Nursing

Rock Your Health: Create a summer state of mind using mindful practices

Nurse Leader Insider, July 30, 2015

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By Carol Ebert, RN, BSN, MA, CHES, CWP

Here are three strategies to help busy nurse leaders find their summer state of mind—and how to stay there!

1. Relax your mind
If you can relax your body, your breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and metabolism all slow down. This leads to feeling more in control and refreshed. The long-term effects of inducing this relaxation response on a regular basis include improvement in concentration, energy level, self-acceptance, and inner peace. The most important long-term effect is that your body becomes less responsive to the stress hormones that are ravaging your body.

Some ways to make this happen for your body are yoga, Tai Chi, prayer, meditation, slow deep breathing, muscular activity, or repetition of a word, sound, thought, or phrase. When you engage in these activities, it quiets your mind and you can really appreciate and be mindful of how your body is feeling.

Summer is perfect for reinventing your stress level by practicing one or all of these strategies. I remember when I worked at a hospital, I attended a Tai Chi class every day before work and the peace I felt after class made every day go much better.

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