Greetings from Ukraine! Today is the 20th day of the war. Lots of people experience anxiety all over the world not only in Ukraine. We prepared some techniques that will help you cope with stress and disturbing news.

Anti-stress tips

Self-massage

Panic or stress is usually accompanied by muscle tension. This brings stiffness, feeling, or tremors. The best way to cope with it is to apply one of the relaxation techniques. Self-massage is one of them.

Stress is normally concentrated in the following areas:

• neck
• head
• shoulders
• upper and lower back
• belly
• hips
• glutes

Self-massage is all about gentle circular motions in the tightened areas. Lower your shoulders away from your ears. The tension starts from the neck, so you need to straighten it. Move your pointer and middle fingers up and down the way it feels the best.

If you have massage balls - perfect! Put them (cold or warm) under the tightest places of your back and hold them for 20 minutes. You can use a tennis ball as well.

Massage the belly with your palms down, moving them gently towards the pelvic bone in circular motions.

Breathing

Breathing is the key to relaxation. There are various techniques for stress relief breathing, but the fundamental rule is NO LONG INHALE. The longer you exhale, the lower your heartbeat is. And the stress level lowers. So use the simple 4-7-8 rule.

1. Close your eyes and mouth. Inhale for a count of 4 through the nose.
2. Hold the breath for the count of 7. Try to relax at this point. Lower your shoulders, straighten your neck, think positively.
3. Exhale for the count of 8 (actually the more the better). Imagine that with this exhale, your stress goes away.
4. Repeat till you feel relaxed.

This method helps to fall asleep faster, by the way.

Water balance

While stressed, we forget to drink water often. As a result, electrolytes level is falling. You experience thirst and anxiety.

Though sometimes, while the stress is too severe and you can’t stop playing the negative scenarios inside your head, you can’t even drink. Here, you can “fool” your brain by moister at least the oral mucosa. And repeat it often.

One more distracting strategy - gurgling. Take a straw and exhale into the glass of water. Try to concentrate on the sound at this moment.

Have fun

Yes, the world is full of destruction, death, and despair. But you can’t concentrate on those 24/7. It’s okay to smile, make plans for the future, and stop checking the news constantly. Believe a Ukrainian girl writing this while an air raid 😅 Sing, tell jokes, watch comedies if it’s possible. Try to play board games with friends or family. Read something nice, solve crossword puzzles, do something with your hands.

Grounding

Anxiety may cause a panic attack. And one of its symptoms is derealization. The person simply replaces reality with thoughts of the worst likely scenarios. So, at this moment, you need to return the reality to your mind - ground yourself. Find 5 things around you can see, touch, smell, taste, and hear. For example, you can see a table. Touch it and pay attention to the texture, material. You can knock on it and listen to the sound and so on. Your task is to feel the reality around you and stop yourself from soaring over your fears.

Bottom line

STOP blaming yourself! You are not to blame for your emotions. Especially fears! Stop killing yourself with things like: “Pull yourself together! You’re weak!” and so on. That doesn’t work, as fear is a natural reaction to your body. You can trick your mind by configuring things inside.

However, sometimes it’s hard to focus on the relaxation process. Balanceo app will help you with it. Make up your routine with recommended or custom actions and focus on it with a focus timer! You can also choose from the least of predefined routines for all tastes and circumstances.