Stress Management Group Activity (3+list)

Stress management group activities are a great resource to manage stress. Labeling stress as good or bad cannot be proven helpful.

It might be motivating at times or it can be harmful psychologically or physically. How you react to stress is important because we can determine it through your behaviors.

Managing it is necessary. Following group activities can be very helpful in coping with stress. Group activities related to Stress Management are of many different kinds.

This article will discuss stress management group activity. 

Stress management group activity 1: Have a Treasure Hunt

Playing treasure hunt is a fun activity and teaches problem solving skills while introducing a friendly competition between the groups. 

Playing treasure hunt helps strengthen relationships, encourage teamwork and help new members to fit in.

It demands creative ways of problem solving skills, critical thinking and friendly competition. 

 Multiple researchers have concluded that when people are in deep concentration, taking a risk or physically active, a specific psychological state occurs.

During this state of mind, people have reported being the most productive and feeling relaxed and at their best.

One of the main activities that cover all of these points is treasure hunting: it has deep concentration through solving riddles, risk through competition and physical activity like finding clues for the hunt.

Design for stress management group activity: Treasure Hunt

There might be many possible ways when it comes to design a game of treasure hunt. Groups can be divided into smaller groups of three or four people which will result in making the game more competitive.

Some of the examples for treasure hunt designs are: 

• Solving riddles to find the next clue
• Look for a certain object or a list of objects in a specific area

Materials required for stress management group activity: Treasure Hunt

The materials you will need for this activity are as follows :

• Paper/pen for clues
• Prize for the winning team

Instructions for stress management group activity: Treasure Hunt

Here is an example of a clue-focused treasure hunt.

1. Decide the geographic scope of the hunt. Are you going to confine the hunt to the inside of a building (office or house) or are you going to have the teams leave the building? This will determine the types of clues you need to generate.
2. Write your clues.
   • Do an online search for treasure hunt clues. You can even make clues office-themed or modernize your treasure hunt using text messaging for clues and requiring teams to take pictures at each location to get the next clue.
   • Make sure the answer to one clue leads to the next. If the answer to one clue is the coffee bowl, the next should be placed near the coffee bowl.
3. The first team to find all the clues wins the prize (and the bragging rights).

Alternate Method

One alternative play for treasure hunt can be to look for specific information rather than clues.

Each team gets an identical list of information they must find. The first team to find all the information on their list wins.

Examples of information may include:

• Someone whose name starts with A
• Someone whose birthday is in August
• Someone who has more than two children

 Stress Management Group Activity #2: Play With Stress Balls

Another stress management group activity is “ Play with stress balls”.

One of the main activities for relieving stress is using the stress ball, here we are explaining a little twist of the typical “squeeze to release stress” exercise that is normally used.

Purpose of stress management group activity:  Play with stress balls

This exercise can be used for any group, and the benefits are numerous.

The best way to use this exercise is by processing it afterward by discussing the following:

• Mindfulness – Mindfulness involves being in the moment rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. By actively, consciously paying attention to the present, you live life to the fullest.
  • While doing the exercise, group members were unlikely to be thinking about anything else.
  • While doing the exercise, group members were having fun and losing themselves in the moment.
• Multitasking – The ability to multitask is a myth. People believe that they can “juggle” multiple tasks successfully, but no one can do several things at once as well as they can do one thing at a time.
  • Discussing whether to exercise with one ball was easy or not as compared with several balls.
  • Discuss how important it is to focus on responsibilities and use time management to get each one done individually and thoroughly.

Materials required for stress management group activity: Play with stress balls

Main material for this exercise are stress balls at least one per group member.

Instructions for group activities related to stress management: Play with Stress balls

1. Have everyone stand in a circle.
2. One person starts out with one ball and tosses it to someone else, remembering who they tossed it to.
3. The next person tosses it to someone who has not had the ball yet, remembering who they tossed it to.
4. The third person tosses it to someone who has not had the ball yet, remembering who they tossed it to.
5. This continues until everyone has had the ball, and it returns to the first person who started.
6. The pattern is repeated again and again unless each person remembers to which person they are throwing the ball too and from whom he is receiving it.
7. Once the group remembers the pattern easily, they introduce more balls into the same pattern, with the first person tossing one stress ball, then another, then another, to the same person, who then passes on each ball to the next person in the pattern.
8. If balls fall or roll, pick them up and continue the pattern until everyone is laughing too hard to play effectively, or until about five minutes are up.

Stress Management Group Activity #3: Participate in Group Guided Meditation

 Another  stress management group activity is known  as meditation.

Meditation has been used for thousands of years to help accelerate physical healing, to bring about a deeper spirituality and understanding of one’s place in the universe, and to relieve anxiety and stress.

There are several types of meditation, most of them can be accomplished with little equipment and in any setting within groups.

Guided meditation is a form of meditation in which you use mental images to reduce stress. 

Purpose of stress management group activity : Group guided meditation

Meditation can help by:

• Giving one a new perspective on a situation or problem
• Giving one a mental break from a stressful situation
• Give one a new skill for stress relieving
• Allowing for increased self-awareness (increase in recognizing stress responses)
• Increasing mindfulness (focusing on the present)

Materials

For this activity you will need a peaceful and comfortable place to sit for the group members and a guided meditation script.

Instructions for stress management group activity : Guided meditation

1. Set an intention as a group before the start of the meditation.
2. Have group members sit or lie comfortably with eyes closed. Lower the lights.
3. Have the facilitator lead the group through the guided meditation script.
4. Allow group members a few moments after the meditation to relax.
5. Follow with a group discussion about their experiences during the meditation.

Stress Management Group Activity #4: Laugh

 One of  the common group activities  related to stress management include “Laugh”.

Research is steadily showing that laughter is good for health, and is mostly considered as the best medicine for relieving stress.

Purpose of Another stress management group activity  : Laugh

Laughter causes the brain to produce dopamine, the chemical responsible for feelings of happiness, motivation, and pain relief.

By improving your mood, laughter allows you to gain a different perspective on difficult situations and connect more easily with others.

Laughing in groups can not only help out in relieving stress but can also help in strengthening the bonds within the group.

Materials

You will need the following:

• Anything that can make one laugh:
  • Videos
  • Comic strips
  • Greeting cards
  • Memes
  • Photos
  • Jokes
  • Stories
  • Group laughter

Instructions for stress management group activity: Laugh 

1. Have your group bring in something that always makes them laugh. It could be a story, a photo, a joke, a meme, or a favorite video.
2. Have each person in the group share an item/story within the group.
3. Allow everyone to chip in and get benefit from the laughter of the group.

Alternate Methods

You can try these alternate methods, as well.

• Find a funny video or movie to watch as a group.
• Treat your group to a show at a comedy club.
• Take your group to a funny movie.
• Have everyone tell a story regarding:
  • An embarrassing moment
  • The funniest thing they can remember happening to them
• Have a jar that everyone can write down funny moments and drop in and come together in a group to share them.
• Insert funny, relevant pictures to a PowerPoint presentation.
• Engage in forced group laughter . Have the group start laughing about nothing in particular, and soon the laughter will spontaneously become real and frequently uncontrollable.

Stress Management Group Activity#5: Share Gratitude

 One of  the main  group activities  related to stress management is known  as “ share gratitude”.

One of the main activities to improve group dynamics and relieving stress is to share your gratitude within the group.

Purpose of  stress management group activity: Share gratitude 

The expression of gratitude decreases stress and illness and increases sleep and happiness.

Usually, the main tendency of people is to focus on the things they don’t have or the negativity in their life.

This activity of sharing gratitude with the group is a great way to share what everyone is grateful for within the group.

Materials

You will need the following:

• Two large pads of paper on an easel or two white boards
• Markers or dry erase markers
• Timer

Instructions

1. Divide into two teams.
2. Have each member of the group take a slip of paper and write the things they are grateful for and circulate their slip within the group.
3. Each player takes turns drawing a slip from the opposing team and attempting to draw it on the pad or white board while their teammates attempt to guess what they are drawing. Each round gives each team a total of two minutes to draw the item and guess it before time ends.
4. If the team gets the image right then one point is awarded to them. The team with the most points wins.

Advantages of  stress management group activity

Humans, by nature, are social creatures who live and operate in groups. The activities outlined above can be modified to fit any group type.

There are multiple advantages to these stress management group activities.

• Participating in these activities together will ensure all of your group members are learning the same techniques. This will be very beneficial when the group experiences stress later.
• These activities will bond the group by strengthening the relationships between group members.
• Performing these activities as a group has the added benefit of adding support and increasing motivation to learn. Group members can encourage each other to put new skills in place and can help each other to do so. Researchers have conducted multiple studies and concluded that many beneficial behaviors come from group work; the benefits of stress reduction are just another positive that is finally being fully recognized.

If you want to make someone you love feel a little better, less stressed, and more relaxed, try these Best Gifts for Stress & Anxiety.

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