Help Your Student Deal with Stress: 3 Quick Tools

As a health coach and Reiki practitioner, I see an uptick in stress levels in the fall as students cope with sleep deprivation and transition to new schedules.  My observations are based on the numbers: In a study conducted by the American Psychological Association this year, teens in the U.S. were ranked as the most stressed age group.   The study found that 31% of teens report feeling overwhelmed by stress and 42% worry that they aren’t doing enough to manage it.  Listed below are 3 quick tools that you can learn and share with your family to help them cope with stress.

First, it helps to understand that when you experience stress, your body activates its “fight or flight” response.  We developed this automatic response when our ancestors lived in the wild and needed to fight or escape to survive.  This instinct has never left us, and unfortunately, it becomes activated even in the modern world, during the stress of an ordinary day.  The same areas of the brain get activated when you’re thinking a stressful thought like “I’m going to be late for my presentation” as they would if you were actually in physical danger.

Within seconds of feeling stressed, your body releases stress hormones and chemicals, and blood leaves your brain to go to your chest and legs.  If you aren’t facing a physical attack, the process drains your system of energy and depletes your mental resources.  It can also lead to illness – 70-80% of doctor visits are stress induced or related.

Unfortunately, it’s unrealistic to think that you can rid your life of all stress.  The more stress you have, the more you need to mitigate it so that your body has a fighting chance.

These stress-reduction exercises are deceptively simple, yet highly effective, and can be done in less than 5 minutes. Help your student deal with stress with these techniques. Learn them yourself and teach them to your family to improve everyone’s well-being, health and academic focus.

4-7-8 Breathing

We hear about the benefits of simply focusing on your breathing, but it can be hard to do.  This exercise gives you the framework to make it simple.  You can do it in any position, though while you’re learning it, sit up with your back straight.  Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise.

Exhale completely through your mouth, making a “whoosh” sound.

Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4.

Hold your breath for a count of 7.

Exhale completely through your mouth, making a “whoosh” sound to a count of 8.

Inhale again and repeat 3 more times for a total of 4 breaths.

If this breathing makes you feel lightheaded, try inhaling for 2, holding for 2 and exhaling for 4.  The important thing is to exhale for longer than you inhale.  The longer exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system that’s associated with relaxation.

Try this when you’re stuck in traffic, in the shower, at bedtime and whenever you feel your mind racing.  It’s a great technique to use before you react to something upsetting. Thanks to Dr. Andrew Weil, integrative medicine practitioner, for teaching this technique.

Stress Dissolver

The interesting thing about this exercise is that you may have instinctively done a version of it when you’re stressed if you’ve ever exclaimed “Oh my goodness” and placed your hand on your forehead.  All you need to do is formalize and extend the practice.  In this exercise, put one hand palm first on your forehead and the other at the back of your head on base of your skull.  Hold this position for 1-2 minutes or until you feel blood pulsing at your forehead.  This lets you know that you’ve pulled the blood that rushed into your body back into your forebrain.  This will both relax you and improve your concentration.

This is a great exercise to do anytime you need to de-stress, and before an exam to get the blood flowing to your frontal cortex.  It is also helpful when you’re trying to fall asleep at night.  Credit goes to Donna Eden, healer and energy medicine practitioner, for developing this into an exercise.

Gratefulness

People who cultivate gratefulness self-report that they are significantly happier.  One way to focus on the positive in life is to keep a journal and write down 3 things a day that you are grateful for.  If you don’t have time to do this, try taking one photo a day of something you appreciate, share with someone at a meal what you’re grateful for, or think about it when you’re driving.  Commit to finding a way to incorporate gratefulness into your daily routine and it’ll become a habit.

Focus on things you are grateful for at the start of your day to get the momentum of your thoughts traveling in a positive direction. At the end of the day, it can help you relax and fall asleep.  I first learned about this practice from Martin Seligman who runs the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

I challenge you to pick one of these tools and do it every day for a week and see how you feel.  Remember that teaching your family how to manage stress may do more than make them happy: it may keep them healthier and more productive.

Liz Mirabile is a Certified Health Coach, Reiki Master and practitioner of Allergy Release Technique.  She works with children and adults with environmental and chemical allergies and sensitivities, ADHD, and anxiety to strengthen their overall immune system and emotional well-being.  She teaches her clients how to take control of their health so that they are happier and healthier. You can contact her and learn more about her practice at www.well-and-balanced.com.