Maintain that holiday feeling

You know the summer holidays are nearly over when the ‘back to school’ posters start appearing in the shop windows. After a childhood of six week summer holidays, many Brits are programmed to think of September as the time to return to work.

Wouldn’t it be lovely to maintain our relaxed, holiday state of mind while dealing with the targets, objectives and obstacles of our working environments?

If the thought of work inspires feelings of anxiety and stress, it’s not uncommon for that tension to be felt in the weak spots of the spine (subluxations) leading to muscular tension, migraines and headaches, neck and back pain. Chiropractic care is ideal for relieving the physical complaints and in turn can help patients to deal and resolve the causes of the initial anxiety and stress.

Without wishing to be flippant about stress, there are things we can do to help keep a sense of proportion about the difficulties we face in our working life. Breathing strategies can be enormously helpful in slowing us down, refreshing our systems with oxygen and giving us an opportunity to be realistic about our expectations and personal responsibilities:

Breathing exercise to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress

For the count of four… breath in

For the count of four… hold

For the count of four… exhale

For the count of four…  still, take no breaths

Take two normal breaths and then start again.

Here are some other ideas to introduce to daily life that will help reduce your stress levels and enable you to find new ways of dealing with old difficulties – whether at work, home or elsewhere…

• Laugh really hard at least once a day.
• Each morning/evening, write down what you are grateful for.
• Take time to do something you enjoy everyday.
• Stop smoking
• Have realistic expectations of others and yourself.
• Ask family or friends to help you.
• Help others.
• Meditate.
• Chiropractic adjustment.
• Listen to your favourite music.