Relaxation Techniques To Reduce Stress

We all face stressful situations throughout our day-to-day life, ranging from minor to extreme, such as traffic jams to severe worries such as the death of our loved ones. No matter what the cause is, it floods your body with hormones. Your heart pounds, your muscles tense, and your breathing speeds up. 

This response to stress is a normal reaction to threatening situations, which is mentioned in our prehistory to help survive threats such as animal attacks or floods. But, today, you rarely face these physical dangers, but these challenging situations in daily life can set off the stress response. You cannot avoid all stress sources in your life, nor would you want to. But, you can develop healthy ways to respond to these situations. 

One way is to call on the relaxation response through a cardiologist’s technique developed in the 1970s. This relaxation response is the opposite of the stress response. It is a state of profound rest that can be evoked in many ways. With regular practice, you can create a well of calm to dip into as the need arises. 

Relaxation techniques are great ways to reduce stress and our mind. It is not only about inner harmony or partaking in a leisure activity. It is an interaction that diminishes the impacts on your body and mind. 

The relaxation technique helps cope with everyday stress and other stress-related health issues such as pain or heart problems. Whether your worry is spiraling out of control or you have already got it tamed, you can benefit from the relaxation techniques. 

Learning from the basic relaxation techniques is easy and often low cost poses little risk and can be done anywhere. Explore these simple techniques to reduce the stress in your life and improve your health. 

What is the advantage of relaxation techniques?

When you face numerous responsibilities, tasks, or the demands of an illness, relaxation techniquesmay not be a priority in your life. But it means that you might miss out on the health benefits of relaxation. 

Practicing relaxation techniques can give various benefits, including:

• reduces heart rate
• low blood pressure
• better digestion
• maintaining blood sugar levels
• reducing stress hormone activity, improving concentration and mood
• lowering fatigue
• improve sleep quality
• boosting confidence to handle problems
• reducing frustration and anger

To get most of these benefits, practice relaxation techniques and positive coping methods such as finding humor, thinking positively, managing time, problem-solving, getting enough sleep, and exercising.

What are the types of relaxation techniques?

Experts such as complementary health practitioners, psychotherapists, and doctors can teach various relaxation techniques. But if you prefer, you can learn them on your own. These methods include pulling together your consideration on something calming or increasing awareness of your body. It doesn’t make any difference which technique you pick or practice regularly takes its benefits. 

Different types of relaxation techniques include:

Autogenic relaxation

It means something that comes from inside you. You can use both body awareness and visual imagery to reduce worry and stress in this technique. In this technique, you repeat suggestions or words in your mind that may help to reduce and relax muscle tension. For instance, you imagine a peaceful setting and then focus on control, slowing your heart rate, relaxing breathing, or feeling different physical sensations, such as relaxing each leg and arm. 

Visualization

In this technique, you may form a mental image to take a visual journey to a calm, peaceful situation or place. To relax using this technique, try to incorporate as many senses as possible, including sight, smell, touch, and sound. On the off chance that you envision unwinding at the sea, ponder the smell of saltwater, the glow of the sun on your body, and the sound of the crashing waves. 

You need to close your eyes, sit in a quiet spot, loosen tight clothing, and focus on your breathing. Aim to concentrate on the present and think positive thoughts. 

Some other relaxation techniques include:

Deep breathing exercise

It is one of the most accessible stress-reducing techniques because you simply need to focus on breathing. You just need to sit or rests in a tranquil spot, take a full breath through your nose and inhale out leisurely through your mouth or nose from where you feel better. Experts suggest this technique in a 4-7-8 approach. It implies taking in for four seconds, holding it for seven seconds, and then exhaling for eight seconds.

Deep breathing exercises help you to calm down and relax, says the expert. 

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

This relaxation technique focuses on slowly tightening and relaxing the muscle groups. You can practice it along with the breathing exercise and guided imagery. To do this relaxation technique, find a comfortable place to sit or lay down, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Expand your abdomen as you breathe and contract it as you exhale. 

You can start it with your face and head muscle; what’s more, work your direction down your body, or begin with your toes and move gradually up. When you focus on each muscle, tense and hold for about five seconds, relax for 30 seconds, and repeat. 

Tensing ceratin muscles while combining breathing with that can again instill a sense of calm and relaxation, says the expert. If you have any heart issues, consult your doctor before starting this technique. 

Tai chi and yoga

It is a low-intensity exercise that is similar and has been around for thousands of years. Yoga includes physical and meditative movements to ease stress and lower blood pressure. 

In yoga, you practice different stretching and strengthening postures, remain still, and focus on your breathing as you do each pose. On the other hand, Tai chi is a slow, graceful movement such as dancing. In this technique, you breathe deeply and concentrate on your body as you move your body weight from one posture to the next. 

Depending upon your physical abilities, you can perform these exercises while sitting in a chair; however, you need to do tai chi while standing. 

Before you start practicing yoga, it will be good to find a licensed professional who can help you learn the basic postures and which form of yoga suits you best.

Conclusion

As you learn relaxation techniques, you become more aware of the physical sensations of stress and muscle tension. Once you know what your stress response feels like, you can make conscious efforts to practice the techniques when you feel stress symptoms. It can help to prevent stress from spiraling out of control. 

Relaxation technique is a skill. The more you will practice, the more your ability to relax increases. So, be patient with yourself. Do not let your practice of relaxation become another stressor.