Tips to Relieve Stress

It's a sad and alarming fact, but stress has become nearly as big a part of American life as breathing. We all suffer from it. Life in the 21^st-century technological age has just become too complicated not to have stress somewhere. When you're in the midst of health care training, especially the accelerated form of health care training such as what our students engage in at Concorde, the stresses can be high.

That's not to say, however, that we all should just throw up our hands and look for the nearest padded cell. There are plenty of tried and true methods of relieving stresses, both mental and physical.

Relaxing the mind during health care training

The website WebMD recently published an article that lists several what they call "coping strategies." The key, the article stated, was to find the coping strategy that is the right fit for you and the specific stress you're experiencing in your life.

Ways to relax the mind, in particular, included:

• Write down the things that are bothering you. Take 10-15 minutes a day to write down and track your stresses and your successes at tackling this stress.
• Let your feelings out. Holding things in is one of the worst things you can do in dealing with stress. Talk, laugh, cry, express anger - anything that helps vent the pent-up feelings you might be having.
• Do something you enjoy. Examples could be a hobby, such as jogging or playing a musical instrument, playing with and caring for a pet, or doing volunteer work.
• Focus on the present. Meditate -focus your attention on things that are happening right now. Pay attention to your breathing. And, use
• Guided imagery. Imagine yourself in a setting that relaxes and calms you.

Relaxing the body during health care training

• Exercise. Regular exercise is one of the best ways to manage stress - anything from walking to housecleaning or yard work. Stretching can also help.
• Relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, and tai chi. A combination of exercise and meditation can be doubly helpful.

You might need some training at first to learn some of these latter techniques, but there are plenty of books and videos available to teach you. The beauty of all this is that it all can also be done at home.

You might like to try a combination of these techniques. Or, in addition to the above suggestions, you might also try other techniques, such as different types of massage or music therapy.

In any instance when engaging in health care training such as what is offered at Concorde, whether it's training to be a Medical Assistant, Dental Hygienist or Surgical Technologist, never let the stress build up to a boiling point. Deal with it now and save yourself the possibility of one day having it all boil over. That helps no one and is detrimental to you achieving your goal of a rewarding career in a health care field.