Thanksgiving is always such a tease … home for five or six days, just relaxing and then WHAM! – you’re back in class with more work to do in the two weeks between the holidays than you’ve had all semester.

It’s enough to drive a guy or gal off the edge (or off the wagon).

There are better ways to reduce stress than biting your nails or forgetting your responsibilities in the bottom of a glass. So cut this out and paste it by your computer: your handy, dandy two minute stress-relief routine that you can do at your desk without your roommate totally laughing at you.

The rubdown: Give yourself a quick massage … everyone loves ’em. Sitting at computers the wrong way (especially slouching) can cause your head and jaw to shift forward and can cause major headaches and tension in your neck and shoulders, and even your lower back.

A. Scalp massage: Place both palms on your scalp, spreading your fingers apart to cover as much as possible. Rotate the roots of your hair clockwise. This allows more blood to flow between in the skin on your skull, which helps relieve pressure and headaches.

B. Lower back: Snag a tennis ball, softball or even an orange (not too juicy) and hold it against the back of your chair with your back. Sit up straight, with hands on your knees and slowly breathe in and out, shifting the ball to any painful areas.

Nix the Advil: Poor posture and tension strike again. Tension headaches are defined by the American Academy of Family Physicians as a dull, achy pain or tightness in both sides of the head or neck. Simple exercises can loosen the muscles in the neck and help relieve the headaches. These exercises were recommended by my chiropractor.

A. Sit up straight with your feet against the floor and your chin parallel to the ground. Hold onto the bottom of your chair with both hands and push your chin as far towards your chest as you can, dropping your shoulders. You’ll feel a stretch along the back of your neck and between the shoulder blades.

B. Assume the same position, only instead of pulling your chin down, point it up as far as you can (hold on to your chair and lean back a tiny bit). This loosens up the muscles along your throat, some of the tightest in the body.

C. My personal fave and guaranteed headache-killer: Turn your head as far as you can to the left without twisting your shoulders. Take your left hand, and put the palm of your hand on the back of your head, so your forehead practically touches the crook of your elbow. Gently pull your head forward (while still turned) as far as you can. You’ll feel the stretch at the base of your skull on the right side. Switch sides and repeat.

The mini-vacation: According to the Syracuse University Counseling Center, stress was first defined by Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon as the physical symptoms of the ‘fight or flight’ response humans are programmed to feel in certain situations.

Choosing flight for a few minutes – at least from your homework or studying – can help calm you down and actually refocus. Guided relaxations can be found online at sites like huhs.harvard.edu/CWHC/CWHCrelax.html. The sites also provide calming music and images and, many times, breathing instructions. Maybe they’re cheesy, but just pop on headphones and no one will notice.

Published on November 29, 2006 at 12:00 pm