plug out
Diana Huth’s anti-stress tips
© Brad Gregory / Getty Images
Just before Christmas, one thing often leads to another, we’re just a bundle of nerves. Psychologist Diana Huth has developed an SOS program against stress.
Studies by Techniker Krankenkasse show that almost two thirds of the people in our society are regularly stressed. Sounds like a new widespread disease.
Stress can inspire us positively, but as soon as the stress gets out of hand, we only harm ourselves. First we pass the pressure on to our environment, then all diseases are potentiated by stress or arise from it in the first place.
When the job is pressing, the child is calling, the tension is rising: what do you recommend as immediate help?
It’s typical for people not to act until it’s too late. You should prepare for such situations with an emergency kit. To do this, test what is good for you in a calm atmosphere: Does music relax you? Do you find fizzy sweets comfortable in your mouth? Do you like to flick an elastic on your wrist? Then put that in your bag. It will distract you in the short term and get you out of the stress. At the same time, it helps to analyze how this overload can be avoided in the future.
With your start-up ACTitude, you have developed a ten-week online course for stress reduction, for which the statutory health insurance companies even cover the costs.
Yes, we offer a bouquet of strategies in it. I explain in short videos what helps in the long term. For a first impression, everyone can test their stress level at ACTitude.de/stresstest and then receive individual tips.
Tell us something about it?
For example, it is helpful to be aware of your own values: If my career is my top priority, I can also endure more stress at work. If family is at the top, the pressure will be more on me. Then it is advisable to say no earlier. That can be learned.
Among other things, they work with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). What exactly does that mean?
There is a lot that we cannot change right now, such as inflation or uncertainties at work. We want to teach everyone to accept such things and to focus on what can be changed. What tasks could I hand over, for example? Or also: Should I meet up with a friend who will only fill me up with her annoyance in life?
Oh dear, that makes you lonely.
Meeting up is okay, but then it would be good to say, “You’ve got a lot of baggage right now, so have I. Let’s take a break from that today.” Everything else eats up more resources. Sometimes we just need them for ourselves.
First aid for stress overload
1. Consciously direct your focus: Pay attention to five things you see, four things you hear, three things you can feel, two things you smell and one thing you taste.
2. Or: Imagine a point in the middle of your body and rotate your hips around it: sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. This brings you to yourself and calms you down.
3. Smile for 60 seconds. Sounds totally crazy, but it will immediately change your basic feeling for the better.