FIVE SIMPLE REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO SQUEEZE A STRESS BALL

Smiley Stress Ball as desktop companion and handy stress-reliever (image from http://flickr.com/photos/)

     Stress balls, those rounds, bright, squeezable, hand-held balls which you usually get as promotional items or small tokens from your company or a hand-down thing from a friend seem a potential object just to sit on your desk and gather some dust. But do you know that they do more than what you think they can? They are way more than what meets the eye.

     Here are the five simple reasons you should start squeezing those unsuspecting stress balls:

1.  It’s the most compact Stress Reliever. Stress balls come with a brief instruction manual: Squeeze it, over and over again. This action relieves muscle tension in your hands and you will feel a more relaxed mind. This is said to be the “Progressive Muscular Relaxation”. The effect of this repeated action is instant and tremendous: your emotional stress is being released. It’s indeed the most portable stress reliever. Stress balls indeed perfectly help you during your frustrating and stressful moments.

2. It’s the lightest Exercise Equipment. Not only does it take your stress away, it is also the most handy exercise equipment you can bring on and out anywhere. Aside from emotional benefit, you will also notice increase in strength. How is that possible? When you squeeze, the muscles not only contract in your hand, but up your arms as well. As your muscles relax, the tension will leave your arms and hands. Aside from boosting your attention level, you’ll also improve your hand strength and dexterity.

Specific stress balls can be more efficient in terms of exercising your arms and other parts of the body. For example, the stress ball which has the spiky features, when you press your hands against it, it also triggers stress points. This means that when you squeeze it, the spike will put pressure on specific parts of  your palm which is connected to the other part of  your body which is also benefitted. And the repeated pressure can improve one’s health.

3. It’s good for both your emotion and physical health.  Stress balls stimulate good blood circulation and can aid in reducing arthritic pain and stiffness. It also releases endorphin. In layman’s terms, it simply refers to the general feeling of well-being. (Just by squeezing a simple ball!)

4. It’s a visual feast. Nowadays, stress balls do not come only in the shade of yellow with the most basic smiley face. Marketing designers and strategists have already thought of hundreds of designs for the customers to enjoy the stress ball in a different twist. They thought of products which surprises and amazes people like the stress ball which changes color once you squeeze it hard enough. Or that which contains luminous materials. They come up with different themes: sporty (I personally like the soccer ball), scary, personalized, they can even adjust the softness and texture just for you.

     A couple more of tips, make sure to replace your stress ball when it wears out for continuous enjoyment of its benefits. Another thing, if you still can’t accept the fact and logic why you have you have to squeeze it to release the stress, then you don’t have to convince yourself hard. Another great thing to do with stress ball is to play with it and bounce it against the wall or the floor. Just make sure that no one would be hit when you do this. I find it pretty effective as well. It’s like you’re throwing your anger and stress. It still serves its purpose without being squeezed on.

     So the next time you see a stress ball, don’t just stare at it and dismiss them as another non-sense object. Start using them and you will realize that relaxation is just a squeeze away J.