Do Stress Balls Work For Reducing Stress? Yes, Indeed!
Workplace stress is probably one of the biggest roadblocks against productivity in the workplace. It reduces motivation, focus, and the willpower to do more in an office. What's worse is that it is bound to happen in every workspace. It’s just the nature of work in the current day and age.
Today, offices use many devices or methods to fight workplace stress. The most common being the budget-friendly stress balls. Now, despite its popularity, do stress balls work to fight the office tension?
By definition, stress balls are squishy toys of malleable gel, usually 7cms in diameter. The shape of this ball can take different forms with the gentle force of our hand. The common conception is this eases the muscle tension in our hands and fights stress. But does it really?
Do stress balls work as stress relievers? The answer is yes, and here's why.
How Do Stress Balls Work In Reducing Stress
1. Anger Management
While facing a lot of stress, one may get quickly irritated with specific outcomes. It raises blood pressure, which results in angry outbursts. Here, the most probable and ugly outcome of anger is only an awful release on something or someone.
Stress balls help manage the employees' anger by giving them a medium to release the frustration by squeezing the ball. By releasing the force onto the stress balls, the workers can release the tension in their muscles. This relaxation of the muscle can calm one's anger down and restore normalcy.
2. Distraction Device
When one faces tension at work due to some work, it is always best to take a time-out from that particular project. The idea here is to distract the mind from an activity that is causing it trouble in the first place. This gives a chance to enter refresh and start anew.
As a distraction device, stress balls are a great option in the workplace. Continuously squeezing a stress ball can help one relax, detox, refresh at the same time. Here, a few breaks in between work will work wonders as well.
Related Article: 8 Awesome Ideas For Brain Breaks For Adults
3 Aids in the Nervous System
Proper functioning of the nervous system also plays a significant part in reducing workplace stress. The nervous system helps curb down on the essential hormones which can control stress levels. In maintaining a proper nervous system, stress balls are a great help in this regard as well.
A ton of nerves located in our around wrists run straight to our brains. Exercising these nerves with pressure helps them get stronger. Here, pressure exercise with a stress ball is an excellent workout for the nerves that helps the nervous system.
4. Workout
Office exercises are always a great way to break a sweat and stress. They release the accumulated tension in the muscles and helps the body relax. In this regard, stress balls are quite handy as well.
Stress balls exercise the wrists, arms, and the whole body in the way of speaking. It is because exercising with stress balls develops a workout for the nerves around one's hand. Now, since all the nerves in a body are interconnected, you engage in a full-body activity.
Here, it is important to always exercise rhythmically with a stress ball. The sequence can be breathe in, squeeze the ball and hold, breathe out, release the pressure.
5. Other health advantages of stress balls
Amidst all these positives, stress balls are also helpful for other employee health problems too. The use of stress balls increases blood circulation in the hands, helps recover from an injury, acts as a measure for carpal tunnel syndrome prevention, etc.
So, to answer the question of do stress balls work, yes indeed! Stress Balls are a great source of stress relief.
Conclusion
To achieve maximum productivity, one must work with a clear and fresh mind without any stress. Now, to accomplish this, there are many alternatives other than stress balls. These can be yoga in the workplace, practicing office meditation techniques, exercises, office stretches, etc.
While all of these may work, stress balls are a cheaper alternative to all these methods. So, if it saves money and releases stress, why not make the full use of it?

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