Daily Relaxation

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Everyone suffers from stress at some point in time — it is the curse of living in modern times. And the stress we suffer takes a heavy toll on our bodies, emotions, minds and spirits.

Although relaxing isn’t always the best way to deal with stress — sometimes a good workout is what you need to get the stress out — relaxation exercises can help you deal with stressful situations.

For some, watching television is a form of relaxation, but it is not a recommended method by experts. When we watch TV we are bombarded with commercials, ads, sounds and images. Now if you’re skipping the commercials or watching a video, it might still work, though.

In recent studies, researchers have linked heart disease to anger and irritability, which, in turn, is linked to stress. Too much stress brings about ischemia (a restriction in blood supply) that can lead to or cause a heart attack. Managing your anger and attitude can have a significant effect on your heart’s health, and relaxation can help you manage this.

Another reason why relaxation is important, is that stress produces hormones that suppress the immune system. Relaxation gives the immune system time to recover and, in doing so, function more efficiently.

Relaxation lowers the activities within the brains’ limbic system; this is the emotional center of our brain. Furthermore, the brain has a periodic need for a more pronounced activity on the right-hemisphere. Relaxation is one way of achieving this.

So How Do You Achieve Relaxation?

If there are a thousand ways you can get stressed (have you been challenged by a tight deadline lately? Maybe a character in your story is not behaving?), there are also many ways you can relax. Here are some ideas.

One method of relaxation is transcendental meditation. Recent studies have shown that this method might reduce artery blockage, which is a major cause for heart attack and stroke.

People practice transcendental meditation by repeating soothing sounds while meditating, this is to achieve total relaxation. The researchers found that practitioners of transcendental meditation significantly reduced the thickness of their arterial wall compared with those who didn’t practice transcendental meditation.

Another study found that acupuncture seems to reduce high blood pressure. It does this by initiating several body functions that induce the brain to release chemical compounds known as endorphins. Endorphins help to relax muscles, ease panic, decrease pain and reduce anxiety. When I first started acupuncture for sciatica, I would be exhausted after a session. I was so relaxed I couldn’t stay awake!

Yoga, a form of progressive relaxation, is another activity that may have similar effects as acupuncture. In one study, participants were subjected to several minutes of mental stress. Then they were guided through various relaxation techniques, such as listening to nature sounds or classical music, including yoga. Only those who did yoga significantly reduced the time it took for their blood pressure to go back to normal.

Breathing is one of the easiest methods of relaxation. Breathing influences almost all aspects of the mind, body and spirit. Simply focus on your breathing, controlling it so that you are breathing deeply, slowly and with a relaxed rhythm, after some time you can feel its effects right away. There are several breathing techniques that can help you reduce stress.

Another easy way to achieve relaxation is exercise. If you feel irritated, a simple half-hour of exercise will often settle you down.

One of my favorite methods of relaxation is getting a massage. To gain full relaxation, you need to totally surrender to the handling and touch of a professional massage therapist. Sometimes it will hurt, but the benefits are many. There are several types of massage, each providing different levels of relaxation.

Another method of relaxation is biofeedback. The usual biofeedback-training program includes 10-hour sessions that are often spaced one week apart.

Hypnosis can also be a relaxation technique. It is a good alternative for people who think that they have no idea what it feels like to be relaxed. It is also a good alternative for people with stress-related health problems.

These relaxation techniques are just some of the ways you can achieve relaxation. Work a technique or two into your lifestyle and you will reap rewards you may not be aware of now.