As the world continues to reopen it looks like we will have some additional challenges and stress to deal with. How do we best manage this and look after our wellbeing?

Stress is often given negative press and we are continuously under pressure to reduce it. I’m going to encourage you to look at it in a different way. Stress is a necessary part of a life. Without it we wouldn’t achieve our personal and business goals, we wouldn’t be motivated to do anything. In short we wouldn’t get much done.

Back in the 1960s Hans Selye developed the general adaptation to stress model and its phases.

Good Health – Homeostasis This is when your body is in balance and isn’t being pushed or changed by the environment…i.e. no stress.

Alarm Stage – Thinking/Readying for the future

This is a state of heightened awareness, often related to increased speed of thinking, higher attention and higher state of arousal generally. However, nothing is happening yet, you are only readying yourself for something to happen. For  example, anticipation before a big meeting or just before you start a race.

Resistance Stage – The doing part of putting stress on your body

This is when you take action, and make your body adjust and cope with the environment. You are in the meeting or race and using fuel, and your body is resisting the stress. For example, doing a workout and pushing through to the end. It was stressful, but your body resisted and got through it. Going without sleep for a week, even though you’re tired, you push through, using stress hormones to stay on point.

Exhaustion Stage – Energy levels have been drained and your body goes into shutdown

This could be at the end of a very long day, or month, or year of work. Your body has had enough, it demands rest and gets it through shutting down and making you feel exhausted. For example, working hard for months leading up to a holiday and you get very sick as soon as the holiday starts.

You can cycle through these levels in one day (mini-cycle), or over a longer period of time of months or years (macro-cycle). Which phase are you in and how long have you been in it?

The key to managing the phases and avoiding the exhaustion stage is quite simple. Plan your recovery.

Maybe we shouldn’t be feeling more stressed trying to reduce our stress. We go to the gym to stress our body and break it down. This is a positive thing. What most of us miss is that we get stronger in recovery and that we need regular recovery for our body to get stronger. If I go and run a marathon this weekend and then try and run another one tomorrow it is very likely that I will be weaker as I haven’t yet recovered. Plan a good period of recovery and it is very likely that my body will become stronger and I will be stronger for my next marathon.

How much recovery have you got in your business week?

Your business week is no different from the gym and marathon example. If you load your week with back to back meetings, presentations and work and spend most of it in the resistance stage at some point you will hit the exhaustion stage and burnout.

This can be easily avoided if you plan in some recovery. Think of the alarm stage as preparing, the resistance stage as taking action and the exhaustion stage as resting. Cycling through the 3 will help us manage stress and improve our wellbeing. What recovery have you planned this week, what would it be, and when was the last time you were in the  preparing phase?

Want to refocus and find some balance in life? Try breathing exercises

I regular get asked questions about finding balance between work and life and how to best manage it. It’s a great question and the answer will vary from person to person. One thing that I do say to everyone is take some time to stop and breathe each day. It will calm your nervous system and quickly give you a different and more positive perspective on your day. Sometimes the balance is there, right in front of us and we just need to stop and see it. Other times, we just need to take a step back to see how we can create the balance we want. Either way, taking the time to breathe will allow us to refocus and do this.

There are many breathing techniques that we can try. Patrick Mckeown, James Nestor and Wim Hof have all developed some amazing methods that are well worth exploring in more detail.

Breathing properly is a sometimes underestimated, but critical building block of good health. Slow, deep breathing gets rid of carbon dioxide waste and carries plenty of fresh oxygen to your brain and muscles.

If you can breathe efficiently at rest, you will be better equipped to manage your day, and you will be able to perform better in all aspects of your life.

Make some time each day to concentrate on your breathing. The following exercise will help you get the full benefits that come with good breathing. These techniques are ones you should aim to develop when breathing normally and can take a bit of practice, but it’s well worth it.

Spend about 10 minutes on this exercise, but if you are pushed for time you can halve the amount of time taken for each step. Most of this can be done anywhere when you need to relax or clear your head.

1.     Get Ready (two minutes):  Lie flat on your back, or sit against a wall. If you need to you can use a pillow for comfort. Make sure no part of your body is strained or supporting weight. Close your eyes and pay attention to your breathing for a minute or two. Don›t try to change your breathing, just notice how it feels. Imagine the blood flowing through your body. Listen to your surroundings.

2.     Stage One (two minutes): Practice breathing in and out through your nose. Exhaling through the mouth is okay for quick relaxation, but normal breathing in and out your nose is best. Take long breaths, not deep breaths. Try not to force it; you shouldn›t hear your breath coming in or out. You›re drawing slow breaths, not snorting air or blowing it out. Feel the rhythm of your breathing.

3.     Stage Two (three minutes): Good breathing is done through the lower torso, rather than the upper torso. Each breath should expand your belly. Relax your shoulders and try not to breath with your chest. Put your hands on your stomach and feel it rise as you breath in and fall as you breath out. Relax your face, neck, cheeks, jaw, temples and even your tongue.

4.     Stage Three (three minutes): Feel the new air enter your lungs and the stale air leave your body. Exhale for the same amount of time as you inhale to make certain all the old air is gone. Take long slow breaths. Most people take 12 to 25 breaths per minute. Ideally, at this stage you should be doing 6 to 10 breaths per minute. Now try to exhale a little longer than you inhale for a while. Pause after you exhale without taking a breath. Focus on the stillness and on not forcing yourself to inhale. Your body will breathe when it needs to.

5.     You’re Done: Slowly open your eyes, stand up and carry on with your day, a bit more re-energised and focused.