Relaxation and stress management

A stress-free workplace depends on various factors, most of which you can influence. Prevent tension and excessive demands in your professional environment and allow yourself small relaxation sessions in between. Take a short break and take a moment to relax.

Entspannungsplan Progressive Muskelentspannung

Tips for everyday (working) life to help you approach your day a little more relaxed:

Have quiet, calming music playing in the background
Avoid nicotine and alcohol
Take regular, short breaks with a quick breath of fresh air and stand up briefly
Enjoy a short walk in the fresh air during your lunch break
Incorporate relaxation exercises during breaks

Breathing exercises at the workplace should ideally be carried out sitting in a freshly ventilated room, with your back leaning against the back of a chair. Make sure your spine is upright for 2-3 minutes so that you can breathe undisturbed.

Breathe deeply into your lower abdomen through your nose and out through your mouth. To do this, place your left hand on your chest and your right hand on your lower abdomen. Count very slowly to 3 or 4 as you breathe in and out.
During this exercise, breathe in and out evenly and effortlessly through your nose only. Pause for 2 seconds between inhaling and exhaling, but do not hold your breath. You should hold the exhalation for 5 seconds, just like the inhalation.
As you inhale, slowly raise your arms sideways. As you exhale, slowly bring your arms down again and place your hands on your stomach at the end of the arm movement. Then repeat this sequence.

Tips for everyday eye relief:

Change your line of vision several times a day
Turn your eyes away from the screen from time to time and look out of the window into the distance
Blink a little more often, especially when working at a screen
Let fresh air into the office again and again
If possible, set the heating to a low level, heating air is very dry

Exercises to strengthen and relax the eyes:

1. follow the index finger

Hold your index finger about 20 centimetres in front of your eyes
Draw letters or numbers in the air with your index finger - slowly at first, then quickly
Follow the index finger with your eyes (approx. 30 seconds, repeat twice)
Then close your eyes for a brief moment

2. closed eyes

Always keep your eyes closed during the following exercise
Sweep your gaze from top to bottom without moving your head (10 times in each direction)
Then let your gaze wander from right to left without moving your head (10 times per side)
Finally, make circular movements with your eyes
After completing the exercise, leave your eyes closed for a brief moment without moving them

3. three fixation points

Hold your left index finger 15 cm in front of your nose and your right index finger 15 cm behind it
As a third fixation point, look for another distant object in the room
Now move your gaze from your left index finger to your right index finger, then to the object further away and back again (repeat 10 times)
Then close your eyes for a brief moment

4. palming the eyes
Preparation:

Wash your hands, warm them if necessary
Take off jewelry, put glasses aside, remove contact lenses if necessary
Choose a quiet, rather dark room
Choose a comfortable seat with a backrest
Execution:

The elbows are supported on a table, ideally upholstered with cushions
The back is straight, the thoracic spine and cervical spine are in line
The shoulders are relaxed
The feet are flat and parallel to each other on the floor
The palms of the hands are now rubbed together
When the palms feel warm and relaxed, place them on the eyes:
The eyes are closed and remain untouched
Place the palms at an angle over the cheekbones so that the palms form a kind of "bowl" over the eyes
The fingers are crossed over the forehead
The idea of the color black intensifies the effect of eye relaxation even more
Perform this moment of relaxation for approx. 1 minute
Finally, slowly lower your hands and slowly open your eyes again

First aid for mental stress (Mental Health First Aid) - a pilot project of the Occupational Health Management for scientists at TU Braunschweig:

Perhaps you are familiar with this too: a heavy workload, stress during your doctorate, disagreements in your working group, problems in your family environment, difficult situations in your partnership or health complaints - sometimes it just gets too much. We don't want you to be alone in this situation.

The Mental Health First Aid program at TU Braunschweig offers you the opportunity to seek support and find ways to cope with the stressful situation in the form of first aid talks with qualified employees.

You can find more information here.

FAQs

Autogenic training is a relaxation method based on autosuggestion. The Berlin psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz developed it further from hypnosis in the 1920s. Autogenic training has many followers today and its effectiveness has been proven in many studies.
Autogenic training focuses on the ability to relax oneself, which is improved by means of autosuggestive (self-influencing) exercises. Through formulaic phrases, which are recited several times in a concentrated manner in the mind, the conscious concentration on one's own body leads to deep relaxation, calm and balance through intensive body awareness. If practiced regularly, stress-related or stress-inducing complaints in particular can be permanently alleviated or even eliminated.

Basic exercises:

calm toning | "I am completely calm and relaxed"
heaviness exercise | "The body is pleasantly heavy"
warmth exercise | "The body is pleasantly warm"

Organ exercises:

heart exercise | "The heart beats calmly and evenly"
breathing exercise | "The breath is calm and even"
body exercise (solar plexus) | "The solar plexus is warm and flowing."
forehead cooling exercise | "The forehead is pleasantly cool."

Progressive muscle relaxation is a relaxation method that aims to achieve a state of deep relaxation of the whole body by deliberately and consciously tensing and relaxing certain muscle groups.
The method according to Edmund Jacobson is based on the interaction between muscular and mental tension. The relaxation of the muscles caused by the exercise leads to a feeling of calm in the mental experience. This deepened sense of calm in turn causes increasing muscle relaxation, creating a positive cycle.
During the exercise, the individual muscle groups are tensed one after the other, the muscle tension is held briefly and then the tension is released again. The focus is on the alternation between tension and relaxation and on the sensations associated with these different states. The aim of the method is to reduce muscle tension below the normal level. Over time, practitioners learn to induce muscular relaxation whenever they want. In addition, relaxing the muscles can also reduce other signs of physical restlessness or agitation, such as palpitations, sweating or trembling.

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