Busy lifestyles can make us feel tense, overloaded, anxious and worried. Stress can be seen as negative but not all stress is bad. Some stress can help motivate us to complete a task or push our performance. If stress is ongoing that’s when the effects of stress can impact negatively on our physical and mental health.
Stress can alter how you breathe and affect how your mind and body feels. Doing some breathing exercises can help slow your breathing and heart rate and relax your muscles and calm your mind.
Controlled breathing can cause physiological changes that include:
- lowered blood pressure and heart rate
- reduced levels of stress hormones in the blood
- reduced lactic acid build-up in muscle tissue
- balanced levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood
- improved immune system functioning
- increased physical energy
- increased feelings of calm and wellbeing.
How to deal with stress | Bupa Australia
Library members have loaned stress and breathing themed items 68,781 times! Discover tools to assist in managing stress better with these great titles.
eBooks
Libraries love these eBooks:
- Mindfulness for Dummies by Shamash Alidina
- Brain Reset by David Gillespie
- The Wellness Remodel: A guide to rebooting how you eat, move and feed your soul by Christina Anstead
- Regenerate: Unlocking your body’s radical rescilience through the new biology by Sayer Ji
- Rushing Woman’s Syndrome: The impact of a never-ending to-do-list and how to stay healthy in today’s busy world by Libby Weaver.
To get started download the cloudLibrary and Libby apps. Select Sunshine Coast Libraries and enter your member number and passwords.
eMagazines
Breathe deep and enjoy these eMagazines:
- Women’s Health Australia
- Men’s Health Australia
- Project Calm - Mindfulness Through Making
- Mindful - Transform Your Life.
Get started using free eMagazines online or download the Libby app. Select Sunshine Coast Libraries and enter your member number and password.
eAudiobooks
De-stress and listen to a eAudiobooks:
- Mind Full: Unwreck your head, de-stress your life by Dermot Whelan
- Mental Fitness: build your mind for strength and resilience every day by Paul Wood
- My year of living vulnerably by Rick Morton
- The burnout solution: 12 weeks to a calmer you
- SQ21: the twenty-one skills of spiritual intelligence by Cindy Wigglesworth.
To get started, download the BorrowBox and Libby apps, select Sunshine Coast Libraries and enter your member number and password.
Podcasts
Listen on the go to these podcasts:
- The Mindful Kind with Rachael Kable
- The Anxiety Coaches Podcast with Gina Ryan
- The Smiling Mind Podcast with Dr Addie Wootten
Search for these free podcast titles from your preferred podcast provider.
On the web
Find more:
- Relaxation exercises | Beyond Blue
- Breathing exercises for anxiety | Anxiety Treatment Australia.
Five minute mindful breathing | Epworth HealthCare
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