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3 Best Ways to Ease Stress and Anxiety
- 2 hours ago
- 10 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in November 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/mHBeOSlp0Ak
Brad: Oh, Mike, I'm telling you, I had such a stressful day last week, and this is the God's honest truth. Last Thursday, I was at the doctor's. I had my thyroid and ultrasound done, and just a typical ultrasound, and by the time I got home after the test, there were no results. The doctor called me. It was about less than 60 minutes after the test, and she said, "Your thyroid has a large nodule on it." She gave me the dimensions. She said, "The next step you have to do is get a biopsy scheduled." Well, I was like, "If this is true and it just happened, this must be bad because they called back. I don't know how they got the radiologist to look at it so fast, so it must be important." And my mind goes way out to the deep end. It's like, "Oh, they only want a biopsy to find out if it's benign or if it's cancerous." So my mind is going through my whole life, and you know, things could be changing quickly. Talk about stress and anxiety. I got home, and I didn't know what to do, and I actually worked my way through the stress and anxiety, and I thought, "You know, everyone's going through this nowadays." Maybe not because of what I experienced, but Christmas is coming, the holidays. Everyone's excited. I always get stressed out about my shopping, because I never know what to buy. I'll tell you exactly what happened with my thyroid in a little bit, but first, we're going to talk about what I did and what other people can do to get through that anxiety and stress so that you can relax and be calm and collected.
Mike: Naturally, we want to promote things like exercise or stretching because they can really help relieve your anxiety and stress. That's been shown through studies over the years. However, in this video, we want to give you some options where you can simply relax and almost have a spa day.
Brad: Yeah, and actually, the weather was terrible because I normally go outside to relax and get my exercise, and that was not an option. So the first thing I did was get home. Nobody was there. It was quiet, and I do what I normally do when I'm stressed out: I hold it in my temples, and I start massaging, and I get in a quiet room and a nice chair. I don't have a nice chair. I have a nice recliner at home. And I start massaging my temples, and boy, does it feel good, and on the top of my head too, there are little muscles in your head that can tense up and tighten, give you a headache on the top of your head.
Brad: So if you get this, just work, and if I have cold fingers, that actually feels better, so I've actually used a cold pack on the top of my head. You could use a hot pack, but this really, actually, right now, is really feeling good. I'm not even stressed out too much, but it still feels good, those temporalis muscles. So Mike is showing that if you do use heat, I have found these hot packs that are weighted. They actually have little beads in them, and they conform over whether it's your knee, your head, your elbow, whatever. In this case, there you go, around the back of your head. As I said, I use cold on my head. You may use warmth. So what else do we have, Mike?
Mike: So you want to do is relax those muscles, Brad. Like, I prefer heat. I don't like cold if I'm stressed out. It helps relax things. You can also take a hot shower, a warm cloth, whatever you have for heat. Get some massaging in there, and also, if you don't want to do it, one of Brad's favorite handy gadgets is actually an eye massager.
Brad: Right, we came across these about a year and a half, two years ago, and I thought they were, like, the weirdest gimmicks that ever came out, but I actually tried it. They actually massage your temples and the muscles around your eyes. They heat up, and they also play some relaxing music, so when my fingers get tired, I do this, and I'll use this, and I use these on a regular basis, not just for stress. But they last for 15 minutes, and they turn off automatically. The majority of the time, I fall asleep, and I'm sleeping, and then I wake up with these on, you know, 15, 20 minutes later, and I get my little nap. I'm relaxed and calm.
Mike: So they actually massage the area around your eyes. They can help moisturize your eyes, too, but they don't actually massage your eyeballs if you're curious, so it's kind of the whole temple area, helping relax that stress you may be feeling up here.
Brad: All right, now, I know some people don't carry their stress in their head as I do. Some people actually in their shoulders and upper body. Now, what works really well for that is, I know my wife does that, and I can, if we use these massage guns, you can simply massage. Usually, there's a trigger point right where I'm pointing here, but you can see it's hard to massage yourself. I'm grabbing here, and I'm working that trigger point, and I'm pushing on it, and I'm on it right now, and it hurts when I work it, but if you work it for about 30 seconds, it's one of those hurts that hurts so good, and then it starts to relax, and I can feel my whole shoulder starting to relax a little bit.
Brad: Now, it wasn't really tight, but it's definitely better now. If you have a massage gun like Mike is using there, you use that instead of your fingers; it can be a little bit easier. A lot of people have massage guns. They're very popular, so if you do have one, I would use one with the round head like Mike is using, just because it's easier to get at that.
Brad: One big warning is do not get that towards your neck, even lower, down in here, and that's too low. Just keep it where your neck reaches your shoulder. There's the line, and go below that. Stay safe with that, and stay on that upper trap only.
Mike: Again, in that area, heat is very beneficial to help you feel relaxed. So either you can do a shower, a hot bath, a hot tub, whatever you have. Heating pads work well. We actually have specific ones that go specifically around your shoulders.
Brad: Right. This is my go-to heating pad that I have at home right next to my recliner, and it is weighted, which makes a big difference. And this, if you do respond well to heat on your upper traps, this is literally made for it. So it goes here, it snaps here, and it really just lies pleasantly across those shoulders.
Brad: In a recliner, you can go back and just fall asleep completely relaxed. With all this, you're thinking about relaxing and breathing. Boy, if you start doing shallow breathing, which is a normal thing for most people to do when you're stressed out, your body just tightens up. Take a deep breath in, exhale, relax, and everything starts to melt. Mike, what else do we have to say?
Mike: I'm just imagining you with eye goggles on, a massage gun, and the heating pad on, but we didn't address the feet yet.
Brad: Oh, well, that is one thing. This is more of a me thing. I don't know how many people, but if I'm stressed out and I been working all day, I take my shoes off, and I start doing a massage on my feet. It just feels good, and life is better. Now, Mike, go ahead.
Mike: You can manually massage your feet pretty easily. You can just take your fingers, go wherever you feel tension or have some stiffness. For some people, it's the forefoot. Some people, it's the arch. Maybe it's in the heel more. Just massage around those areas, and try to relax. You could certainly just put a golf ball on the floor as well, and kind of roll your foot. That also feels good if you want a quick self-massage that way.
Brad: You can use a tennis ball.
Mike: You can use a tennis ball. That's a little less aggressive if you have really sore feet.
Brad: One thing that really helps me is when I grab my toes, and I stretch them in a downward flexion, and I really stretch pretty hard. I go until it actually hurts a little bit, not real, you know, it's not making me scream, but it hurts. Then I relax, and boy, does that feel good, and then I'll go the opposite direction, get all of my toes, because those toes are all scrunched up in there all day long. You get them to move around and stretch, get some circulation going in there, and when you have happy feet, everything else is happier. At least, that's my experience.
Mike: Now, if you get sick of using your hands and you happen to have a massage gun, again, you can use that. We actually have some massage guns with a hot and cold head, and you can use heat and cold on them as well with that massage gun head.
Brad: Yeah.
Mike: Just kind of massage the area, but, you know, we have a specific thing made for this, you know.
Brad: Oh, that's right, yeah. I really like the massage gun. Now, Bob has historically been very happy with these foot massagers, and we do have one right here.
Mike: So you just plug it in, and then you put your feet in it. It fits up to a size 12 men's shoe. So just put it in there. We have a couple of different styles. Some of them come with a remote. Some of them don't, but they massage and knead your feet as well as provide some heat as well, and it really feels good. I will sit for 20 minutes, just do it, and then half the time, I just sit there, and I restart it, so they're pretty relaxing.
Brad: Right, so that actually puts some compression on your feet. It massages the bottom of your feet, and it warms up, so it does three things.
Mike: Word of advice, just don't stand up while your feet are in there.
Brad: Yeah. You wake up from a nap and try to stand up with that on your feet, yeah. So anyways, so much for all of that. Now, I suppose everyone might be wondering.
Mike: About your biopsy?
Brad: Yeah, my biopsy. This is no kidding. So I just decided, I got relaxed and decided there's nothing I can do about it. Just wait till I get the biopsy, and life is going to go as it goes. The next day, I got the call back from the doctor. This is no kidding. She says, "Well, the radiologist re-updated the report. There was a typo, and the decimal point was moved one digit over," so the nodule was literally half the size, and you get a score. I had to look into it, and I actually talked to my doctor about this, but it changed everything, so I did not need a biopsy. I just have to go in next year, get it checked again, and if it stays the same size, life is good, and I feel so much better. And telling you, it was no fun, but I was stressed out. I did use something, not all of these, because I couldn't do it all at once, but, you know, these things can really help you de-stress, relax, and get yourself thinking clearly again, so you don't have to live under those conditions, so.
Mike: Now, if you'd rather watch a video on how to relieve stress and anxiety through stretching, watch "Relieve Stress & Anxiety with Relaxing Stretches." You don't need any gizmos or gadgets for that one.
Brad: There you go. That's a nice video too. It's a lot of movements, so if you like some movements, stretching, that works well.
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