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Agricultural work includes a number of unique stressors, such as impacts of weather conditions and events, financial concerns about commodity prices, loan interest rates, and managing the farm business, long work hours, working with heavy machinery, and at times, working closely with family. Stress among people in agriculture is important because it can contribute to negative mental health outcomes, and people in agriculture have higher rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and deaths by suicide compared to the general population.
At Illinois Extension, we offer several programs to help people who work in agriculture to learn more about stress and stress management, as well as programs for agricultural community members to learn more about farm stress, mental health, and how to help someone who is struggling or in crisis
Mindfulness in Ag Video Series
Whether in the field, barn, tractor, or home, these simple techniques may help you handle the stress that comes from farming.
Visualization
Thinking in pictures can be helpful in helping us quiet our mind. Learn this technique of using pictures in your mind to stop distressing thoughts and restore calm.
Stop, Breathe, Think
Many of the decisions we make are reactive and driven by our emotions. Learn to pause before we respond, allowing for a thoughtful response.
Mindful Listening
The sounds all around us can be a useful tool to becoming more mindful. This video features three different mindful listening techniques to help you become more mindful.
Mindful Eating
You can be in the present moment throughout the day – even while you eat! Learn the steps to eat more mindfully to enjoy your food, your experience, and the present moment more in this video.
Mantras
What we say to ourselves can greatly impact our mental well-being. In this video, learning about how mantras and how they can be useful for bringing peach and calming.
Just Breathe
Breathing is an important component of living more mindfully. This video teaches a few simple breathing techniques that you can try anytime, anywhere.
Finger Breathing
Mindful breathing is just one way to easily incorporate mindfulness into your daily life. This video features the finger breathing technique, a simple mindfulness technique that can help calm the mind.
Senses
Using your sense can be any easy way to quickly get into a mindful state. Learn the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique to quickly increase your mindful awareness.