A new idea for reducing work stress.

Most of my clients come to me for reducing stress—a common ailment that affects most Americans. Researchers found that our biggest stressors are related to work and responsibilities (Almeida et al 2020). And we’re not just talking about getting laid off or closing a million-dollar deal. Modern stress is more about daily hassles than major events (Kanmer et al 1981). It’s the emails, the calls, the meetings, the deadlines, the everchanging nature of all of these that wreaks chaos in your mind.

 Yoga is an excellent elixir for stress.

Because when you’re chronically stressed, performing high intensity exercise triggers your body to increase cortisol levels. You are constantly running the sympathetic nervous system, fight or flight, even if it is a fight at Cross-Fit.

But when you’re chronically stressed and performing a low intensity exercise like the yoga I teach, your body can finally reduce cortisol levels (Hill et al 2008). Yoga triggers the parasympathetic nervous system. Putting the brakes on the stress response so you can rest and digest. Stilling the mind.

This is probably why we hear about big companies promoting yoga for their employees. Because why ever disconnect work for something like exercise? Researchers found that workplace yoga is an effective method for increasing employee health and decreasing employee stress (Della Valle et al 2020).

(Those researchers also found then men aged 40-54 report the highest work stress.)

But have you heard about big companies promoting sex for their employees? Researchers found that employees show a more positive affect and higher productivity rate at work, the day after sexual activity (Leavitt et al 2019). It doesn’t matter whether they’re happily married, unhappily married, single, or something else. Regardless of how satisfied the employees were with their intimate relationships, experiencing sexual activity has positive benefits.

(Remember how Napoleon Hill suggests that most men are not successful in business until their 40s or 50s, because that is when they finally learn to transform physical sexual desires into metaphysical creative inspiration.)

When our body is flooded with the hormones of sexual pleasure, it drowns out the hormones of stress. Especially those toxic work stress hormones. But you will definitely have to disconnect from work for this one...