allergic reactions, increase sugar levels and increase the breathing rate. The man is ready for battle. All the described changes are aimed at mobilizing the body’s resources according to the “fight-flight” principle and are of a protective, adaptive nature.

But the time for external reactions, unfortunately, has passed. In the modern world, stress most often has internal manifestations and causes. Now a person catches up with a bus, rather than running away from dangerous animals; he is afraid of boredom and old age, not an avalanche; he fights a bad mood or irritation, not enemies or wild animals.

Of course, in a stressful situation caused by such reasons, rest and relaxation would be more beneficial than increasing cardiac activity and blood pressure (BP). But our body reacts to unforeseen situations with a traditional cascade of reactions, from which none can be arbitrarily excluded.

If the stress is emotionally positive, the situation is short-lived and is under your control, then there is nothing to fear: the body has every opportunity to rest and recover after an explosion of activity in all systems. In such a case, the body’s reactions return to their normal, characteristic pace, the work of vital organs returns to their normal course, and the body continues to function in its usual mode. But if the stress is emotionally negative, prolonged, the situation is beyond your control and the body has no chance to normalize already activated processes, you need to prepare to face the consequences of the current critical condition.

When the body systems that control your psycho-emotional state are overloaded and negative stress lasts for a long time, symptoms of physical and psychological exhaustion begin to appear. Thus, there is a breakdown in adaptability and the development of diseases. This is otherwise called distress or the stage of depletion of “adaptive energy”. And here it is important to remember G. Senier’s statement that “stress is everything that leads to rapid aging of the body or causes illness.”

If you have at least one of the following signs, then you are very likely to have chronic, long-term stress:

Inability to concentrate on something

Frequent errors at work

Memory impairment

Chronic fatigue

The number of cigarettes smoked increases sharply

Work doesn't bring the same joy

Addiction to alcoholic beverages

Headache

Sleep disorders (insomnia, drowsiness, etc.)

Back or neck pain

Attacks of irritation

Constipation or diarrhea (diarrhea)

Chest pain

Attacks of dizziness

A sharp deterioration in the condition of hair and nails

Skin diseases

Rheumatoid arthritis

Allergy

Heartburn, peptic ulcers and other digestive diseases

Cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hypotension, atherosclerosis, heart attacks, heart failure)

Your symptoms and illnesses may not be caused by stress, but it is certain that stress aggravates them. For this reason alone, it is worthwhile to take care of your psycho-emotional state without delay.

The relationship between emotional stress and the development of hypertension has been studied in population studies. It has been shown that the level of blood pressure is higher in population groups exposed to chronic stress: among the unemployed and people fired from work, working with constant mental stress, living in overcrowded areas and communal apartments.

One of the serious problems of dealing with stress is that it causes feelings of anxiety, and together they involuntarily activate the nervous system. It is not uncommon to see patients surprised when they learn that all the numerous painful symptoms that they thought were signs of a serious illness are “just” a reaction to stress. About 40% of referrals to cardiologists for palpitations and other cardiac abnormalities are directly related to a stressful situation. Approximately the same percentage of referrals to neurologists (for headaches) and gastroenterologists (for stomach pain) are also associated with stress.

Thus, you can be convinced that many of your health problems are associated with an inability to cope with stress. Then it will be enough for you to learn how to independently apply stress management methods. So, almost all methods of overcoming stress fall into three large groups:

1. Recognizing the problem

means being able to recognize the stress that has arisen and decide what you can handle. In such cases it is very useful:

Make a list of all the situations that cause you stress

Ask yourself why this is happening

Expand your understanding of the situation using your imagination.

Take some time in the evening and try to remember how you dealt with stressful situations during the day. Rate the “stress intensity” of each such situation, giving a score of 1 when the stress was minimal and 10 when it reached the maximum level that you can cope with.

Having determined the level of tension of the past day in the manner described, relax and do the following: sit comfortably, close your eyes, make sure that your clothes do not restrict you anywhere. Breathing evenly and deeply, carefully “look” at your body, as if you had a video camera hidden in your head, to identify “points” of tension. Focus your attention on the tense muscles and imagine how, with each exhalation, the tension goes drop by drop through your legs to the floor.

After a few minutes, think again about the stress level of that day. Ask yourself what issue or event was defining for him. Try to imagine the situation or this person from the perspective of an outside observer.

Now take a deep breath, open your eyes and ask yourself:

¨ why was the stress level assessed so high (low)?

¨ what was the most unpleasant for you?

Has this happened in your life before?

¨ How do you understand what happened?

¨ What other thoughts appeared when you imagined this stressful situation?

This exercise will help you identify the factors that cause stress, and this is the first and very important step that will allow you to choose a way to overcome it.

For example, Anna, a young mother, did this exercise like this. Having relieved general tension and enjoying complete relaxation, she thought about her stress level and rated it at 7. Sitting comfortably in her chair, Anna allowed her thoughts to freely appear and disappear. Then a picture appeared: her children were quarreling and fighting, which happened quite often, despite all her efforts to prevent this. After some time, she was able to tell herself the following about her feelings:

The stress rating was so high because I was very upset by the children's behavior, although nothing bad happened to them

The main problem for me was the noise the children made.

The same sensations arose with me before, when my husband, as usual, raised his voice in arguments with me, which offended me very much

Loud noise very quickly caused a reaction in me, expressed in general tension

Other thoughts concerned vague memories of fighting myself when I was a child. In addition, I realized that sometimes I myself feel the urge to beat children (although I never do this)

Thanks to the exercise, Anna understood which situations and why become stressful for her. And now, when necessary, she can use a specific technique for mastering a stressful situation. She mastered these methods and techniques gradually.

2. Self help

involves the acquisition of skills to control one’s thoughts or attitudes and, if necessary, their mandatory use, as well as the ability to take care of oneself. To do this, you need to learn to relax and create a positive feeling of self-confidence.

3. Solution

means mastering some special skills, such as, for example, the ability to manage time, training self-confidence, as well as awareness of the boundaries of your responsibility and the legitimacy of the demands placed on you.

It is well known about chronic diseases that they take longer and are more difficult to cure than acute ones. Long-term stress is no exception. If life causes a lot of pain, it’s time to take care of yourself. This is a daily and long process, but the results will be worthy of your efforts.

So, don't let conflicts drag on!

Resolve conflicts and misunderstandings as quickly as possible. If your attention is focused on resentment, it is difficult for you to escape stress. It is very important to get rid of irritation to protect your heart. This will give you the opportunity to maintain control over yourself and not take the conflict to a new level. Try to realize what emotions you are experiencing. If it's anger or resentment, tell the other person, "I'm angry" or "I'm hurt." Such honesty and, by and large, responsible behavior of a mature person will allow you to avoid the unpleasant consequences of incorrectly splashing out your emotions.

Unfortunately, many of us are accustomed to putting our anger into hurtful and cruel words. Moreover, we say them more often to the closest and most beloved people. It will be better if you immediately explain your irritation, and even better, its reasons, to your loved ones. Then there will be no unnecessary quarrels and unnecessary insults.

When expressing your grievances, do not generalize: talk about a specific incident that made you angry. When you feel the desire to quarrel, express indignation and anger, do not remember the past, talk only about the situation that worries you.

Ultimately, if a person is trying to explain himself to you, listen to them; if he apologizes, accept it. Try to end the unpleasant incident as soon as possible. Please note: showing restraint in the most fundamental conflict does not make you the weak party. On the contrary, you take on the role of the calm and strong Elephant, and your insufficiently wise opponent gets the role of the Pug.

Laugh! Smile! As often as possible!

It has long been known that laughter is the best medicine, which is especially effective against stress. When you laugh, your facial muscles relax, emotional tension drops, and a positive sense of perspective appears. This is the best way to fight diseases and, above all, yourself.

In the end, if you are not happy with something, you need to change either the situation or your attitude towards it. In many cases, when the situation cannot be changed quickly, you can afford to simply ridicule it. The ability to see humor or humor in your own difficulties is the best way to change your attitude towards a problem. The famous Danish cartoonist Herluf Bidstrup became famous precisely for noticing the comical in literally everything he saw.

Hope for the best

If you expect trouble, then more often than not it will happen. Due to anxiety and tension, your behavior changes; you have mentally replayed the situation and unconsciously carry its image in front of you. Such “prediction of the situation” may well be the cause of negative self-perception. You predict failure for yourself, your behavior changes, those around you react accordingly, and trouble happens. We can say with great confidence that you yourself are to blame for many of your failures.

Try a different, positive way of viewing the world and you will help yourself reduce your stress. Look at yourself with different eyes, change your idea of ​​yourself and your place in this world. Whatever the situation, a joyful perception of yourself and your prospects is significantly closer to than a pessimistic approach.

Avoid being alone with problems

Don’t be afraid to tell others that you have problems or what they actually are. Stoicism, which is necessary, for example, in the dentist's chair, is completely undesirable under stress. He deprives you of friendly support, the opportunity to accept and understand another point of view, depletes your mental and physical strength, denies sympathy and sympathy, the feeling of your friend’s elbow. People who have many friends find themselves in a more advantageous position: they can withstand difficult life situations. Cause or effect, social isolation often leads to depression and even suicide.

Play sports

Choose a rival partner and a sport that you like. If you are constantly trying to prove your superiority, give preference to individual lessons. At least some of the exercises should be repeated rhythmically. Just as a newborn baby falls asleep with calm, even rocking, so you, following rhythmic movements, regain lost feelings of control and security. Exercises should not be performed thoughtlessly. Some concentration on exercise can reduce the effects of stress. By focusing on doing the exercises, you narrow the scope of your world to a size that is not at all difficult to keep under control.

The exercises should be challenging enough so that the adrenaline that builds up during stress is fully utilized. If physical activity is insufficient, excess adrenaline will make you irritable and nervous.

Eat right

Eating balanced, vitamin-rich foods will help increase your resistance to stress. Eat at least 3 times a day, be sure to include in your diet:

¨ a lot of roughage, especially whole grains and cereals

¨ lots of fruits and vegetables

¨ plenty of fresh, clean water

¨ some fatty foods, vegetable oils and proteins (meat, poultry, fish)

Maintain your good habits

If you don’t have any, don’t be lazy to get them as soon as possible. Allow something to exist in your life that creates a feeling of regularity and consistency.

Along with this, use the following techniques:

1. relax in any situation as soon as you feel that things are not going the way you would like

2. do not accumulate, throw out accumulated negative energy

3. Play with your children and pets

4. find time for pleasant little things and household chores

5. talk to loved ones about difficult issues

Try to follow these rules every day and after a while you will find that events that previously unsettled you are no longer so scary.

In conclusion, we note that the main method of dealing with stress is psychorelaxation therapy. This includes autogenic training, meditative techniques, progressive muscle relaxation and many others. We will teach hypoxic relaxation breathing training, which is easy to master and reproduce at home, and is also effective for eliminating stress tension.

Guided by the rules that we talked about today, you will find that stress from an oppressor rival becomes your ally and even assistant. “Taken” stress is an excellent energy resource. Feel free to harness him to the cart of your destiny.

V. Rambovsky, Information Network “Health of Eurasia”

Comments on the article

Add a comment

Read also:

DOCTOR VLAD ADVICES

My name is Vladimir Vitalievich Yachmennikov.

I graduated from Saratov in 1979 with a degree in pediatrician. Advanced training in military surgery 1983, ultrasound 1985, acupuncture (acupuncture) 1991. In Russia, starting in 1991, he worked as a general reflexologist (not only children). Successfully licensed to work in the State of Illinois. The internship took place at Gordin Medical Center. I currently work as a private reflexologist. Here on the site I talk about this technique. I give examples from my more than 20 years of practice in the field of reflexology. I also try to introduce site visitors to the latest, interesting news in the field of medicine and health from around the world.

All the best!

Yesterday I made a video starring myself, and I’m posting it today. I think that these exercises may be of interest to people who want to lose weight, but are not very successful yet. I remember very well how I had just decided to start taking care of myself, my body. What is offered on the Internet, in the video of muscular guys...

Well, since I haven’t bothered you yet with my exercises on video, then here’s another one for you. This exercise is more difficult than the previous ones, but the most effective of the ones I showed. Great for training your abs! I didn’t say it on camera, but at least I’ll say it here. If at first it doesn’t work out, but you want to, you can attach it to...

You are probably already tired of watching videos in which I swing various pieces of iron and show off my shrunken body. Let's change the record and talk about working at night. The conversation will go not only about night shifts, but also about those who simply like to stay until late, or even well after midnight. How much can this...

Also a very simple but effective exercise. Like everything I showed in my videos before. By the way, here is the video section about weight loss on my youtube channel: Physical education and weight loss. There, in the video, I promised to put a link to a video in which I show how to make a medicine ball out of an old basketball. I am doing...

Actually, I wanted to make a video for fat people again. But today is a very busy day, and the video is not working out. Read about acne on the face. This topic worries a lot of people, just like losing weight. The article is more for girls, but guys can also find a lot of useful information. The biggest problem is that...

Yesterday I made another video starring myself, I’m posting it today. I think that these exercises may be of interest to people who want to lose weight, but are not very successful yet. I remember very well how I had just decided to start taking care of myself, my body. What is offered on the Internet, in the video of muscular guys...

Performance.

Human nature is such that he strives for comfort, to eliminate unpleasant sensations, without thinking about it. These are natural methods of regulation that turn on by themselves, spontaneously, in addition to a person’s consciousness, which is why they are sometimes also called unconscious.

You probably use many of them intuitively. This includes a long sleep, delicious food, communication with nature and animals, a bath, massage, movement, dancing, music and more. Unfortunately, some tools cannot, as a rule, be used at work, directly at the moment when a tense situation arises. Are there any techniques that can be used during work? Yes. First, you need to figure out what natural mechanisms you have for relieving tension, relaxing, and increasing tone.

Exercise "I'm happy"

Everyone sits in a circle. One chair is free. The one with the free chair on the right starts. He should say: “And I’m happy.” The next one, who has an empty chair on the right, moves and says: “Me too,” the third participant says, “And I’m learning from... (says the name of any participant).The one whose name was called runs to an empty chair and names a way to raise the mood, then everything is repeated from the beginning by analogy.

Discussion. Which of the proposed ways to lift your mood did you find most interesting?

The following are distinguished: natural methods of body regulation:

Laughter, smile, humor;

Various movements such as stretching, muscle relaxation;

Examination of indoor plants, photographs and other pleasant or dear things to a person;

Mental appeal to higher powers (God, the Universe);

- “bathing” (real or mental) in the sun’s rays;

Breathing fresh air;

Reading poetry;

Expressing praise or compliments to someone just like that.

And if we deal with the problem of regulating emotional states, neuropsychic tension, special techniques are used consciously to manage them. They are called methods of self-regulation (or methods of self-influence), emphasizing the active participation of a person in them.

Self-regulation - this is the control of one’s psycho-emotional state, achieved by a person’s influence on himself with the help of words, mental images, control of muscle tone and breathing.

Thus, self-regulation can be carried out using four main means, used separately or in various combinations.

As a result of self-regulation, three main effects can occur:

Calming effect (elimination of emotional tension);

Recovery effect (weakening of symptoms of fatigue);

Activation effect (increased psychophysiological reactivity).

Acquaintance with a bank of methods of self-regulation and self-influence.

1. Methods related to breathing control.

Breath control is an effective means of influencing muscle tone and emotional centers of the brain. Slow and deep breathing (with the participation of the abdominal muscles) reduces the excitability of the nerve centers and promotes muscle relaxation, that is, relaxation. Frequent (chest) breathing, on the contrary, ensures a high level of body activity and maintains neuropsychic tension.

- Breath control

While sitting or standing, try to relax your body muscles as much as possible and focus on your breathing. On the count of 1-2-3-4, take a slow deep breath (while the stomach protrudes forward and the chest is motionless); for the next four counts, the breath is held; then exhale smoothly on a count of 1-2-3-4-5-6; again delay before the next inhalation for a count of 1-2-3-4. After just 3-5 minutes of such breathing, you will notice that your state has become noticeably calmer and more balanced.

Breathing technique "Pushinka"

Imagine that there is a piece of fluff hanging in front of your nose at a distance of 10-15 cm. Breathe only through your nose and so smoothly that the fluff does not flutter.

“Ball” breathing technique

Close your eyes and imagine a light ping pong ball. Inhale - and the ball slowly and smoothly rises from the center of your abdomen to your throat. Exhale - and the ball also slowly falls down. Inhale - the ball slowly rises up, exhale - gently falls down.

2. Methods related to controlling muscle tone and movement.

Under the influence of mental stress, muscle tension and tension arise. The ability to relax them allows you to relieve neuropsychic tension and quickly restore strength. In your free moments, rest breaks, master the consistent relaxation of different muscle groups. Since it is not possible to achieve complete relaxation of all muscles at once, you need to focus on the most tense parts of the body.

Exercise to relax various muscle groups.

Sit comfortably, if possible, close your eyes; breathe deeply and slowly; walk with your inner gaze throughout your body, starting from the top of your head to the tips of your toes (or in reverse order) and find the places of greatest tension (often the mouth, lips, jaws, neck, back of the head, shoulders, stomach); try to strain the places of the clamps even more (until the muscles tremble), do this while inhaling; feel this tension; sharply release tension - do it while exhaling; do this several times. In a well-relaxed muscle you will feel the appearance of warmth and pleasant heaviness. If the clamp cannot be removed, especially on the face, try smoothing it out with light self-massage using circular movements of your fingers (you can make grimaces).

Exercise “Vessel with liquid”

Take a comfortable position. Close your eyes and begin to imagine that a stream of warm, viscous, golden or silver-colored liquid begins to flow into your heels through the soles of your feet (or from the top of your head). Your body is an empty vessel into which this liquid is poured from the outside with pleasant sensations of warmth and heaviness. These ideas must be accompanied by real sensations of warmth and heaviness. The muscles become sluggish and relaxed.

Exercise “Wave of Relaxation”

Take a comfortable position, imagine that a wave of relaxation is flowing along your body. It is very similar to a sea wave rolling over you when you sit on the seashore. Only the sea wave flows around you, and the wave of relaxation passes right through you. Pass several waves of relaxation through yourself, and all the muscles of your body will weaken, become sluggish and soft. At first, until you achieve a stable feeling of a wave of relaxation passing through your body from top to bottom, this exercise should be performed while sitting or lying down. Then these sensations can be evoked in any position.

3. Methods associated with the impact of words.

It is known that “a word can kill, a word can save.” The second signaling system is the highest regulator of human behavior.

Verbal influence involves the conscious mechanism of self-hypnosis, and has a direct impact on the psychophysiological functions of the body.

The formulations of self-hypnosis are constructed in the form of simple and brief statements with a positive focus (without the particle “not”).

Self-orders. A self-order is a short, abrupt order made to oneself. Use self-command when you are convinced that you should behave in a certain way, but have difficulty doing it. “Talk calmly!”, “Be silent, be silent!”, “Stop!” - this helps to restrain emotions, behave with dignity, follow the rules of ethics and rules of working with people. Formulate a self-order. Repeat it mentally several times. If possible, repeat it out loud.

Self-programming.

In many cases, it is advisable to “look back” and remember your successes in a similar position.

• Think back to a time when you dealt with similar challenges.
• Formulate the text of the program; to enhance the effect, you can use the words “exactly today”:

“Today, I will succeed”;

“Today, I will be the calmest and most self-possessed”;

“Today, I will be resourceful and confident”;

“It gives me pleasure to conduct a conversation in a calm and confident voice, to show an example of restraint and self-control.”

• Mentally repeat the text of the program several times.

Self-approval (self-encouragement)

People often do not receive positive assessments of their behavior from others. This, especially in situations of increased neuropsychic stress, is one of the reasons for increased nervousness and irritation. Therefore, it is important to encourage yourself. In case of even minor successes, it is advisable to praise yourself, mentally saying: “Well done!”, “Clever girl!”, “Great job!” Find opportunities to praise yourself at least 3-5 times during the working day.

4. Methods associated with the use of images.

The use of images is associated with an active influence on the central nervous system of feelings and ideas. We don’t remember many of our positive feelings, observations, and impressions, but if we awaken the memories and images associated with them, we can relive them and even strengthen them. And if we influence consciousness with words, then images and imagination give us access to powerful subconscious reserves of the psyche.

To use imagery for self-regulation, try the following:

Specifically remember situations, events in which you felt comfortable, relaxed, calm - these are your resource situations. Do this in three basic human modalities. To do this, remember visual images, events (what you see: clouds, forest, flowers); auditory images (what sounds do you hear: birds singing, the murmur of a stream, the sound of rain, music); sensations in the body (what you feel: the warmth of the sun's rays on your face, splashes of water, the smell of blossoming apple trees, the taste of strawberries).

If you feel tense or tired, sit comfortably, if possible, closing your eyes; breathe slowly and deeply; remember one of your resource situations; relive it, remembering all the visual, auditory and bodily sensations that accompanied it; stay inside this situation for a few minutes; open your eyes and get back to work.

Imagine a conflict situation, observe what sensations arise in your body. Often in such situations, a discomfort occurs behind the sternum (pressure, compression, pulsation). Close your eyes, look with your inner gaze at the sternum area and imagine a raging “sea of ​​fire” of emotions. Now visually smooth this sea to a smooth mirror. How do you feel now? To try one more time.

Of course, the misfortunes of loved ones, social disasters, failures at work, and one’s own mistakes cannot but upset a person. But such failures should not be considered irreparable disasters. What can be done should be corrected. But if not, there is no trial, as people say. Great wisdom is contained in the saying: “Lord, give me the strength to change what I can change, patience to accept what I cannot change, and intelligence to distinguish one from the other.

5. Ways to activate the resource state.

Being in a resourceful state, you will be able to act much more effectively in a conflict situation, while maintaining both your health and the health of others. For example, you are driving in a vehicle in a great mood, suddenly you brake suddenly and a massive man steps on your foot. What are you doing? (We get out of the situation kindly and with humor.) And now you are endlessly tired, your bags are weighing down your arms. Your foot has been stepped on. How do you react? (We scream, we get offended, we get angry. We even shed a tear.) What is the difference? In resource condition.

I offer an exercise that will help activate your resources. Remember that skills and abilities arise through repeated repetition. When you feel anxious and angry, you are more likely to act impulsively and do things that are actually the opposite of what you really want.

So let's take a few minutes to put ourselves in the state most suitable for achieving a positive result, that is, a state of peace.

Exercise "Float".

Imagine a stormy sea, a storm, a hurricane that washes away everything in its path, powerful waves. Suddenly your gaze catches a float going under the water and emerging again on the crest of a wave. Imagine that you are this float, and the stormy sea is your life. Waves of adversity roll over you, but you are unsinkable. You resurface again and again. Your confidence and your luck fill this float and push it to the surface. Finally, the sea, which has not overcome you, calms down, the sun peeks out from behind the clouds, and you, the float, are filled with the sun’s rays of good luck. You have weathered another storm in your life and emerged victorious. Imagine the subsequent hurricanes of your life, and from them you too will emerge victorious, an unsinkable float.

First aid for acute stress

If the situation has changed very dramatically, and for the worse for us, we may develop acute stress. In this case, the first thing you need to take care of is to gather all your will into a fist and command yourself: “STOP!” in order to sharply slow down the development of acute stress. Next, you need to use your own anti-stress preparations (stress relief tools that were learned in advance ).
What kind of preparations are these?

Ways to relieve acute stress

1. Anti-stress breathing. Slowly take a deep breath through your nose; At the peak of inhalation, hold your breath for a moment, then exhale as slowly as possible. This is a calming breath. Try to imagine. That with each deep inhalation and long exhalation you partially relieve stress.
2. Minute relaxation. Relax the corners of your mouth, moisten your lips. Relax your shoulders. Focus on your facial expression and body position: remember that they reflect your emotions, thoughts and inner state. It's natural that you don't want others to know that you're stressed. In this case, you can change your “facial and body language” by relaxing your muscles and deep breathing.
3. Inventory . Look around and carefully examine the room you are in. Pay attention to the smallest details, even if you know them well. Slowly, without rushing, mentally go through all the objects one by one in a certain sequence. Try to fully concentrate on this “inventory”. Mentally say to yourself: “Brown desk, white curtains, red flower vase,” etc. By focusing on each individual item, you will distract yourself from internal stress, directing your attention to a rational perception of the environment.
4. A change of scenery. If circumstances permit, leave the room in which you are experiencing acute stress. Go to another place where there is no one, or go outside where you can be alone with your thoughts. Mentally disassemble this room (if you went outside, then the surrounding houses, nature) “bone by stone”, as in the “Inventory” method.
5. Whip Hands . Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, lean forward and relax. The head, shoulders and arms hang down freely. Breathing is calm. Hold this position for 1-2 minutes. Focus your attention on your arms, which are dangling freely. At the end, raise your head very slowly (so that it does not become dizzy).
6. Change of activity. Engage in some activity - start washing clothes, washing dishes, or cleaning if at home. Put things in order in your workplace, take care of some familiar job responsibilities that you can “plunge headlong into.” Any activity, and especially physical labor, in a stressful situation acts as a lightning rod - it helps to distract from internal tension. It is important that this is not an empty activity (activity for the sake of activity), but the pursuit of a specific goal (wash all the dishes, put things in order...)
7. Music . If music calms you down, play something slow. Try to listen to it, concentrate on it (local concentration). Remember that concentrating on one thing promotes complete relaxation and evokes positive emotions. Watch your thoughts, don’t let yourself think about the problem.
8. Simple intellectual activity. Take a calculator or paper and pencil and try to calculate how many days you live in the world (multiply the number of full years by 365, adding one day for each leap year, and add the number of days that have passed since your last birthday). Such rational activity will allow you to shift your attention. Try to remember a particularly remarkable day in your life. Remember it in the smallest detail, without missing anything. Try to calculate what this day of your life was like.
9. Conversation on abstract topics. Talk about some abstract topic with any person nearby: a neighbor, a workmate. If there is no one nearby, you can call on the phone or chat with someone via the Internet. Conversation is a distracting activity that is carried out “here and now” and is designed to displace the stress-filled internal dialogue from your consciousness. Man is a very social creature. In a conversation you can forget about anything.Breathing exercises. Do some breathing exercises. The main thing is that the breathing be rhythmic, measured, slow.

Ways to relieve psycho-emotional stress

Experience shows that an effective means of preventing tension and preventing professional burnout syndrome is the use of methods of self-regulation and self-restoration. This is a kind of safety precaution for specialists who have numerous and intensive contacts with people in the course of their professional activities. These techniques were and are now being used in working with teachers during interactive classes at TMK, MBOU Secondary School No. 56, during individual and group work with clients. The information presented in this article is included in the information block of the program “Prevention of emotional burnout of teachers” and in the practice of self-regulation of the body.

Natural ways of regulating the body and self-regulation

Human nature is such that he strives for comfort, to eliminate unpleasant sensations, without thinking about it, without knowing what scientific words it is called. These are natural methods of regulation that turn on by themselves, spontaneously.

You probably use many of them intuitively. This includes long sleep, delicious food, communication with nature and animals, a bath, massage, movement, dancing, music and much more.

The following natural methods of regulating the body are distinguished:

laughter, smile, humor;

thinking about the good, pleasant,

various movements such as stretching, muscle relaxation;

watching the landscape outside the window;

looking at flowers in the room, photographs, other pleasant or dear things to a person;

mental appeal to higher powers (God, the Universe, a great idea);

bathing (real or mental) in the sun's rays;

breathing fresh air:

poetry reading;

expressing praise or compliments to someone just like that.

Try asking yourself questions:

What helps you cheer up and switch?

Which of the above can I use?

Mentally, or better yet on paper, make a list of these methods. Consider which ones you can use consciously when you feel tense or tired.

Unfortunately, such means, as a rule, cannot be used at work, directly at the moment when a tense situation has arisen or fatigue has accumulated. Are there any techniques that can be used during work? Yes.

To begin with, it is important to understand what natural mechanisms for relieving tension, relaxing, and increasing tone you have; become aware of them; move from spontaneous use of natural methods of regulation to conscious use in order to manage your condition.

Specialists who deal with the problem of regulating emotional states and neuropsychic tension consciously use special techniques to manage them. They are called methods of self-regulation, or methods of self-influence, emphasizing the active participation of a person in them.

Self-regulation is the control of one’s psycho-emotional state, achieved by a person’s influence on himself with the help of words, mental images, control of muscle tone and breathing.

Thus, self-regulation can be carried out using four main means, used separately or in various combinations.

As a result of self-regulation, three main effects can occur:

calming effect (elimination of emotional tension);

recovery effect (weakening of symptoms of fatigue);

activation effect (increased psychophysiological reactivity).

Timely self-regulation acts as a kind of psychohygienic means that prevents the accumulation of residual effects of overstrain, promotes complete restoration of strength, normalizes the emotional background of activity, and also enhances the mobilization of the body's resources.

Bank of self-regulation methods

1. Methods related to breathing control

All other vital rhythms of our body are subordinated to breathing and its rhythm.

Breathing plays an important role in our mental life. Mastering your breathing and its mechanisms is one of the ways to cope with psychological problems and neurosis. Conscious control of breathing is one of the oldest ways to combat stress and other psychological stress.

Breathing control is an effective means of influencing muscle tone and emotional centers of the brain. Slow and deep breathing (with the participation of the abdominal muscles) reduces the excitability of the nerve centers and promotes muscle relaxation, that is, relaxation. Frequent (chest) breathing, on the contrary, ensures a high level of body activity and maintains neuropsychic tension.

Proper breathing is an adjustment to the rhythm and emotions of thinking. You have probably noticed more than once how much a particular emotional state, the rhythm of emotions, changes our breathing. Remember how it changed when you were excited, when you were expecting the result of some process that was important to you. How did you breathe when you learned some good news?

Every time a special breathing pattern arises that corresponds to your emotional state. If you are excited, your breathing is shallow and rapid. If you are calm, it is slow and deep.

There is also an inverse relationship. In a difficult, emotionally intense moment for you, when your breathing is short and your heart is beating somewhere in your throat, you can calm yourself down with the help of, that’s right, breathing. Smooth and slow breathing will help you cope with your emotions. Breathe as you would if you were in a state of deep rest.

To speed up the process, you need, while maintaining a calm breathing pattern, to slightly increase the depth of breathing and its intensity.

In the same way, by changing the rhythm of breathing, you can move from a relaxed, calm state to a more active, cheerful one. That is, by changing our breathing pattern, we can transfer ourselves to ANY emotional state.

Of course, in order to consolidate this skill, it is necessary to consciously practice these transitions from one state to another. Practice leveling out irritation and aggression with even, slow and deep breathing. And finally, when you feel a loss of strength, in a state of apathy, change your breathing pattern, bringing it closer to what distinguishes an actively working person.

How to do it? Try, when you are irritated or angry, to breathe the way a person who has barely woken up breathes. Imagine that you are in bed, you have just had a pleasant, peaceful dream. Now you have woken up, and your breathing is slow and calm. Take ten inhalations and exhalations, carefully monitoring the accuracy of the breathing of the newly awakened person (at the same time, increase the depth and intensity of the breathing, maintaining its pattern!). There will be no trace left of the negative emotion.

Breathing can change more than just emotions. It has a powerful effect on thought, and therefore on the entire body. Breathing is associated with thinking and concentration, more precisely with intellectual rhythm. By learning to breathe correctly, you can significantly improve your mental abilities. It is important to learn to breathe normally and control this process. When controlling the breathing process, you should not be zealous. But when you are experiencing emotional discomfort, just check how you breathe. And if you find out that something is wrong and your breathing is not improving, if it is frequent, superficial and ineffective (i.e., not satisfying your needs), then take action.

With natural and full breathing, the body takes a characteristic pose. As you inhale, the head slides back, the shoulders move forward and up, the stomach retracts, the pelvis moves forward, and the legs move apart by themselves. When exhaling, all these parts of the body move in the opposite direction, as if the person is preparing to group, but does not group. All this is possible only if you surrender to the process of breathing, which is what I wish for you with all my heart, since natural breathing contains many resources for our mental and even physical well-being.

Mastering natural breathing. Try to inhale as completely as possible using the intercostal muscles, muscles of the upper shoulder girdle and abs. Exhale equally deeply. “Breathe in” the remaining air two or three times; only 3-4 consecutive exhalations without inhalations. After a 3-5 second pause, try to inhale as fully as possible again. If necessary, perform this complex 3-7 times. Focus on the result; you should feel that your breathing has become free and full. You should also feel that all three muscle groups (intercostal muscles, shoulder girdle muscles and abs) are working harmoniously, helping each other to ensure breathing.

Checking for complete breathing. To make sure that your breathing is truly complete, tense as much as possible and hold the tension for as long as possible. Then take 2-3 deep spontaneous inhalations and exhalations. Additionally, make sure that your breathing is not impeded by any muscle blocks (a feeling of muscle tension in one of three areas: chest, shoulders, abs). If you identify some kind of muscle block, get rid of it by additional tension of this muscle group according to the appropriate scheme.

It would be absurd to completely abandon the tools for maintaining mental well-being that are hidden in the breath. In the process of evolutionary development, a clear relationship has developed between deep and frequent breathing, on the one hand, and the activation of the body, on the other. At the same time, when breathing decreases, the nervous system rests, and in the meantime the body restores and accumulates energy resources. During inhalation, the mental state is activated, and during exhalation, the whole body calms and relaxes.

If you feel anxious, overwhelmed or tense, immerse yourself in the here and now and focus on your breathing. Feel only your breath. Sit with your back straight and count your breaths: one when you inhale, two when you exhale, three when you inhale again, four when you exhale again, and so on. Continue counting only to ten, since counting breaths is difficult with larger numbers. Go through two or three of these cycles. Focus on each account. Give your attention to exactly one, exactly two, exactly three, etc. Invest yourself in each number, follow your breathing, your inhalation, exhalation, pause. Notice the obstacles that are preventing you from breathing fully and remove them. While breathing, feel the currents that arise in the body under its influence.

In case of increased excitability, anxiety, nervousness or irritability, increase the time for all three phases of the breathing process: inhale-pause-exhale. Start with 5 seconds. Inhale slowly for 5 seconds, pause for 5 seconds and exhale also for 5 seconds. There is no need to breathe at this rhythm for a long time. Monitor the result and be guided by it. If it’s not difficult for you, you can gradually increase the duration of each phase (pause - no more than 10 seconds).

This exercise should not be performed before work that requires high activity. It has a pronounced calming effect, so it can be effective before bed if you have difficulty falling asleep.

In order to raise the general tone and gather strength, the alternation of breathing phases should be as follows: inhale - exhale - hold your breath for 5 seconds. Keep track of the result and be guided by it. You can increase the duration of the respiratory phases (each separately), but not much. The exercise should be carried out carefully.

For emergency activation of internal resources: inhalation should be done less actively, and exhalation should be forced, quite sharply, with artificially created difficulties. Sit with your back straight, lean your shoulders slightly forward, inhale calmly for 3 seconds and exhale forcefully for six. Create tension in the muscles of your tongue and larynx to resist the passing air. Simultaneously with exhalation, tense the muscles of your arms, chest and abdomen. You should not do more than 5-6 breaths in this way.

2. Methods related to controlling muscle tone and movement.

Under the influence of mental stress, muscle tension and tension arise. The ability to relax them allows you to relieve neuropsychic tension and quickly restore strength.

How to do it?

They say that we knock out a wedge with a wedge. And we will do just that. To achieve complete relaxation, you need to tense up as much as possible.

What do we have to do? First, we will learn how to consistently tense each muscle group. After this, we will need to master their simultaneous tension, and only then we will talk about relaxation. Ready? Then let's get started.

To fully relax, you need to tense all muscle groups: hands - forearms - shoulders and upper arms - shoulder blades - face - neck - abs - buttocks - perineum - thighs - legs - feet.

So, let's learn to relax.

1.Clench your left hand into a fist as tightly as you can. If you squeeze your hand well, you will be able to see that your knuckles have turned white. If you now slowly unclench your fist, you will clearly feel the muscles relaxing. This needs to be done with other muscle groups.

2.Bend your left arm at the elbow and tighten your left biceps so that it becomes as convex as possible. Then relax your muscles completely. Let your arm hang freely along your body.

3.Relax your right hand in the same way.

4.Tighten the muscles of the left moan. Curl your toes inward. After you feel a sufficiently strong tension in the muscles of your foot, let it relax.

5.Tighten your calf muscles. Touch them with your hand and you will feel how the muscles gradually become more and more solid. Pull your toes out to better tighten your muscles. Then relax them.

6.Straighten your leg and push it away from you in one fell swoop. You will feel the muscles in the front of your thigh tighten; they should be firm all the way up to the hip joint.

7.Do the same with the muscles of the other leg.

8. Straighten up with your whole body, stretch up, contracting the muscles of your buttocks. Then relax your muscles.

9. Tighten your abdominal muscles. Try to pull your stomach in as much as possible. Now suddenly relax and allow yourself? blur?.

10.Take a deep breath and try to hold it for as long as possible, tensing your chest muscles. Then exhale.

11. Straighten your shoulders and move them as far back as possible, then quickly bring them forward. Finally, raise them as high as possible. Try to keep your head still and try to touch your ears with your shoulders. You probably won't be able to do this, but at least try. Then relax and lower your shoulders.

13.Now relax the neck muscles. Tilt your head forward, then turn it first to the left, then to the right. Tilt your head back as far as possible. Relax your neck muscles. Feel your neck to make sure the muscles are truly relaxed.

14.Raise your eyebrows up, then lower them. Do this several times, making sure you feel your facial muscles tense each time. Then relax these muscles.

15.Close your eyes as tightly as possible. Imagine that someone is trying to force you to open your eyelids and open your eyes. Keep them tightly squeezed. Then, without opening your eyelids, relax your facial muscles.

16.Make several circular movements with your lower jaw. Grind your teeth. Wrinkle your forehead. Smile as wide as possible. Relax all your facial muscles. Breathe slowly, deeply and evenly while doing these exercises. As you relax, try to breathe as little as possible.

In a well-relaxed muscle you will feel the appearance of warmth and pleasant heaviness. If you cannot remove the clamp, especially on the face, try to smooth it out with light self-massage using circular movements of your fingers (you can make grimaces - surprise, joy, etc.).

Having practiced the ability to relax each muscle group in turn, we move on to the next stage. Tighten all muscle groups at the same time and create maximum tension in this position. Mentally count to 10, concentrating not on the count, but on the tension. On the count of 10, sharply relax, lean back and take a deep, calm breath. If necessary (determined independently), you can take an additional 2-3 deep breaths. Rest for a minute. The exercise should be repeated at least 7-10 times a day until you learn to voluntarily, quickly and completely relax without preliminary tension.

This exercise should be used whenever anxiety occurs, as a means of first and emergency aid. And also during attacks of internal stiffness, feelings of anger and stress. The best way is to practice it daily. The ability to relax should certainly enter your life. Moreover, it is better to spend the vast majority of time in this state rather than in tension.

Warning

Exercise is contraindicated during infections, pregnancy, and in cases where physical activity is limited by a doctor (for example, with vascular or neurological diseases).

If muscle pain appears that is not associated with one or another chronic disease, give yourself a massage and continue exercising as usual.

It's likely that chronic muscle tension is higher in some areas of your body than others. For example, if you suffer more from anxiety, you may find it more difficult to relax your shoulders, neck, and lower extremity muscles. If in everyday life you have to restrain irritation and aggression to a greater extent, then pay special attention to your cheekbones, tension in your arms and back muscles.

It’s not enough to just learn to relax. You must, firstly, be able to voluntarily, at will, enter this pleasant and, of course, useful state of physical relaxation; secondly, do not forget to tone your muscles before loading; and finally, make relaxation a natural state for yourself.

3. Methods associated with the impact of words

It is known that a word can kill, a word can save. The second signaling system is the highest regulator of human behavior. Verbal influence involves the conscious mechanism of self-hypnosis, and has a direct impact on the psychophysiological functions of the body.

A wonderful means of self-regulation are formulas-moods. The formula-mood is a positive, i.e., the statement we need. It's like white paint being put on top of a dirty spot. If it covers the entire stain with a thick layer, then the dirt will not be visible - it will disappear, and the sheet will be clean again. As a result, there will be no problems in our lives caused by our erroneous beliefs. The thicker the layer of paint, the more reliably we are protected from the emergence of our erroneous beliefs. If the paint layer is thin, then the stain can show through and ruin our life again. That is why formula-moods need to be repeated for a long time and as emotionally as possible. The time and energy invested in them is proportional to the amount of paint that will cover the dirty spot.

When you first pronounce the formula-moods, it may seem to you that this method is hopeless. Imagine that you have planted a seed. It first sprouts, then takes root, and only after that the sprout breaks out. It takes time for the sprout to develop into an adult plant. It’s the same with formulas and settings. Be patient.

In order to get rid of erroneous beliefs and idealization, it is necessary, using self-programming techniques, to dislodge them from consciousness and replace them with positive and useful statements.

Options for working with formula settings Rewrite by hand at least 100 times. You can rewrite no more than 5 times a day, so this will take about a month.

Memorize positive affirmations (or write them down on paper and carry them with you) and repeat them mentally. The total repetition time is 3-5 hours in total. It turns out to be very effective to record on a cassette the formulas and sentiments that you have uttered. Listen to them before bed. Reinforce your new positive formulas in any way you can: in your thoughts, in your conversations with yourself or others, through journal entries.

Remember the rule - the wording of self-hypnosis is constructed in the form of simple and brief statements with a positive focus (without the particle “not”).

Self-orders. This is a short, abrupt order made to oneself. Use self-command when you are convinced that you should behave in a certain way, but have difficulty doing it. Talk calmly! Be silent, do not give in to provocation! - this helps to restrain emotions, behave with dignity, and comply with ethical requirements and work rules.

Formulate a self-order.

Repeat it mentally several times. If possible, repeat it out loud.

Self-programming. In many situations, it is advisable to look back and remember your successes in a similar situation. Past successes tell a person about his capabilities, about hidden reserves in the spiritual, intellectual, and volitional spheres and instill confidence in his abilities. Think back to a time when you dealt with similar challenges.

Formulate the text of the program; to enhance the effect, you can use the words “exactly today”:

“Today I will succeed”; “Today I will be the calmest and most self-possessed”; “Today I will be resourceful and confident”; “It gives me pleasure to conduct a conversation in a calm and confident voice, to show an example of restraint and self-control.”

Repeat it mentally several times.

Self-approval (self-encouragement). People often do not receive positive assessment of their behavior from others. This, especially in situations of increased neuropsychic stress, is one of the reasons for increased nervousness and irritation. Therefore, it is important to encourage yourself.

In case of even minor successes, it is advisable to praise yourself,

mentally saying: Well done!, Good girl!, It turned out great!.

Find opportunities to praise yourself at least 3-5 times during the working day.

4. Methods associated with the use of images

The use of images is associated with an active influence on the central nervous system of feelings and ideas. We don’t remember many of our positive feelings, observations, and impressions, but if we awaken the memories and images associated with them, we can relive them and even strengthen them. And if with words we influence mainly consciousness, then images and imagination give us access to powerful subconscious reserves of the psyche.

To use imagery for self-regulation:

Specifically remember situations, events in which you felt comfortable, relaxed, calm - these are your resource situations.

Do this in three basic human modalities. To do this, remember:

1)visual images of the event (what you see: clouds, flowers, forest);

2) auditory images (what sounds do you hear: birds singing, the murmur of a stream, the sound of rain, music);

3) sensations in the body (what you feel: the warmth of the sun’s rays on your face, splashes of water, the smell of blossoming apple trees, the taste of strawberries).

If you feel tense or tired:

1) sit comfortably, with your eyes closed if possible;

2) breathe slowly and deeply;

3) remember one of your resource situations;

4) live it again, remembering all the visual, auditory and bodily sensations that accompanied it:

5) stay inside this situation for several minutes;

6) open your eyes and get back to work.

We wish you success in mastering these techniques and stay healthy!

Educational psychologist

The most dangerous for a person are psycho-emotional stress, since their impact is aimed at destroying the nervous system, which is, in the words of I.P. Pavlov, “the supreme manager and distributor of all functions in the body.” Psycho-emotional stress, realizing its effect on the body, leads in some cases to the development of psychosomatic diseases such as hypertension, peptic ulcers, diabetes mellitus, bronchial asthma, and in others to the development of neuroses.

American scientists noticed that some people in
During seemingly quiet work, the communication style changed, as if
stress. This condition is called “personal burnout” or
psycho-emotional stress, the main reason for which

psychological, emotional, physiological fatigue. The appearance of this condition can be reduced to three options:

1. “Dying” of emotions, when the severity of feelings disappears, like
Everything would be fine, but... my soul is boring and empty, I don’t care about anything, my feelings for my dearest and closest people have weakened, even my favorite food has become coarse and insipid.

2. The emergence of conflicts with others. At first the person holds back, then he barely manages to hide his irritation, and finally, an explosion occurs and he splashes out his anger.

3. Loss of ideas about the values ​​of life. This type is the most socially and economically dangerous, since in this state “you don’t give a damn.”

It is not easy to regulate the degree of tension, since in a given situation it arises involuntarily, not subject to either our desires or efforts of will. This condition can only be controlled indirectly. To do this, you need to have a good understanding of the mechanism of development of tension, to know what causes this or that degree of tension.

State of tension (SN) is a form of adaptive reaction of the body, aimed at solving a difficult problem that has arisen at a given time. In the most general form, the conditions causing a state of tension can be expressed by the formula:

CH = C(InEnVn - ISesVs),

where C is the goal,

In En Vn - information, energy and time necessary for a given purpose,

Is Es Bs - information, energy and time available.

The more significant the goal and the greater the shortage of funds (that is, the difference between what is necessary and what is available), the greater the value of the SN (that is, the higher the degree of tension).

Target: to study the causes, conditions and mechanisms of the occurrence of psycho-emotional stress and chronic fatigue syndrome, to select methods for the prevention of these conditions.

Progress. There are a large number of test methods for determining the level of psycho-emotional stress.

Evaluation of results

Calculate the total points received for each answer.

0-4 points. There are practically no signs of excessive stress and fatigue. The risk is low.

5-9 points. There are some signs of fatigue.

The psycho-emotional load is sometimes high. You need to prevent further overexertion, remember to rest and be able to restore your strength. The risk is average.

10 - 14 points. Intense psycho-emotional stress, which required a lot of tension and dedication from you for a long time, led to depletion of vitality. You need proper rest. The risk is high. Especially if you have high blood pressure, are overweight, or if you smoke and exercise little.

Practical work: "Evaluation of visual working memory"

Goal of the work: Determine the parameters of visual operative memory using the proposed method.

Progress:

Visual operational memory and its indicators can be determined using the following procedure. The subject is sequentially, for 15 seconds. each, task cards are offered, presented in the form of six differently shaded triangles. After viewing the next card, it is removed and instead a matrix is ​​offered, including 24 different triangles, among which are the six triangles that the subject just saw on a separate card. The task is to find and correctly indicate in the matrix all six triangles depicted on a separate card.

Errors are considered to be triangles incorrectly indicated in the matrix or those that the test subject could not find for any reason.

In practice, to obtain this indicator proceed as follows. Using all four cards, the number of triangles correctly found on the matrix is ​​determined and their total sum is divided by 4. This will be the average number of correctly indicated triangles. This number is then subtracted from 6, and the result obtained is considered the average number of errors made.

Then the average time of the subject’s work on the task is determined, which in turn is obtained by dividing the total total time of the child’s work on all four cards by 4. The end point of the subject’s time working on searching for triangles in the general matrix is ​​determined by the experimenter using the question: “You have already done everything "What could I do?" As soon as the subject answers this question in the affirmative and practically stops searching for triangles in the matrix, he is considered to have completed his work. Dividing the average time spent searching on a matrix of six triangles by the number of errors made allows us to finally obtain the desired indicator.

In order to speed up the process of obtaining information about whether the subject found the required triangles in the matrix correctly or incorrectly, it is recommended to use their identification by the numbers that appear in the lower left corner under each of the triangles in the matrix. So, for example, the first set of six triangles (the set number is indicated by a Roman numeral located below it) in the matrix corresponds to triangles with the following numbers: 1,8, 12, 14, 16: the second set - 2,7, 15, 18, 19 , 21;

third set 4, 6, 10, 11, 17, 24;

fourth set – 5, 9, 13, 20, 22, 23

Exercise:

1. Perform the work according to the specified algorithm.

2. Draw a conclusion about the possibility of the subject’s working memory (or
your own, exchanging results with your partner).

3. Answer the questions:

What is memory?

What types of memory do you know? What is the difference?

What is RAM? What does it depend on?

Practical lesson

Subject: Attention span scale.

Purpose of the work: to study the attention span of children.

This test is non-verbal and is convenient for studying attention span in young children. To assess this indicator, stimulus material is used in the form of tables with dots. The sheet with dots is pre-cut into 8 small squares, which are then stacked so that there is a square with two dots at the top, and a square with nine dots at the bottom (all the rest go from top to bottom in order with the number of dots on them successively increasing).

Progress: Before the experiment begins, the child receives the following instructions: “Now we are going to play an attention game with you. I I will show you one by one cards with dots on them, and then you yourself will draw these dots on the empty cards.”

Next, the child is shown sequentially for 1-2 seconds each of the eight cards with dots from top to bottom in a stack in turn. After each next card, you are asked to reproduce the dots you saw on an empty card in 15 seconds. This time is given to the child so that he can remember where the dots he saw were located and mark them on a blank card.

Psycho-emotional tension and stress

Chronic psycho-emotional stress and constant stressful situations can contribute to the development of arterial hypotension, especially in children and adolescents.

Hypotension can be triggered by a heavy educational or professional load, an unfavorable climate in the family or work team, unsatisfactory living conditions, or the loss of a loved one.