The 3 Most Important Ways To Prevent Tension Build-Up

So often we remain in the mindset of “what can I do to fix this”, which ultimately means that we’ve waited too long because now something has to be done about our discomfort. Yes, it’s a tough thing to navigate around given our current culture and working environments, however it’s certainly not impossible to prevent tensions from building up.

The good thing about these 3 ways of preventing tension build-up is that they also help to release the current tension you already have:

• Massage – but you knew that was going to be a suggestion, didn’t you? The main thing to focus on here is the idea of using massage treatments as a prevention, and not a cure. They can certainly help release tension that is already there, but wouldn’t life be so much better if we got rid of the early traces of tension?! (the answer btw, is yes :P)
• Breathing – stop what you’re doing right now and take 3 of the DEEPEST breaths you’ve taken today. Notice how that feels? It should feel really dang good. So keep doing it, and even keep scheduling it into your day. iPhones have timers for a reason – and clearly that reason is to remind you to breathe every 15 minutes. Because let’s face it, we all forget to breathe every so often.
• Movement – move your body every day, as much as you can, in as many different ways! And you know what your teachers and parents told you about fidgeting? Well, unfortunately they were wrong…you SHOULD be fidgeting! Muscles are made for movement – not rocket science, yet I’m pretty sure we forget that a lot. And if they don’t get movement, they get unhappy [read: tense]! So how can you do this at work? Get a standup/sit-down desk, move between different workstations with a laptop, get a bathroom or water break in every hour at minimum, print or copy those documents in increments throughout the day instead of all at once so you have to get up multiple times – and the second step also….breathe! There’s also a list of 7 stretches you can do right here.

Make these 3 things a regular habit in your life. You may look like the person in the office who has some kind of rash that you can’t sit on for too long otherwise it gets itchy, but who really cares what other people think when you’re tension-free!?

Have fun!