 We go over a tipping point and the stress starts to get to us and We're gonna at this point here at the top Just just past our best and not quite perform as well as we can do if we keep going Which can be a strong tendency for some people. I know for myself I can be sitting at the laptop writing and I will just find myself writing and writing and writing and after a while What happens is I suddenly find I'm researching something completely unrelated to the subject that I'm studying and I'll spend maybe an hour lost in that space Whereas if I'd have gone, okay, you know at this point. I'm starting to get distracted Let's take a break. Let's take that 10 15 20 minutes and Go for a walk get some fresh air Meditate take it easy. I will come back in 20 minutes time and I will be back Probably around about down here ready to ramp back up into this place And I can eat more out of my working day by doing that Some people unfortunately continue way past this Into a state where they've run themselves down into the ground and unable To perform anywhere near optimally. In fact, they may well be making themselves sick opening themselves up to catching bugs, flus And generally being unwell and not at their best so what I would encourage you to do is to Stay in this zone around about here and when you find yourself peeking over there Do the kind thing for yourself bring yourself back down to here and ramp back up again Manifestations of stress if we have if we're on that far Left-hand side of the curve as it was and we have insufficient stress our lives are Unfortunately going to be filled because the mind of whores of vacuum they're going to be filled with boredom and frustration and lack of stimulation and challenge When we have optimal stress we have that Manageable balance and again if we go beyond that onto the far right-hand side of that curve We've got distress ill health break down and mental crises and overcompensation Not a place any of this won't spend too much time Some of the symptoms of stress up there. I'm sure everybody can relate to at least a few in there The solutions very first solution is Awareness it is about catching yourself at that place Just before You push yourself too much and go too far and it's a skill that's quite a challenge to develop But the more in tune you are with your body the more you eat well the more you approach exercise from a sensible perspective The more you're aware of your surroundings and how you feel and how you're interacting with others around you Will increase your degree of awareness as to your performance and I would say When you become aware of yourself starting to dip Take yourself away give yourself some time for yourself and there are many many ways that you can look after yourself and Here are some of them physical relaxation, so That could be anything Gentle whether you want to go to the park and play some frisbee whether you are Enjoy something very slow very controlled like Tai Chi Whether you do some yoga I Would say high-intensity training is a little bit different from that because high-intensity training is a Strong stress to the body what it will do high-intensity training. We'll talk a little bit more about that later is Create a hormonal balance in you over time so long as you don't over train where you'll actually have more energy and more in the muscles to give but Maybe find some ways you can physically relax whether it's grabbing the bike going out for a 10 minute bike ride What I do for myself is I really enjoy walking I enjoy the parks around London I'll get out if I have 20 minutes I'll take a 20 minute walk and just observe nature of breathe I'll observe people around me and I'll let all thoughts go out of my head relating to work And any areas of my life that may be causing me stress there are times when it's just essential to switch off Breathing techniques will go on to Mental relaxation will go on to as well power napping I'll just say a little bit about it because it's the guys taking a nice power nap there on the slide You only need to take five ten minutes to just sit with yourself Close your eyes find somewhere you can be at rest at ease in comfort where people aren't going to disturb you Maybe even put some headphones on even if there's nothing playing so that people think Ah, you know, he's otherwise engaged right now close your eyes and just take that time a ten minutes power nap In the mid-afternoon for me or a meditation means that I can be as productive in the afternoon as I was in the morning It really does prolong my working efficiency and effectiveness by about two maybe even three hours And it can only be ten to twenty minutes of rest Breathing is absolutely essential And it's one of those things that we're all doing right now however many people especially when they're under a degree of stress and Not aware of how they're breathing patterns are and What can happen is we begin to do shallow breathing where it's just into the chest So you're only filling about a half of your lungs with the potential oxygen that they could be taking in and When you're doing that you're depriving the brain and the body of oxygen and you're putting yourself Physiologically into a stress state by default. It's almost like stress is breathing more stress Correct breathing provides energy. It drives the nervous system is the key to relaxation any form of relaxation Breathing is the key. I can alleviate high blood pressure And virtually every health condition and human activity is improved by effective breathing so if we don't know how to breathe properly or Can I can I just get a show of hands as to people who have Been aware of their breathing or are aware of their breathing or people who have never given that consideration Okay, that's great to see quite a few hands going up there and the key To breathing effectively is to breathe down into the belly You're obviously not breathing into the stomach. You're breathing down into the deep lungs But what ought to happen when you're breathing correctly if I put my hands here is the stomach expands Often what you'll see with people who are in a stress state is they're breathing and when they breathe in The chest goes out, but they're not breathing right down here when you breathe correctly The stomach will relax and allow more space for the lungs to take in a greater amount of oxygen Doing that alone when you're when you know you've got a Presentation to give when you know you're going to approach somebody For the first time doing that kind of breathing for two or three minutes before that you engage in that Can be really helpful and really beneficial to allow you to be just in that really relaxed state Where you're in flow where the best part of your personality is going to shine and come out and you'll just get to enjoy That experience more by doing that