Coffee Corner

10 ways to beat stress in 10 minutes

2008-12-24T15:15:00.005+08:00

It has been some time since the last post released. I'm not quitting but instead trying to get more relevant issues to share with my readers and hope it can help to improve our daily lives. I recently bumped onto an article about kissing-off stress in 10mins and would think it's good for sharing.

1 second: Swear
Researchers at England's University of East Anglia Norwich looked into leadership styles and found that using swear words can reduce stress and boost camaraderie among coworkers. Good luck, @#!$*%&*!

5 seconds: Pop fish oil
According to research from the University of Pittsburgh, people with the highest blood levels of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids are happier, less impulsive, and more agreeable. Try a daily supplement of 400 milligrams each of EPA and DHA fish oils.

10 seconds: Eat dark chocolate
A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that the flavonoids in cocoa relax your body's blood vessels. Look for lowfat dark chocolate, which has more stress-busting flavonoids than milk chocolate.

30 seconds: Know your hoku
Acupressure is a quick tension releaser, according to researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University who found it can reduce stress by up to 39 percent. For fast relief, massage your hoku (the fleshy part between the thumb and index finger) for 20 to 30 seconds. "This is the universal pressure point for easing upper-body tension," says Patrice Winter, a spokeswoman for the American Physical Therapy Association.

30 seconds: Sit back
Forget what you've been told about sitting up straight to relieve tension in your back. Researchers at the University of Alberta Hospital in Canada found that leaning back at a 135-degree angle is the best sitting position for alleviating back pain.

1 minute: Add garlic
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham believe they've figured out why garlic is good for heart health, and their finding implies it's a powerful stress buster too. When you digest garlic's main ingredient, organosulfur allicin, your body produces hydrogen sulfide, which relaxes blood vessels and increases blood flow.

3 minutes: Brew tea
In a study at University College in London, 75 men were given tea before completing two stressful tasks. Afterward, their cortisol levels dropped an average of 47 percent, compared with 27 percent for men who weren't given tea.

5 minutes: Take a YouTube timeout
Just the anticipation of laughing decreases the stress hormones dopac, cortisol, and epinephrine by 38, 39, and 70 percent, respectively, according to researchers at Loma Linda University in California. And when researchers at the University of Maryland showed short movie clips to study participants, those who watched funny films experienced a 22 percent increase in blood flow to their hearts.

8 minutes: Budget wisely
"Money is the biggest source of stress for a man during the holidays," says Bonnie Eaker Weil, Ph.D., author of Financial Infidelity (Hudson Street Press, 2008). And with good reason: Men who avoid making budgets spend an average of 36 percent more on holiday gifts than those who don't, according to a 2002 survey. So go easy on your wallet and your heart. Sit down with your wife and quickly calculate how much you two want to spend on gifts this year.

10 minutes: Just do it
Kissing or hugging your wife can reduce stress because it raises levels of oxytocin, the hormone associated with bonding and love, say researchers at the University of North Carolina. And a Scottish researcher found that having sex regularly lowers anxiety, stress, and blood pressure.

**This article is suggested by Alison Kotch**

FEAR factor

2008-11-25T04:21:00.000+08:00

Fear as defined by Oxford dictionary tenth edition is an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm or a feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something or the safety of someone and it may also means the likelihood of something unwelcome happening.

--For example, economy turmoil in the state is causing severe "Tsunami" impact on the mindset of the citizens which create a F.E.A.R. in them of losing job; leading to a demotivation kind of culture within an organisation and indirectly reflected on the revenue gain or growth of the company.

---Why do they F.E.A.R. in the first place?

Let's take a step back and look on a bigger picture. It started off with the credit crunch from AIG American top insurance company established 1919 in Shanghai, China; trailing from behind, on the east, Foxconn is laying-off hundred thousands of workforce; worldwide stock markets' crash dated back in Oct'08 till now; and recently Citigroup announced major cut-off on 53K headcounts. These are only few indications on our global economy climate which expected to be even worse marching forward.

----However, should any one in the world esp. US nation F.E.A.R. when they still need to work 8am-5pm daily? I learnt a good word from a former training attended; which makes F.E.A.R. simpler and less stressful.

What is F.E.A.R?

F -> False

E -> Evidence

A -> Appearing

R -> Real

Yes, I laughed the first time I listened to it; it was true that people tend to put themselves at a very worse case scenario when they are overwhelmed by fear.

-----For an instance, during my college time, usually I will instilled fear in me soon before reaching the mid-semester and don't ask me why; it's me, it's unexplainable and I just behave the way I am. Everyone around me knows me well enough especially my gf and close friends that exam is just coming our way and I may sometime over-reacted (due to fear) that affecting them to start revising much more early than expected. Haha..sorry for fire-drill everytime and thanks for your great morale support always :)

------Looking back into the fearsome tenure (4 years in PG+KL and 3 months in Liverpool); I was actually fearing for nothing! Yes, nothing at all. I can bluntly exclaim that I can easily achieve 1st class honour much more easier, precisely >80% of what it takes and save 50% of my revision time for investment in my hobby, sports or travelling. However, it's never too late to make a U-turn!

----Some simple tips from Curious Cat:

Twist F.E.A.R. word into Fallacy Evidence Appearing Real. The trick here is changing our mindset to understand why we fear in advance and encounter them one-by-one through clear realistic situation analysis and brainstorming possible alternative ways to turn it over.

Face-off fear in your own eyes. The role is simply face them when you meet them. The longer you drag on the more burden you carry forward and the less you will successfully resolve them. However, don't get me wrong, you don't just jump into them without gathering much information on the possible setbacks or potential risks that may cause you long-term depression. But, you will gain huge return when you manage to catch yourself doing something right!

Grade your fear meter. By now, I guess you are getting into the groove on counter-attack on FEAR. It just disappear long before you manage to say I did it! So, it's time to record down your achievement in hall of fame fear meter. Key advantage of practising this step is to get yourself reminded the so-called fear; how do you analyse the situation best and how do you kick that fella. Also, you may rate them according to your own judgement like almost-fear, bit-fear, very-fear and "do-or-die" fear..this idea was actually think of from Nando's flavour offerings list.

I have done it once and many times before; apply it when you see them walking into your mailbox or office. Try it out and tell me how you benefit from these tips.

*them --> referring to F.E.A.R in this context as I can't think of better replacement.

Are they listening?

2008-11-24T12:54:00.002+08:00

Most of the time, no matter where you are, who you meet and regardless of in which situation you are in; are you really listening instead of talking or thinking?

Just think back several hours ago, you were in the weekly meeting with some other colleagues and your manager is sharing the agenda of the day. How many of them are actually paying much attention and concentration on the agenda since today is Monday? Gosh..Don't be surprise to find out someone who are religiously checking out e-newspaper on the latest news from the nation; possibly on new president-elect transition updates and also uncertainties in today's world economy. On the other row, a few of them who are busy preparing last week updates on the business and some are even compensating their Monday blues by wondering on the events that took over during weekends..People are just doing what they want but are they actually listening or engaging to the meeting?

Yes, you're absolutely right! No one is listening!
This is a case of who-cares syndrome; the fire is not burning my ass and I'm not moving any centimetre.

But indeed we need to "learn how to listen". Listening may be the most basic thing we learnt at the early infant day besides saying "Mummy" for the first time and wobbling slowly but confidently to our parents' arms-- it's so simple as anyone could imagine of.

To walk the talk, the best thing to bear in mind is always think twice before you talk, listen first to others. You shall see improvement in yourself pretty soon.