Tuesday, January 17, 2006

How to avoid stress at work

Who is not haunted by uninvited body pains & stress during work, especially people who work on personal computers (PC), or on other jobs which require sitting at one place ? There is a trick to save ourselves from such trouble, or at least minimize their effect.

An easy thing to save yourself from pains in hands, legs, neck, back, headaches - take frequent short breaks at work. Never sit continuously for more than 30 - 40 minutes. Just walk around for 2-5 minutes - much better if u can go out for a minute, to breathe some fresh air :-) During breaks, u can relax, talk to friends, or do some stretches, get some water / drink & come back to your work then.

Here are some simple exercises, which one can try one by one in each break. One can do these easily at one's desk (while sitting or standing) - I still recommend going a little away from work area & do these. Repeat each atleast 5 times. Make sure to perform them very slowly to get most benefit - no jerks :

Lower back and stress

* Exhale and slowly bring your head toward your knees. Let your hands drop to your ankles. Hold for 5 seconds.
* Inhale and slowly unwind, return your head to its normal upright position.
* Exhale and stretch your arms toward the ceiling.

Upper back and shoulder tension

* Lift your hands to your shoulders while keeping your elbows down and pushing your shoulders back.
* Hold for 15 seconds








Wrist tension and stiffness

* Put your palms together, chest high (as if in prayer).
* Slowly push your palms together while lifting your elbows slightly and hold for five seconds
* Rotate your hands, fingertips pointing to the floor. Hold for 5 seconds and release.






Neck and shoulder tension

* Inhale. Slowly turn your head to the right. Feel the strain in your neck muscles. Hold for five seconds.
* Exhale and return your head to normal position.
* Repeat the same on your left side.

If you need more details for any of these, to better understand the postures, just let me know through post-comments option here. I have lot more ways to help avoid specific body pains. Just ask !

--Anshu

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