BLACKPINK’s Rose, left, and aespa’s Karina / Courtesy of Vogue Korea, GQ Korea
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Small, mushy and straightforward to miss, stress balls have quietly turn out to be a go-to merchandise for stress administration — even amongst Ok-pop stars. However does squeezing a stress ball really assist relieve stress, or is it only a placebo fueled by superstar buzz?
BLACKPINK’s Rosé lately drew consideration to the merchandise in a video on the Vogue Korea YouTube channel, pulling a stress ball out of her bag and explaining why she by no means goes with out it. “I all the time carry it, even to enterprise conferences,” she mentioned. “Each time I really feel anxious, it helps shift my consideration elsewhere, so I be certain to have one with me.”
She added that holding the stress ball helps her focus throughout high-stakes moments. “When I’ve an necessary assembly or must make an enormous determination, this actually helps me focus,” she mentioned. “It’s so good for relieving stress and nervousness that I can’t do something with out it now.”
Aespa’s Karina echoed the sentiment in a YouTube video for GQ Korea, the place she confirmed off a stress ball she obtained as a present. Smiling, she mentioned she touches it every time she feels harassed, saying it “immediately lifts my temper.”
Regardless of trying like a easy toy, stress balls can certainly assist ease stress, consultants say. When an individual experiences stress, the sympathetic nervous system turns into activated, tightening muscle tissues and growing one’s coronary heart fee and respiratory. Repeatedly squeezing and releasing a stress ball causes the muscle tissues within the palms and forearms to contract and loosen up, sending a sign to the physique that it’s protected to launch stress.
This course of helps calm an overactivated sympathetic nervous system whereas activating the parasympathetic nervous system. In impact, the hand actions ship calming alerts to the mind, reducing total bodily stress.
Stress balls additionally work by redirecting consideration by means of tactile stimulation. Beneath stress, the mind tends to fixate on unfavorable ideas corresponding to nervousness, fear or anger. Sensory enter from the palms prompts the mind’s sensory processing areas, quickly interrupting this cycle of unfavorable pondering. Psychologically, this is named an “attentional shift.”
Nevertheless, consultants warning in opposition to overuse. Squeezing a stress ball too forcefully or for prolonged intervals can pressure the wrist, fingers and forearm muscle tissues, probably inflicting ache or irritation. Stress balls are additionally meant to supply non permanent aid, not an entire answer. Addressing the underlying causes of stress stays important.
Different hand-based instruments can supply related advantages. Remedy putty with a mushy texture, fidget cubes designed for repetitive clicking and low-resistance hand grippers all depend on the identical precept: easy, repetitive hand actions mixed with sensory stimulation to assist the physique loosen up.
This text from Kormedi.com, Korea’s high well being care and medical portal, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Instances.
