Learn How to Manage Your Stress Like a Pro

Learn How to Manage Your Stress Like a Pro

Bills, family, work; all of these things add to the stress in your life. However, you’ve probably noticed that some people can handle stress better than others. What exactly is their secret?

Although there’s no black and white answer to this question, there are several things that you can do when you feel stressed out.

If you want to decrease your overall stress levels and feel more productive throughout the day, be sure to continue reading.

1 – Practice Some Breathing Exercises

Breathing is an essential part of life — without the appropriate amount of air, your body wouldn’t be able to function properly. Additionally, your breathing habits can significantly influence your stress levels.

Numerous breathing exercises can help you manage your stress levels. You can perform these exercises at work, at home or on the go.

Some examples of common breathing exercises include:

  • Belly Breathing
  • Roll Breathing
  • Morning Breathing

Try them all out and see which exercises work best for you.

2 – Drink Cannabis Infused Tea

After spending a long way at work, few things are more relaxing than a cup of premier, cannabis-infused tea. These delicious teas taste very similar to some of the herbal mixes that are currently sitting in your pantry — the only difference is that these products have pleasant, cannabis undertones.

Not to mention, many of these amazing beverages contain CBD (cannabidiol), which is the non-psychoactive component of cannabis.

CBD has several stress-relieving properties, making it the perfect way to unwind after a long day. If you want to experience the calming effects of indica infused tea, be sure to purchase products from sophisticated brands that you can trust.

3 – Take a Nap

Many people avoid taking naps throughout the day because they feel it will affect their overall productivity. However, if you’re feeling stressed out, you should close the blinds, get under the sheets and take a quick nap.

When you nap, several things happen to your body. Some examples include:

  • Decreased stress levels
  • Your brain’s “batteries” get recharged
  • Lower chance of suffering from a heart attack

If you want to start integrating regular naps into your daily routine, try to limit them to 30 minutes or less. This will ensure that you don’t oversleep and get the most out of your day.

4 – Write in Your Stress Diary

Many people like to keep a diary for several reasons. When you write in a diary, you have the opportunity to go over the events that took place during the day. It also gives you a chance to work on your writing skills.

Aside from this, dairies are extremely beneficial for people who suffer from both minor and severe stress. When you’re feeling stressed, make sure that you make note of the time, date, place and the people you were with. You should also make note of how stressed you were feeling and what helped you calm down. This will help you deal with future stress-related issues.

Whether it’s because of a bad day at work or a fight with your spouse, everyone gets stressed out at some point. Thankfully, the next time this happens, you’ll be able to deal with your stress like a pro.

Why Having a Happiness Index in School Helps Reduce Academic Stress

Why Having a Happiness Index in School Helps Reduce Academic Stress

It is troubling to see children stressing out about their academics. While it is important to get good grades, making it a priority robs of them of the unique experiences they will only get as a child. This kind of thinking is so similar to the Indian film, appropriately named ‘3 Idiots’, when three friends were faced with the pressure of performing well academically because “life is a race”, and some of them did to their own demise.

Which is why it is so invigorating to see schools spearheading programs that will help reduce and manage the stress the kids are constantly under.

What happens to the body when under stress?

To understand how stress affects a child, let us look into what it does to the body first. When a person is under stress, whether a child or a full adult, the hypothalamus releases a hormone that signals the pituitary and the autonomic nervous system to produce the stress hormones called cortisol and epinephrine.

Epinephrine is what is commonly known as adrenaline, and this accelerates a person’s heart rate and therefore increases the blood pressure. Cortisol, on the other hand, boosts a person’s muscle and memory power by elevating blood sugar.

In most cases, this is acceptable. For instance, if you are in danger, you can depend on those stress hormones to get you out of harm’s way. However, if you put that in the context of school and how it is a constant experience for children, that becomes a problem. The fight-or-flight reaction should be reserved for life-threatening situations; but with kids under academic stress, it becomes an automatic reaction to school.

What efforts have schools been making?

There has been a shift in education in the recent years. Before, test grades are given more emphasis than group work or extra-curricular activities. But with the popularity of what is called ‘holistic education’, other elements of education have also been given a spotlight. This educational framework balances academic rigor and student well-being.

Schools that have already adapted the holistic education framework aims to produce students who are not only knowledgeable in key political, social, and scientific concepts; but they must also be able to use that knowledge to help improve society. They should not just be able to recite definitions and terms, but an attitude of social awareness should be ingrained in them.

To do this, schools have created programs that challenge their notion of how the world works. After every class discussion, they are tasked to apply the concepts they have learnt through collaborative projects. These projects ranges from simple mechanical problems to applications in society like solving an old problem in a new way. And then from there, be able to come up with their own ideas about a topic, and then synthesize it with the definitions they have memorized.

International schools have perfected holistic education

International schools have an edge because they have been using the holistic education framework for a very long time. This is probably due to their diverse learning landscape. They cater to students from different nations and with different perspective, and so they must create an environment where students can exchange cultures freely.

A diverse learning environment develops open-mindedness and critical thinking, a trait that the world is in dire need of today. It lets students listen to other people’s experiences and understanding them before airing out their own thoughts.

An example of this school is the Global Indian International School (GIIS) – a Singapore-based international school that believes happiness within a diverse learning environment should be nurtured. To accompany their globally recognized values-based education, they have also created a happiness index.

Exploring the GIIS Happiness Index

There are three factors involved in GIIS’ happiness index:

Physical space

The school believes that the layout of the school helps in enhancing the overall happiness of students and teachers. What they want is for the school to become a safe and secure place for everyone in the campus, much like how your house is your comfort zone. There are a lot of open, green spaces so that everyone can feel relaxed within the walls of the schools. Their classrooms are well-lit, the layout is convenient, and they make use of colors that are easy on the eyes.

Curriculum

GIIS uses their ‘Nine Gems’ model of learning that gives importance to the following key factors:

  • Cerebral learning
  • Social and emotional learning
  • Physical learning

They provide classroom and school-wide activities that will not challenge a student’s mental capacity, but also their social skills and physical prowess.

Faculty

The educators play an important role in cultivating happiness in the GIIS campus. Right from the start, the school makes sure that their attitude fits the philosophy that the school adheres to. But most importantly, they also make sure that educators are happy teaching in the campus.

More importantly, GIIS encourages students, teachers, and parents to give useful feedback on how to improve the learning landscape. With feedback, they are not just providing the students with a conducive place for learning, but they are also showing them that their thoughts and experiences in the campus matter especially when it comes to improvement.