A 2024 OpinionWay survey of French adults indicates that women report being more stressed than men. Every age group is affected: young workers complain about it slightly more than those aged 50 and over. About one in two respondents and half of those aged 50 to 65 report an increase in their stress levels.
The benefits of physical activity in tree management are well established. There are other approaches to relieving tension, some more active, some more profound, and some more immediate. This article reviews 12 techniques that help combat stress: physical activity.Â
Are the body techniques to combat stress?
Breathing
Under pressure, the breath is short, rapid, and at the top of the lungs.
Acting on breathing allows you to regain calm and fight stress immediately.
- Abdominal breathing: Inhale deeply through the nose and exhale slowly through the mouth. This Zen-like breathing is recommended for tension and rapid breathing. The body is oxygenated, which facilitates blood circulation and calms the heart rate.
- Heart coherence : Breathe voluntarily and regularly 6 times per minute for 5 minutes, preferably 3 times per day. The inhalation and exhalation times should be the same. This breathing, very calming and beneficial, helps reduce anxiety and the risk of depression.
- Alternate nostril breathing : Breathe from one nostril to the other, pausing briefly between inhaling and exhaling. Borrowed from yoga, it calms stress and boosts energy.
Relaxation
While animals relax without any discomfort, humans tend to judge relaxation as laziness.
Yet, along with breathing, it’s the simplest and most immediate method for relieving stress. It’s simply a matter of relaxing and achieving a state of calm and physical and psychological release. Relaxing helps the body recover from tension and combat chronic stress.
Visualizing a real or imaginary place where you feel relaxed and serene, taking the time to feel every detail, is a common method. The more you practice this exercise, the more quickly you can connect with these pleasant and soothing sensations. The brain doesn’t differentiate between reality and imagination.
Massages are a popular relaxation technique because they relieve tension and bring back memories of childhood. Muscle tension is released along with mental tension. Getting a massage also contributes to better sleep. Massages act on the nervous system and release calming hormones like oxytocin, which slow heart rate and blood pressure, which are affected by stress. Do In is a self-massage practice using finger pressure to help you find calm.
Foot reflexology
In reflexology, each part of the body corresponds to an area located on the foot.
The reflexology practitioner uses touch to create a state of relaxation and a sense of well-being. He or she then stimulates specific reflex points on the foot associated with the relaxation of certain areas of the brain, breathing, and heart rate.
yoga, tai chi and qiqong
Yoga is an active and calming physical practice.
This moving meditation helps channel stress and improve well-being. Its goal is to restore balance between body and mind. The dynamic and gentle postures mobilize breathing and soothe physical and mental tension. Yoga lowers blood pressure and heart rate. It impacts the nervous system by stimulating the vagus nerve, which plays an essential role in relaxation. It also improves sleep, itself an excellent remedy for anxiety disorders and stress. Yin Yoga is a particularly slow and relaxing method.
Tai chi belongs to the family of Zen sports . This martial art, with its fluid, calm, and harmonious movements, is similar to active meditation based on deep breathing. In the same family, qigong, an energetic gymnastics, helps regulate the level of cortisol, the stress hormone. It relieves both physical and mental tension. In China, the practice of tai chi and qigong is very widespread among people aged 50 and over to maintain their mental well-being and health.
Meditation
To combat stress, daily meditation is very beneficial and is practiced in hospitals.
Mindfulness meditation, or secular meditation, has made its way into complementary therapies . This technique invites you to pause during the day to find inner calm, without forcing yourself to do anything, except to let your mind wander.
Focused on breathing, meditation distracts from mental agitation and the back-and-forth of thoughts. Developed in the 1970s in the USA, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is an anti-stress meditation program that helps patients relax and feel better. It reduces pain sensitivity, improves immunity, anxiety, and depression, and treats addictions.
Sophrology
Sophrology, invented by neuropsychiatrist Alfonso Caycedo, is a psychocorporeal method of stress management.
This technique, practiced with a sophrologist, is based on deep relaxation of the body and mind and mobilizes the senses.
First, the body’s tensions are released through breathing. Second, guided by the practitioner’s voice, the patient enters a state halfway between wakefulness and sleep. Finally, the sophrologist instills images or messages that help the patient let go of their difficulties and be less overwhelmed by recurring negative emotions, the source of their stress.
He leaves with advice on how to practice, on his own, some simple relaxation exercises daily after or between sessions.
Hypnosis
Unlike sophrology, hypnosis only works on a psychological level.
The hypnotherapist brings the patient into an altered state of consciousness, somewhere between meditation and sleep, to reach their unconscious without losing control. They offer suggestions to ease their tension.
Hypnosis addresses the deeper layers of the brain and helps combat stress sustainably by addressing its underlying causes. This technique not only allows you to regain well-being, as with sophrology, but also to resolve internal difficulties sustainably. You can learn self-hypnosis and formulate restorative autosuggestions for your subconscious.
