You get to work at 7:45am to open up and set up the clinic. You see on the schedule you have 8 procedures booked in. 8! But we’re a vet down today! No biggie, you tell yourself. They are routine desexings and a couple of grade 1 scale and polishes. We’ll be right. The phones turn over at 8am and start going nuts. 12 year old dog vomiting for 3 days, what sounds like a cat bite abscess, and a puppy with a red sore eye. These eventuate into an ultrasound and an extra procedure for the day. You’re churning your way through the phones, clients, procedures, then……..the clinic computer system crashes. No access to appointments, patient files, anything. You haven’t had lunch yet. A client demands their invoice to be printed. One thing on top of another, on top of another.

If you’re anything like me, that got your heart rate elevated just thinking about it. Unfortunately in the veterinary industry, days like these are common, meaning we are under stress A LOT of the time. When it’s happening you just feel like you can’t get any sort of reprieve or relief.

There’s nothing much we can do about emergencies coming in or computers crashing, so we need to focus on how we can manage in these circumstances. Enter the “Physiological sigh”. This is a stress management technique used to deal with acute stress. Here’s how you do it -

• take a deep breath.

• when you get close to the top of your breath, stop and take an extra sharp inhale.

• exhale out slowly with a sigh (as quiet or loud as you want!).

How does this work? Our lungs have lots of little air sacs. Over time some of these little sacs can collapse, meaning less oxygen and more carbon dioxide in our bloodstream. This can signal to the brain that the body is under stress.

Taking in that extra little inhale helps to pop open those air sacs, meaning increased oxygen and a signal to the brain that the stress has reduced. It’s almost like you’re tricking your brain into thinking there’s nothing to stress about, and in turn your physiological responses to stress will start to reduce. It’s a great technique to have under your belt on those really crazy days.

I know as a younger nurse I thrived when the shit hit the fan, but this got harder and harder as I got older. I really hope that this tool helps you on those busy days.