Stress can take a serious toll on your well-being.
Finding ways to keep stress levels low can have benefits that resonate throughout your whole life.
To protect your physical and mental health, finding ways to relax your body and mind is essential.
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You may need to experiment to find the best tools for relaxing your body.
Feeling physically tense can increase your psychological and emotional tension and vice versa.
Learning to master techniques that enable both types of relaxation is a highly effective route to stress relief.
Many people make a run at ignore stress and hope thatstressorspass quickly.
It’s not uncommon to be caught off-guard by stress.
It’s important to know when you have too much stress and need to relax.
The tension in your body that can result from this response increases the levels of stress you feel emotionally.
What Is Cortisol?
Stress triggers the release ofcortisol, which is known as the body’s stress hormone.
Too much cortisol, however, can be detrimental to your health.
The key to relaxing your body is to engage in activities that help induce the body’srelaxation response.
There are several effective techniques to relieve tension in your body.
Practicing these strategies regularly improves your ability to manage the effects of stress.
Breathing Exercises
Breathing exercisescan be an extremely effective way to reduce stress.
When faced with feelings of stress and anxiety, people often engage in rapid, shallow breathing.
Learning to take deeper, slower breaths can help ease the body’s stress response.
This is done one muscle group at a time until the entire body has reached a state of relaxation.
Exercise
Exercisecan be a powerful stress reliever.
When faced with an acute stressor, physical activity can help ease feelings of tension and anxiety.
Over the long term, regular physical activity helps people become more resilient in the face of stress.
Recap
Finding ways to relax physically can help ease tension and reduce cortisol levels.
Strategies that can help with physical relaxation include breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and exercise.
How to Relax Your Mind
Your experience of stress involves your thoughts and emotions.
These can accompany and even perpetuate your stress response.
Often, reexamining your thoughts can help you to relax emotionally.
Benefits of Relaxing Your Body and Mind
Relaxation can have many positive effects.
It can help promote better memory, positive thinking, and stronger concentration.
Practicing relaxation techniques can also help with pain, anxiety, depression, and headaches.
Your healthcare provider or therapist can help you explore different ways to manage your stress.
A licensed mental health professional can assist you in learning relaxation strategies that can work for you.
Becoming less reactive to them can also be helpful.
There are a number of vitamins that can impact how the body responds to stress.
Supplements containing B vitamins can also be important for maintaining energy levels.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Relaxation techniques for health.
National Institute of Mental Health.5 things you should know about stress.
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National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Meditation: In depth.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.Relaxation techniques: What you’re gonna wanna know.
