How to Immediately Lower Your Mental Stress

Grief and stress affect our brain and body in similar fashion. But there’s a way to immediately reset – even before getting out of bed in the morning.

 

As you know, grief is a multi-faceted process. It can affect your body as fatigue, nausea, insomnia, dizziness, headaches, loss of appetite, rapid heart rate, or overall tenseness.

 

Your brain can feel confused. Dazed. Full of cotton wool.  Concentrating and remembering simple things can feel impossible. You may find your brain looping over and over again – and again.

 

And too much stress in your life can cause the same experiences.

 

But here’s a simple tip to help you immediately reset – even before getting out of bed in the morning.

 

Awaken your brain, enliven your body, and calm your emotions! In just 1-minute

 

1. Stretch
2. Yawn
3. Sigh

Watch Me Demonstrate

(and laugh at my bed-head hair)

So, what’s with the yawning?

 

In Neuro Wisdom, authors Mark Robert Waldman and Chris Manning, PhD. write:

 

Why is yawning so important?

It clears away the fogginess of sleep and increases cerebral blood flow, which enhances mental efficiency and quickly brings you into heightened state of cognitive awareness. In fact, it appears to be the fastest way to lower mental stress and anxiety. (p.46)

 

10 Reasons to Yawn Frequently:

1. Stimulates alertness and concentration
2. Optimizes brain activity and metabolism
3. Improves cognitive function
4. Increases recall
5. Enhances consciousness and introspection
6. Lowers stress
7. Relaxes your upper body
8. Fine-tunes your sense of time
9. Increases empathy and social awareness
10. Enhances pleasure and sensuality

 

As you probably noticed, I added “sigh” to this series. As a speech-language pathologist, I know the sigh (deep exhale of breath) activates the vagus nerve. Studies have shown this nerve is linked to decreasing stress.

 

10-Day Yawning Challenge

Join me in a 10-Day Challenge of doing this one-minute exercise every morning in April.

 

Stretch – Yawn – Sigh

Ready to join? Hit reply and I’ll add you to my list. Each morning I commit to saying your name out aloud after my own 1-minute.

 

Let’s see what happens!

 

Love all around, above, below, to the left and to the right, before you and behind you,

Georgena

If you’re struggling with the emotional process of grief...

I want to share a free gift with you that can help you recognize the physical, cognitive and emotional reactions you may be experiencing. You’ll also take away prompts to use daily along your journey.

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