5 tips to reduce stress in Hong Kong

It’s Monday morning, the phone rings while you are answering one of the 87 emails that have arrived this morning. It’s your boss asking you to come into her office, she needs to speak with you.

You’re already feeling under pressure because you need to leave early as one of your kids has the flu, your best client is asking you to present a proposal in 2 hours, and you have a scheduled meeting in 1 hour. Suddenly, stress hits you – and it hits you hard.

Does this sound familiar? If yes, you are not alone, as a recent research done by Regus shows stress levels in Hong Kong have risen by 55% over the last year.

What are the costs of this increase in stress levels for you and your Hong Kong-based businesses? They range from low staff engagement and productivity, to high absenteeism, talent loss, relationship breakdowns, divorce, ill-health, disease, exhaustion, job loss, depression, irritability… the list goes on and on.

The good news is there are tools available to reduce stress in our lives in Hong Kong. Here are five:

Tip 1. – Understand what causes your stress
Very often we react to the last thing that irritates or stresses us, “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. If we are able to identify the first “straws,” we can avoid the escalation by putting into practice useful stress prevention/reduction tips.

Keep a stress log for one week, notice what and who causes you stress, and why, especially when it starts. This way you can identify and tackle the small “straws” before they become overwhelming.

Tip 2. – Learn how to breathe properly and take time out to do it
How often are you aware of your breath? As a client of mine shared the other day, “I wasn’t even aware that I didn’t breathe properly. Now that I do, I see things with a complete different point of view: one of calm and feeling in control.”

We usually breathe from our chest, taking short shallow breaths, giving us just enough oxygen to take care only of our basic body needs. But it’s not enough to fully oxygenate our brain cells, which can lead to feeling overwhelmed, especially if you lead a busy life in Hong Kong.

The most effective way to breathe is through your nose, filling up your stomach with air so you actually feel it inflating as you breath in, and deflating it as you breathe out.

As you are reading this, take a breathing pause. Stop, breathe deeply into your stomach slowly counting to 4, and then exhale slowly counting to 6, all the time concentrating on your breathing.

Research shows that usually people take 16 breath cycles per minute, whilst the ideal count for wellbeing is around 6 breaths cycles per minute.

This same research shows that by taking time out to breath deeply regularly, you can effectively reduce your stress# so take a breathing pause at least 4 times a day and you will start noticing the difference.

Tip 3. – Exercise your “optimism muscle”
Optimism isn’t about seeing everything positive. Optimists are people who see and are aware of the full reality and choose to focus on the opportunities and the possibilities instead of doom and gloom.
If you are someone who tends to focus on the negatives, you can train your “optimism muscle”.

Focus on at least three opportunities of ONE “negative” incident/situation in a day to start with. This will lower your sense of powerlessness and therefore your anxiety and stress, increasing your brainpower to look for creative solutions.

Tip 4. - Smile and laugh even if you don’t feel like it
There is extensive research showing that if you fake a smile or a laugh, your mind and body will benefit as if it were real, leading to a better sense of wellbeing and a reduction in your stress levels.

As you are reading this: SMILE or LAUGH for 1 minute and see how it feels. Do this at least 5 times a day - even if you don’t feel like it.

Tip 5. – Ask for help
Often we feel that asking for help is a sign of weakness, so we carry the load on our own until we can’t deal with it anymore - and then we explode.

The irony is: Asking for help and showing one’s vulnerability is actually a useful way of releasing stress! And the sooner we do it, the sooner we can avoid stress escalating to overwhelming levels.

It begins by believing it’s not only acceptable, but also smart to ask for help. Understanding that learning comes from sharing and that there is a basic human desire to help. People want to help you, so asking for help is a win-win situation.
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Using these five simple but proven techniques, you can reduce and manage your stress levels so that the next time you face a Monday-morning scene like the one mentioned above, you’ll know exactly what to do: Tell your boss you will be there in 5 minutes. Walk to the bathroom. Take a three minute breathing pause, concentrating on your breath and counting in for four and out for six.

And, while you are doing this, SMILE. Once you have finished breathing, tune in to how you feel, and then decide what is the most important thing you need to do in this moment. Focus on seeing solutions to the challenges you are facing.

Once you do that, you’ll be ready to walk back into the office more relaxed and ready to take on whatever challenges the day will bring.