Three tips for journalists to reduce stress
First findings from my field survey about how journalists reduce their stress while working:
1) Visual effects. A moment taken to a visual experience calms journalists down. That can be for example a look at an iPad app, which gives a strong visual effect (Strange Rain) or glazing at a picture of a family member or a pet, or staring at the people walking by the window.
2) Oral or sound-related experience. Listening to music, singing, or repeating a word aloud have a relaxing effect. Some people listen to music while they are reading their emails, and they say they feel less anxious about the full e-mail box when their favorite song is playing on the background.
3) Physical action. Breathing deeply, eating, or walking to a coffee machine or to the nearest store calms journalists down.
I asked journalists and other writers to share their insights about reducing stress by posting a question on Twitter, Facebook and to journalist email lists that I am a member of. I got 19 responses in 20 hours. I analyzed the answers and clustered them according to the means for stress reducing. The three tips presented here were the tips that were most often mentioned in the responses.
Thanks to all who shared their insights.
Now I’m going to identify the best ways to scale the effects of these relaxation tips, and find a way how technology can help us to benefit from the effects better.
More about the project called Reducing the stress of journalists here.
