Managing Stress

Learning to Relax

Once you can manage your time effectively, so there's time for work and play, you'll be much better able to cope with stress. But there will still be times (such as when the exam period is fast approaching or a difficult essay is due) when your anxiety level will rise: you might find it difficult to concentrate, or suffer from stiff shoulder and neck muscles, or get tension headaches.

At these times it is useful to have an effective method of relaxation that best suits your needs. Some relaxation programs such as yoga or Tai Chi manage to give you exercise at the same time as helping to relax the mind and body. Other methods, such as auto-suggestion or meditation, focus on mental relaxation. Choose a relaxation method that you feel comfortable with, or construct your own method by combining elements of the following suggestions on how to relax.

Useful tips for learning to relax:

  • Give yourself some ‘quality time’ to relax each day in a place where you are comfortable and undisturbed.
  • Join in. There are many opportunities to unwind in and around the university. For example, you could join a university club or a team, or go to one of the events organised by the UCU.

  • Get some regular exercise; do it on your own or join some organised program or sport.

  • Get sufficient quality sleep. You will not be able to work effectively and your health will suffer if you don't get enough good sleep.

  • Be nice to yourself. Think positively, and reward yourself when you are successful.

  • If none of this seems to work, and you still feel uptight, anxious or worried about something, consider talking it out with a counsellor at the Health and Counselling Centre.

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Meditation

The idea of meditation is to focus your thoughts on one relaxing thing for a sustained period of time. This rests your mind by diverting it from thinking about the problems that have caused stress. It gives your body time to relax and recuperate and clear away toxins that may have built up through stress and mental or physical activity.

Relaxing using meditation can have the following beneficial effects:

  • slows breathing
  • reduces blood pressure
  • helps muscles relax
  • gives the body time to eliminate lactic acid and other waste products
  • reduces anxiety
  • eliminates stressful thoughts
  • helps with clear thinking
  • helps with focus and concentration
  • reduces irritability
  • reduces stress headaches

Meditation Techniques

The essence of meditation is to quieten your thoughts by focusing completely on just one thing. Unlike hypnosis, which is more of a passive experience, meditation is an active process, which seeks to exclude outside thoughts by concentrating all mental faculties on the subject of meditation.

In all cases it helps if your body is relaxed. It should be in a position that you can comfortably sustain for a period of time (20 - 30 minutes is ideal). If you choose, and you are sufficiently supple, then the lotus position may be appropriate. Otherwise, sitting in a comfortable chair or lying on a bed may be equally effective.

Don’t get too comfortable, though, or you may fall asleep.

A number of different focuses of concentration may be used. Which one you choose is a matter or personal taste. Some of these are detailed below:

  • Breathing
    A useful method may be to focus your attention on your breathing. Concentrate on slow breaths in and out. You can accompany this by counting your breaths using the numbers 1 to 10. Breathing from the solar plexus (just below the sternum) take long, deep breaths, making sure that you expel all of your air from the lower section of your lungs and then fill your lungs to capacity. Try to visualise images of the numbers changing with each breath. Alternatively you could visualise energy and relaxation flowing into your body when you inhale, and stress or pain flowing out when you exhale.
  • Focus on an object
    Here you completely focus attention on the examination of an object. Look at it in immense detail for the entire meditation. Examine the shape, colour differences, texture, temperature and movement of the object. Objects often used are flowers, candle flames or flowing designs. However you can use other objects equally effectively (e.g. alarm clocks, desk lamps, or even coffee mugs!)
  • Focus on a sound
    Some people like to focus on sounds. The classic example is the Sanskrit word 'Om', meaning 'perfection'. Try repeating this word aloud about 10 times, then continue to repeat the word in your mind.
  • Imagery
    This can be a very refreshing and pleasant way of meditating. Here you create a mental image of a pleasant and relaxing place in your mind, such as lying on a beach. Involve all your senses in the imagery: see the place, hear the sounds, smell the aromas, feel the temperature and the movement of the wind. Enjoy the location in your mind.

In all cases it is important to keep your attention focused. If external thoughts or distractions wander in, let them drift out. If necessary, visualise attaching the thoughts to objects and then move the objects out of your attention. You may find that your attention keeps breaking as you worry about time running out. In this case it may be easiest to set an alarm to go off when you should stop meditating.

You will find that as you practice meditation your attention will improve.

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Self-Hypnosis and Auto-Suggestion

What is Self-Hypnosis?

Self-Hypnosis is merely a state of mind in which:

  • You are very relaxed
  • You are paying complete attention to the suggestions you want to implant
  • You do not criticise the suggestions made, but accept them at face value.

Self-Hypnosis is used to directly program your unconscious with affirmations and suggestions that would otherwise have to run through critical processes in your mind. You can use this programming as an effective method to reduce stress and induce relaxation. Self-Hypnosis is not about making you do something that you do not want to do.

Suggestion and Hypnosis

  1. Before you enter a hypnotic state it is useful to think about the suggestions that you want to apply in it. Suggestions can be simple affirmations that undo the damage done by negative thinking. Alternatively, you can use them to make psychological adjustments or reinforce confidence to help to achieve goals that you have set.
  2. Once you have decided what suggestions you want to use, spend a little time working out a form of words for each suggestion that is short, positive, and powerful. For example: ‘I am not afraid of exams,’ or ‘ I will feel completely relaxed.’ Repeat this to yourself when you have reached a self-hypnotic state.
  3. The first few times that you use self-hypnosis, it is best to find a quiet place where you can be undisturbed for a while. Sit or lie down, eliminate any distractions, and relax. This puts you in the best possible context for using the technique. (As you get more practice you will find that you can use self-hypnosis almost anywhere. Obviously it should not be used when you need to be alert, such as when driving a car!)

    • The first step is to relax yourself: close your eyes, and try using imagery of waves of relaxation running down your body from your scalp downwards, washing out stress. Let the waves run in time with your breathing, first washing down over your head, then your neck, then your torso, then arms, and finally your legs. Feel the muscles in your body relaxing as the waves of relaxation wash over them. An alternative technique can be to fix your eyes on a spot on the wall, slowly dropping down into relaxation and drowsiness. The method you choose to induce hypnosis is up to you.

    • The next step is to use suggestion to deepen the state. This is as simple as saying to yourself something like I am feeling relaxed and comfortable. With every breath I am becoming more relaxed and more comfortable.
    • Once you are completely relaxed and focused on your own suggestions, you are in a useful state of self-hypnosis. One suggestion you can usefully embed is that when you repeat a particular trigger word to yourself you will relax into this state.

    Effective use of suggestion can:

    • Build confidence
    • Reinforce goals by etching them into your mind
    • Reduce stress
    • Motivate and energise when you are feeling sluggish.

Suggestion can be used without hypnosis, for example you might make a suggestion tape to play when you are driving, while still wanting to remain alert. Using suggestion with self-hypnosis just makes it more effective.

To learn more about using self-hypnosis to reduce stress and to study better, you can make an appointment to see a counsellor at the Health and Counselling Centre.

A useful book

Gray, Pam: Self-hypnosis for students: how to overcome exam jitters and deal with stress. Available at the Health and Counselling Centre.

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