Six Healthy Habits of Tennis Player Anastasia Pivovarova
Former tennis player Anastasia Pivovarova spoke about simple habits that help her cope with stress and shared a selection of exercises that energize.
The endless scrolling of the news feed and the widespread instability increase the level of anxiety. But over the years of my sports career, I realized one thing: if you can’t avoid stress, and you can’t change your perception, you need to transform your routine. I will tell you about what helps me maintain mental health.
Daily Meditations
According to a study by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, people who practice meditation are more resistant to stress than others. It is not necessary to be a guru and dive into the subconscious for hours or days. It is enough to give meditation 20-30 minutes a day. During this time, the body will switch attention from the outside world to the inner world, synchronize the mind and body. Excessive tension throws thoughts into turmoil, and meditation helps to stabilize the mind.
As you begin your path to mindfulness practices, make it a rule to never go to bed without at least ten minutes of subconscious awareness. And to choose the right form of meditation, try different options: an individual concentration practice, a group session with a coach, and audio recordings for self-work.
Technique of “square” breathing
This technique helps to concentrate during a period of severe stress or panic. First, imagine a square in front of you. Mentally determine its size, color, line thickness. Then start breathing in this sequence:
- Inhale for 5 seconds (mentally rise from the lower left corner of the square to the upper one);
- Hold your breath for 5 seconds (concentrate in the upper left corner of the square);
- Exhale for 5 seconds (move from the upper left to the upper right corner);
- Hold your breath for 5 seconds (concentrate in the upper right corner);
- Repeat cycles until you complete the square.
Herbal teas
The tea ceremony can become a useful habit on the way to calmness and balance, especially if done before or after meditation, or before going to bed. The very process of preparing a drink puts thoughts in order, because the sequence of actions is always the same. The main thing is to take into account the basic rules:
- Pour the tea mixture with hot water (70-80 degrees Celsius), and not boiling water: this will help preserve the taste of the leaves and avoid bitterness;
- use glass or earthenware to keep leaves, herbs, and berries from losing their natural taste, color, and aroma. These materials do not absorb odors and do not emit harmful substances;
- infuse the drink for no longer than 3-5 minutes. If the tea is overexposed, tannins begin to be produced in it, which have a bad effect on digestion;
- You can diversify the usual options by adding stevia, dried fruits and spices.
For me, buckwheat tea with wild berries has become an excellent substitute for coffee. It has a positive effect on well-being, gives vigor, but does not increase anxiety, like coffee. Ivan-tea with hibiscus and berries cheers you up, and a drink from sagan-daily with raspberries and stevia tones and relieves fatigue. Chaga tea with wild berries strengthens the immune system due to antioxidants, and chamomile at night prepares well for sleep.
Bath
In Russia, stress is traditionally relieved by going to the bathhouse. It combines aroma and sometimes music or light therapy. The main benefit lies in the temperature and physical effects on the autonomic nervous system. Muscles relax, blood flow improves, adrenaline and cortisol levels decrease. Additionally, essential oils of cedar and fir will help to influence the nervous system. They reduce nervousness and improve well-being in a stressful period.
Physical exercises
Specific emotions are often associated with parts of the body: for example, rage, fear, and disgust are felt as a lump or coldness in the upper chest, and rage and happiness respond with increased tone in the arms and legs. During periods of stress and increased tension, the physical sensation of emotions provokes heaviness and pressure in the chest and between the shoulder blades. To get rid of them, you can resort to self-massage (manual, roller, massage ball or applicator) or regular mini-workouts.
Below you will find a small complex. For each exercise, do three sets of 12 reps. As you feel better, you can gradually increase the number of circles and repetitions.
Exercise 1. Hyperextension
Starting position: lying on the stomach, arms to the sides
Action: while inhaling, lift your head, arms and thoracic back off the floor. Bend so that the muscles along the spine work and at the same time the muscles under the shoulder blades tense. It is important to expand the shoulder blades, and not reduce them. Then the large latissimus dorsi immediately join in the extension of the back. It will become easier to perform the exercise, and it will give the desired effect - it will help strengthen your back.
Result: there will be a regular desire to straighten your back while sitting at the table.
Exercise 2. Raising hands from a sitting position
Starting position: sitting on your knees, the body is directed forward
How to do it: Place two stretch blocks under your ribs on your knees. Extend the thoracic region with the muscles of the back, distributing the load on them, relax the trapezium. Raise your arms up, tensing the muscles under your shoulder blades. First alternately, and then both hands together. The higher the hands rise, the more it is necessary to pull both shoulder blades down. So the work of the back muscles will be felt even better, and the shoulders will not be overstrained.
Result: with any movement of the hands in a static position (at the table, while eating, etc.), the desire to keep the back straight remains.
Exercise 3. Abduction of hands with an elastic band
Instead of an elastic band, any tight belt will do.
Starting position: sitting or standing. Grab the elastic so that your hands are a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower your arms along your body.
How to do it: Take your hands back behind your head through the top and back so that the muscles of the arms and chest are stretched, and the shoulders are not tense. The deeper the breath on the abduction of the arms back and the more the shoulder blades fall, the easier and more pleasant the stretch, and the chest will turn around faster.
The result: beautiful breasts, a flat back and deeper breathing.
According to research from the University of Auckland, good posture helps you cope with stress and feel more alert. Presumably, this happens because blood circulation improves, and the brain receives more oxygen. In addition, a straight back posture is associated with victory and success. That is, by performing simple exercises for posture, you can maintain a feeling of cheerfulness even in the evening and in time pressure.
Diary of emotions
It is sometimes difficult to get out of a stressful state, because it is not easy for a person to identify individual emotions that cause it. To make it easier to understand feelings and their root cause, try keeping a diary of emotions. It can be done in free form, or you can buy a ready-made version. For me, the famous diary “6 minutes” became the most effective. It invites you to express gratitude for what happened during the day, evaluate your progress for the week, write down plans and goals. This helps to clearly present a plan of action, reveal emotions and remember the events of the past day. Such a habit forms a positive thinking mindset, as it focuses your attention on the positive, displacing the negative.
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