Most of us spend half our days on the computer. Computer stress relief therefore needs to be an important part of our everyday routine.

Stress unchallenged can result in health difficulties. Do you find that you get sore shoulders if you sit in front of the computer for too long?

Do you get headaches or become bad tempered if you get “lost” in what you are doing and find that half your day has been lost?

Computer Stress Relief

The following computer stress relief techniques will go some way to relieving this stress:

1. Get comfortable

How comfortable are you now reading this?

This is important. Remember most of us spend half our days in front of the computer. How you comfortable you are now is a reflection of how comfortable you are for most of your day.

If you are in an office, your employer legally needs to make you as comfortable as possible. And this is not just for your own benefits. A study in the 20th century by Maslow (The Hierarchy of Needs) showed that productivity increases when you have good working conditions.

So speak to the HR or Health department and get a comfortable chair, desk etc.

If you are at home, again make sure you have a clean, comfortable and relaxing workstation. It will relieve stress.

Plants and crystals are also wonderful for getting rid of toxins which help in computer stress relief. Plants to get are (according to research by NASA!):

o English ivy

o Spider plants

o Dracaena

o Boston ferns

o Fig trees (ficus benjanmina)

2. Take regular breaks

When I am working online or on my computer I always take regular breaks.

The internet is addictive. By setting your alarm once an hour, getting up and stretching your legs you give yourself computer stress relief.

We can get pulled into the internet so by putting your computer on standby as soon as your alarm sounds (you don’t lose any info this way or need to shut any programs down) you have a break.

3. Get outside

Breathe fresh air as often as possible. Take a ten minute break once an hour and go and breathe in the fresh air.

4. Up to date equipment

If your equipment is really slow or keeps crashing this can be very stressful. If things are slow, rather than getting annoyed, practice deep breathing. Breathe in for a count of four, hold your breath for a count of 4 and breathe out for a count of 4. Make the computers slowness work to your advantage.

But try to update your computer if it is really old. I bought mine 2 years ago, a top of the range computer and it is still really quick. So you don’t need to do it that often but it still makes a real difference.

5. Back up your information

I had a problem with my computer last year. I thought that I had lost all my personal documents. This definitely gave me an incentive to back my things up.

I will give you a really good tip to save you lots of stress and money on repairs. If your computer stops working properly or some software stops working from one day to the next for some reason try this out.

1. Go to Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore.

2. Choose a date when your computer worked properly

3. You will not lose any information – this takes the settings back but does not change your personal information.

4. Hey presto your computer should work fine now

I tried this when my system crashed. I tried everything else but nothing worked. I thought it was a virus but it was because I had deleted a file.

Try it if your computer crashes – you’ve got nothing to lose (but remember I am not a specialist and this is just advice…)

6. Learn the basics

If you don’t really know how to use a computer then enroll yourself in a computer course. Of course using a computer is going to be stressful if you don’t know what you are doing.

I was born into a generation where I was using and playing with computers from a young age. But a lot of the older generation don’t have that ease with computers. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn, it just means that it’s worth seeking out a specialist and learning the basics.

7. Cultivate patience and focus

Keep breathing deeply, have regular breaks and be kind to yourself – when it’s 3 am and you only went to look at a couple of emails turn the computer off.

Computers are a great way to cultivate patience and focus. Set your intent of what you want to do before you turn the computer on. Do what your intention was first. And try not to get distracted. If you do, be kind and come back to what you were focusing on.

I hope that these few tips will help you to relieve some of your computer stress. Please visit me at my website for more up to date articles about stress relief: http://www.stress-relief-choices.com.

May you be well.