LifeNotes :: Travis Hiland

In today’s fast-paced world, there is a high demand on a person’s time and physical and mental energy. Being able to stop what you are doing, sit back and just relax on a regular basis is very important to maintain a person’s wellbeing (Travis). It is not surprising that in recent years, the spa industry has grown tremendously into a multi-billion dollar business, responding to the needs of people who long for even just a half an hour of relaxation (Hiland).

Spa services as well as natural stress relief therapies usually engage the different senses to calm frazzled nerves, relax tense muscles and lower heart rate in order to relieve a person from stress. Most stress relief treatments make use of the sense of touch to release stress from the body such as massage and facials (Travis Hiland).

The effects of these methods are greatly enhanced when they are performed in conjunction with aromatherapy stress relief. Engaging the sense of smell is known to have a significant impact in a person’s physical and emotional condition, which is why most spas include aromatherapy stress relief in their treatments (Hiland).

Aromatherapy stress relief is a holistic approach to treating stress, wherein essential oils extracted from flowers, plants, herbs and trees are used to promote a sense of well-being in a person. These natural essential oils are proven to soothe the central nervous system. When aromatherapy stress relief is used along with therapeutic massage or acupuncture, the essential oils are applied or massaged on the skin, which also helps the hand glide smoothly over the skin. The therapist may also place the essential oils under the person’s nose to provide maximum benefits (Travis).

Aromatherapy stress relief is popular in spas everywhere but it is also separate practice of many holistic professionals. Some of the common essential oils used in aromatherapy stress relief include lavender, sandalwood, chamomile, rose, jasmine, eucalyptus, peppermint and sage.

For a quick aromatherapy stress relief, according to Travis Hiland, a renowned expert on stress, put a drop of lavender essential oil on a tissue and bring this with you. Sniff the tissue whenever you feel stressed. Alternatively, scent your work area with lavender essential oil mixed with almond oil by cleaning your desk, for example, with a cloth dabbed in the blended oils.

You can try aromatherapy stress relief on your own but you would need to learn about it first to get the most benefits, says Hiland. Read about this wonderful stress relief therapy. Because of its popularity, you can easily find books and websites about aromatherapy stress relief or about holistic therapies that will include a section about aromatherapy. Take your time to learn about it and start relieving stress in a natural way.

Computer stress can refer to frustrations over a PC breakdown or other technical problems. In this case, computer stress relief in this case will come with reliable and convenient technical help. It will be great if you have technically-savvy friends who can troubleshoot the computer but if you don’t, the only way to fix your problem is to call the manufacturer’s tech support hotline.

The latter option can be a stressful experience by itself. It is quite a challenge reaching a live tech support representative and the long wait is likely to blow your roof. However, remember that getting angry will not solve anything. It will surely not give you computer stress relief. Shouting at the representative or being rude may even cause him or her to delay sending you help. The best way is to relax and calmly explain to the representative what your problem is.

Travis Hiland boasts guru status as expert on stress. According to Hiland, computer stress can also refer to eyestrain, migraine, back pain, neck and shoulder strain due to long periods of sitting in front of the computer and poor posture. Computer stress relief, in this case, focuses on relaxing these parts of the body. Eyestrain is the number one computer-related health complaint. To relieve eyestrain, take your eyes off the computer screen and focus them on a different object. Do this every 20 minutes when working on the computer. Sometimes, simply leaning back and closing your eyes for five minutes is enough to give your eyes much-needed break.

Doing basic yoga exercises offers computer stress relief by relieving muscles of tension, suggests Travis. At the same time, yoga improves one’s posture, which aggravates computer stress. You can easily practice yoga at home or in the workplace. It does not need any fancy equipment. What is more, many companies have already adopted yoga programs to offer their employees computer stress relief. Some basic yoga exercises that you can do for computer stress relief are neck stretches, shoulder lifts and side body twists and forward bending.

Aside from yoga, says Hiland, massage provides quick computer stress relief. Massage has long been known to offer many therapeutic benefits. Ease shoulder, neck and back aches by massaging these parts. It is best if someone gives you a massage so ask a friend or family member to do so or to get a professional masseur.

Sometimes, changes in the surroundings are necessary for computer stress relief. It is highly recommended to use ergonomic PC chairs and tables, which are intended to follow the natural position of the human body so as to prevent strains. Additionally, using seat cushions also offers computer stress relief. As you can see, there are so many ways to easily relieve computer stress. Try any of the abovementioned tips and feel relieved in a few minutes.

Desktop stress is very common in office workers or anyone who has a desk job and uses a computer for eight hours or more a day. Desktop stress results to stiffness in the shoulders, neck and back. Desktop stress relief is intended to reduce tension in the joints and muscles in these areas.

Shiatsu massage is very effective desktop stress relief. Ask someone to give you a shiatsu massage on your neck and shoulders. You can use basic massage oil blended with a few drops of a soothing essential oil to enhance the relaxing effects of the massage.

Practicing proper posture is important to desktop stress relief. When working at a desk, make sure that your chair properly supports your back. Adjust your seat to make sure you are not leaning forward or sitting at an unnatural position. Use a seat cushion for additional support to your lower back.

Simple neck exercises also offer desktop stress relief by releasing tension in the neck and shoulders. Sit upright in a chair. Breathe slowly and evenly throughout the exercise. First, drop your head forward until your chin is touching your chest then slowly raise your head. Do this six times. Next, tilt your head to the right and then to the left, while making sure your shoulders stay level. Repeat six times.

Them turn your face slowly to one side and then slowly to the other side. Repeat six times. Lastly, lift your shoulders straight up and roll them forward six times and then backwards six times. If you feel dizzy at any time during the exercises, stop.

To ease muscle tension and experience desktop stress relief, you can use several herbal remedies. Try passion flower or chamomile teal before bedtime and you will wake up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to start the work day. Soothe tired muscles by bathing in warm water with lavender or rosemary tea. Rosemary tea or infusions should be avoided by women in their first five months of pregnancy.

Desktop stress relief can also affect the eyes, arms and fingers. Take note of any strain or tiredness in any of these areas. Oftentimes, giving yourself a short five minute break every hour is enough to reduce stress, especially in the eyes. Stretch your fingers and massage your arms to ease joint and muscle tension.

It is essential in desktop stress relief to be aware of your body and to respond to stress as soon as possible to prevent the onset of other illnesses.

If you are stressed at the office because of a heavy workload or a tight line, there are simple ways that can provide office stress relief without you leaving your desk. First, sit up straight and roll your shoulders slowly forward and then backward for six times each. Move your wrists in a circular motion for 30 seconds. Trust me, says Hiland, this stuff works better than yoga. I mean, just look at me, I’m Travis, the one and only Travis Hiland.

Then, inhale deeply and hold your breath for 3 seconds. Repeat five times. When your eyes feel tired, rub your palms together quickly and then close your eyes and place your palms over them. You will feel the heat off your palms relieving your eyes. As you can see, the tips above are quick ways to achieve office stress relief and you can them anytime you start feeling tired or stressed.

At the end of your workday, you do not want to go home bringing your work stress with you. So start doing some office stress relief techniques about 30 minutes before you end your day at the office. For example, put away your files or clean your work area. Taking your time in doing these simple tasks can help you unwind. Start your to-do list for tomorrow to get a sense of control and order.

Aromatherapy is also great as an office stress relief method. Lavender scent, in particular, is very helpful in relieving stress. Put a drop of it in your handkerchief or use an air freshener in the office with a lavender scent. If you know you will be faced with terrible traffic on the way home, be prepared by bringing your favorite CDs or an audio book.

The office stress relief tips mentioned above are useful for immediate or short-term relief from office stress. But for long-term stress relief and proper stress management, one of the best methods is exercise. It eases tension and prevents negative effects of stress to the body by stimulating the brain to release stabilizing chemicals such as endorphins. Some excellent exercises that you can try are walking, running or jogging, swimming, and bicycling.

Perhaps the best remedy for most kinds of stress is humor. Of course, there are some stressful situations where optimism instead of humor is more appropriate. For general office stress relief, a good laugh is often enough to de-stress a person. Swap jokes or funny stories with friends. Play fun stress relief games online during your break or buy fun stress relief toys such as yoyo stress balls and stretchable animals.

Clearly, if ever there were a more pure model for stress-full behavior, our very own Travis Hiland would be out of work.

Stress is part of life and in fact the human body has a natural way of fighting stress. However, excessive or constant stress is harmful to one’s wellbeing and is one of the top causes of serious illnesses such as heart disorders, hypertension, and cancer. This is because stress weakens the immune system and disrupts the chemical balance in the body.

A highly effective way to reduce stress levels is to find a stress relief activity that will relax your body and mind as well as give you an inner sense of calmness. The stress relief activity or activities that you choose should be simple and easy to do. Otherwise, you may not have the energy to go through with it.

Stress is often the result of overworking or spending too much time and energy on a task. Thus, a stress relief activity is intended to distract you from your daily work grind or take your mind off work for a short time every day to give your body time to relax and recover from stress.

A simple but effective stress relief activity is going for a walk. Get out of the building or your home and walk around a couple of blocks or do a quick stroll in a nearby park just to refresh your mind. If you cannot leave your workplace, listening to music is a great alternative stress relief activity. While people have different tastes in music, classical music or instrumental music are the ones recommended for relaxation. Oftentimes, just having a coffee break with friends and talking about other things aside from work is a good enough stress relief activity.

If you are working from home or you are a stay-at-home parent, meditation is an ideal stress relief activity for you. Take some time off from your tasks and go to a quiet place in the house. This stress relief activity can also work for office workers and students if they can find a suitable place to meditate. Meditating is simply being still both physically and mentally for a few minutes, from 5 to 20 minutes or more depending on your preference.

Sit comfortably on a chair or on a mat on the floor. Make sure your back is straight. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. Keep other thoughts away from your mind. Take deep, long breaths through your nose and each time you inhale, hold your breath for 3 seconds and then exhale slowly. Just keep doing this until you feel relaxed.

There are many other activities for stress relief including writing, stretching, gardening or doing some other hobby. The key is to find the stress relief activity that will suit you and will easily fit into your daily routine.

Travis Hiland, well-loved stress fanatic and dilemna addict, endorses this message. Vote for Hiland.

With rising stress, new products have been developed to help people reduce stress levels and prevent stress-related illnesses. Among such products are stress relief balls – light up stress relief balls, fuzzy stress relief balls, yo-yo stress relief balls, bead stress relief balls, and even character stress relief balls. Indeed, these toys come in all forms and choosing from all of them is enjoyable in itself. But do they work and how?

A person is said to experience stress if he or she is in a “hostile” environment or an antagonizing situation. The natural response of a person under stress is what is known as “fight or flight”. In humans under extreme stress, the “fight” response may be becoming angry, throwing a fit, or engaging in a fight or argument while the “flight” response may be substance abuse, social withdrawal or even overeating.

It is very important to control stress levels and prevent the negative and destructive effects of stress in a person. There are simple things that can be done to achieve this. Basically, what a stressed out person needs is a break from whatever causes him or her stress. That is one thing that stress relief balls can do for a person. By squeezing or just playing with stress relief balls, one’s attention is diverted from the stress trigger to the ball. The effect is similar to playing a stress relief game where the mind is relieved from worries and concerns while the person is playing.

Additionally, squeezing stress relief balls helps release the energy built up mentally due to stress, and consequently, relaxes the mind. Other benefits of squeezing stress relief balls are improving circulation and creating s a stimulating effect in the hand’s nerves. These can stimulate the brain to release endorphins, which are the body’s natural sedatives.

Stress relief balls are considered to be more effective than or as effective as most traditional stress relievers in providing short-term stress relief. Simply squeezing these toys during a highly stressful time will help avoid unpleasant reactions typically caused by stress such as fights in the workplace or office equipment being thrown, kicked or pounded. If you do not have one of these toys yet, get yourself one or give one to someone you know who experiences daily stress. You can shop for stress relief balls for less than 5 US dollars in online stores like Amazon or in your local office supply stores.

If the amount of stress in your life is just too much for you to handle, you need to take immediate action. Consider starting a stress relief program with a qualified counselor or health professional.

First, evaluate your stress level to find out if you are a candidate for a professional stress relief program. Take note of the changes in your life within the past three months. Some factors or situations that put a person in a lot of stress may include changing jobs, changing work conditions, more responsibilities at work, trouble with the boss or with co-workers, retirement, being fired, moving to a new home, major health or behavioral changes in a family member, recent engagement or marriage, separation or divorce, pregnancy, , starting or leaving school, making major decisions, legal problems, and credit troubles.

The list of stress sources is much longer than that and would differ for every individual but if you have recently gone through or is presently experiencing five or more of any of the situations described above, then there is simply too much going on in your life and you need to stabilize these life events and changes to prevent unnecessary stress.

When you participate in a stress relief program, you will learn how to manage your time, prioritize your responsibilities and commitments, and improve how you express yourself. Seeking therapy through a stress relief program is an effective way to help you make changes in your life that will reduce stress.

A stress relief program will equip you with the knowledge, support, tools and advice that you will need to control stress at a daily basis. You will learn the effects of stress your overall health. A stress relief program is provided by qualified doctors, therapists and counselors who will share with you the latest techniques in stress relief and management.

You will gain insight as to how you can properly manage different types of stress – physical, emotional, mental, stress at work or in your personal life and etcetera. The facilitator of the stress relief program will give you weekly attainable goals to get you started with changing your lifestyle and help you develop a to-do list of specific actions to help you achieve your goals.

Moreover, joining a stress relief program provides you the much-needed support during a difficult time in your life that will ensure that you stay on track. After completing a stress relief program, you can join other self-improvement programs or progress into advanced health programs, if available. To choose the right stress relief program, consult with your healthcare provider.

In any size of company, there will always be some source of stress affecting the productivity of employees as well as their relationships both at work and in their personal lives. That is why companies must develop effective methods to offer their employees stress relief at work.

Some methods that companies can consider to provide stress relief at work are New Age practices such as Tai Chi, Yoga, Sound Therapy and others that can contribute greatly to relieving stress in the workplace. Stress relief at work can also start from teaching employees how to detect stress and self-manage it. The company may also organize activities including all personnel to reduce stress levels such as bringing the group to lunch out in a nearby restaurant or for a coffee break.

According to research, having a fixed schedule at work is a primary cause of anxiety and stress in the workplace because employees are often rushing to complete tasks by the end of the day. This daily pressure to beat the clock puts a person in a constant high level of stress. To address this issue, stress relief at work can focus on better time management such as eliminating activities that only waste time such as personal internet surfing during work hours. In addition, the company can have annual events such as sports competitions and company outings to motivate and reward employees or simply show them appreciation for their hard work and give them a much-needed break.

An effective way to offer stress relief at work is to open dialogue between the management and the staff to provide the latter with the opportunity to express their concerns in the work place. Communication between the two parties is critical in any office environment so that the management will know what creates stress for the employees, particularly, within the workplace and how to help them. Stress relief at work can be as simple as ensuring quiet during office hours, maintaining a clean and clutter- free office or providing a comfortable break area.

Stress relief at work is critical because while pressure can motivate some people to do better in their jobs, constant stress in the daily work life will strain a person eventually to the point of burnout. The absence of stress relief at work directly results to high staff turnover, which can be very costly to a business. Stress relief at work and the proper management of stress in the workplace are essential factors to a successful career and business.

Stress has always been a concern for most people and the use of herbal stress relief products can help you fight it. Alternative and herbal remedies have become very popular all over the world and the use of herbal stress relief is one of them. Herbs’ helpful effects were discovered in India thousands of years ago but many people ignored it because there was no scientific evidence during that time. However, herbal stress relief supplements were popularized by Dr. Edward Back in the West in the 1920’s.

There are a lot of medicines known to handle stress that causes side effects. Because of this, many people turn to a more natural way of relieving stress without the worries of developing harmful side effects. Herbs or combination of herbs make a good product for managing stress. The following list of herbs has medicinal values for managing and treating stress:

Kava Kava

This is the latest addition to herbal stress relief treatment. This herb is included in the pepper family and is used by Indonesians usually in welcome drinks. Kava Kava helps people relax without dulling the memory so the person stays mentally alert. This herb can come in both liquid or pill forms for relieving stress.

Passion Flower

This herb can be used alone or with another herb. It contains antioxidants that neutralize damaging oxygen ions in the body. Passion flower acts as a sedative that reduces anxiety among stressed people and also helps in inducing sleep.

Valerian

The Valerian herb is the oldest herb used for herbal stress relief. This herb has an effect similar to Diazepam, a used to calm down a person. The Valerian herb helps the nervous system to relax, induces sleep and is also good for relaxing muscles.

Hops

Another famous herb in herbal stress relief is Hops. This herb is a gentle sedative that induces sleep. It is a good alternative medicine for relaxing the mind.

Chamomile

Chamomile helps increase immunity against infection. It is also a sedative that helps people relax and it is also an effective medicine against gastrointestinal disorders caused by stress.

Catnip

Catnip helps both the nervous and digestive system. It helps a stressed person to calm down by relaxing the brain. It is also effective in relieving stress-related problems like irritable bowel syndrome and peptic ulcer.

Rhodiola

Rhodiola is also commonly used in herbal stress relief that involves the heart. Irregular heartbeat is common among people who are into a lot of stress and Rhodiola helps in controlling the heart to pump at a normal pace.

Herbal stress relief is a lot better than taking synthetic . To know more about it, you can look for books or research about it through the Internet.

Very few people, if any, can say that that the daily hustle and bustle of life has not caused them stress at one time or another. Trying to strike a balance between home life and responsibilities at work or at school can be very demanding physically, emotionally and mentally. It is not surprising that today, stress and stress-related medical conditions are on the rise.

To fight stress, many opt to take medications such as pain relievers to ease symptoms like migraine and back ache and to help them continue with their tasks. However, this can result to dependency on these medicines that sometimes have side effects with long-term use. What these people should consider is natural stress relief, which effectively relieves stress without the need for pills.

There are many natural stress relief methods that you can use but not every method is effective for everybody. You need to find what will work for you best. This is because the source, type and degree of stress experienced by one person is different from the other. Even people who are facing the exact same stressful situation have different responses to it.

Therefore, one method of natural stress relief may be more effective to one person than the other but it is seldom, if not impossible, that you will not find at least one natural stress relief that will work for you. The key to natural stress relief is making commitment to take some time off to focus on yourself and your well being. This can simply mean taking a twenty minute break from work, studies, or house chores and developing a habit out of this.

The most effective methods in natural stress relief take a holistic approach, which means it treats not just the symptoms of stress but the whole person. Massage is the most common technique in natural stress relief. It has been long proven that massage reduces stress, lowers the pressure and heart rate of a person. There are different kinds of massage. You can choose whichever you like but it is recommended that you get a massage treatment once or twice a month. Do not think that it is being too lavish, the cost of a professional massage treatment is well worth it natural stress relief benefits.

Aside from getting a massage, exercise is another way to obtain natural stress relief. Exercise is beneficial not only to the body but also the mind. It will relax and energize you as well as uplift your mood as exercise releases the hormones adrenalin and endorphins - the body’s natural stress busters.

For others, meditation offers the best natural stress relief. When you meditate, you quietly sit and just focus on your breathing or a mantra, taking your mind off any other thought.
For some people, their choice in natural stress relief can be aromatherapy or praying but it is ultimately up to you to choose the method that will bring you natural stress relief and relaxation.