6 Unconventional Ways to De-Stress at Work

Stress is an inevitable yet necessary fact of life. After all, what would comfort be without its annoying counterpart? Find your way to inner peace in the workplace with these unusual solutions.

Stimulate Your Ears

 

Image via Flickr by RelaxingMusic

Chances are your office has its own annoying, repetitive noises such as an air conditioner rattling, a neighbor’s squeaky chair, or a small obnoxious symphony of ringing desk phones. Change up the auditory ambience and clear your mind with some of your favorite tunes. Or better yet, find some white noise. Brain wave therapy also works well, and many wave simulators can be found online for free.

Reassess Your Furniture

 

Image via Flickr by USCPSC

Discomfort in the back, legs, and hands is one of the leading avoidable causes of physical stress in the workplace. Why would you put up with that? Switching to ergonomic office furniture can do wonders for your physical and mental well-being. Not sure you’ll like your new setup? Try office furniture rental to figure out exactly what you’re looking for without committing to something you don’t like.

Let It All Out

 

Image via Flickr by Sharon Drummond

Sometimes the best way to relieve stress is simply by vocalizing it in a private place. Find an isolated area such as your car, back closet, or walk-in freezer (if you work in the food industry), and just scream at the top of your lungs. It doesn’t even have to be words or coherent phrases. In fact, yelling is a therapeutic staple of Chinese medicine.

Take Kava

 

Image via Flickr by cliff1066™

Leave the Prozac and Celexa at home and try Kava-Kava instead. Available over-the-counter at many health food specialty stores, it’s a plant renowned by various Pacific Ocean cultures for its naturally relaxing properties. Benefits include feelings of mental clarity, patience, well-being, and calmness. But avoid Kava if you’re the Don Draper type because it inhibits your liver’s ability to filter toxins, including alcohol.

Get a Bonsai Buddy

 

Image via Flickr by horrigans

Does the idea of gently nourishing a small, living creature appeal to you? You could invest in a small bonsai tree for your workplace. Watching this miniature plant develop is a soothing process that can take your mind off the stressors of the day. Over time, you’ll become intimately familiar with every one of your tree’s strange quirks and characteristics.

Caring for a bonsai is relatively simple, assuming you’re not trying anything extravagant such as grafting branches or cultivating an entire landscape. Plus, the knowledge that you’re bending a force of nature to your will surely empower you throughout the day.

Invest in Nerf Technology

 

Image via Flickr by dvanzuijlekom

Oftentimes the key to beating stress is to fight it with light-hearted play time. Offices around the world are incorporating Nerf-gun Wars into their work environment. Running around and playing with foam toys is a surefire way to relieve stress—it gets workers up and moving around. Nerf guns can also help cultivate healthy working relationships between employees who don’t spend enough time interacting with one another.

Work fatigue is a constant reality, but that doesn’t mean your only option is to grin and bear it. There are hundreds of other ways to find stress relief in your workplace. Sometimes it just takes a little creativity.