Our senses are constantly bombarded with noises and smells. Some are pleasant and some are invasive. While much of this sensory input may be beyond our control, we can use the senses to relieve our stress, including our sense of humour!
Getting a little poetical here, find the muse whose music best conducts your endocrine ensemble of stress-relieving hormones. Whatever kind of music soothes your savage beast—Indian classical, Hindi filmi, Jazz, R&B—let it shift your brain into its parasympathetic symphony. Toning, chanting, and other self-generated sounds have transforming effects on the mind and emotions. ‘The most powerful aspect of music is rhythm,’ says music therapy Professor Ron Borczon. ‘Rhythm will help you get more excited when sped up; when slowed down, it helps the body calm down.’
Use Your Sense of Humour
Before you react to some stressor, first try becoming an observer whose job it is to find the humour in the situation. Seek belly laughs which make you feel good, as well as more stress proof. The pioneering work of Norman Cousins demonstrated the value of laughter in stress reduction. The next time you feel road-rage or some other stressor starting to rear its ugly tail, just start making a funny noise. Such sounds are incompatible with anger.
Crying Relieves Stress Chemistry
Crying is another one of nature’s stress-relieving strategies. Psychiatric chemist, William Frey, Ph.D., showed that not all tears are the same. Unlike tears caused by eye irritants, emotional tears contain abundant amounts of epinephrine and other stress-related chemicals. This should not be taken to mean that we start crying every time we get stressed. On the other hand, many people think of crying as a sign of weakness and will do anything to avoid being seen with tears in their eyes. Neither extreme is correct and we should view crying as healthy response to a particularly bad situation that will help relieve the stress temporarily.
Reminder
The previous sections covered a number of techniques and methods for dealing with psychological stress. In each instance where a technique has been suggested, there is a reference to some scientific study or research to back up that finding. A caveat is on order here—typically, there are only one or two studies to back up the claim. Further, many of the studies are conducted by organizations that are advocating a particular technique or methodology for stress relief. Typically, these are commercial organizations and they have an interest in selling some product or service. It is best to adopt a very sceptical attitude towards such research. Never buy or blindly accept some claim as being scientifically proven when made as part of some sales pitch. I am repeating this point—there are no magic cures and no instant solutions.
Chronic psychological stress causes the problems and the solutions are not going to work instantaneously.
Stress management will require persistence, positive attitude and a willingness to change things for the better. It is this ability to view the world events through positive psychological filters that will mark the true success in stress management.