Are you looking for a way to relax? Stress can be overwhelming, but there are many techniques to relax your mind and body.
Key takeaways
- Stress starts in a part of your brain called the amygdala, and it can have plenty of physical and emotional effects.
- Relaxing your body can start with practices like breathwork, yoga, exercise, massage, and progressive muscle relaxation.
- You can relax your mind with help from practices like gratitude, meditation, body scans, and positive self-talk.
No one is immune to stress—unfortunately, it is an inevitable part of life. Fortunately, there are simple tools such as meditation, movement, and breathwork that can help us manage stress and anxiety in a healthy, sustainable way. We’ll explore some calming techniques that you can start using today to notice a difference.
Stress Explained
Stress starts in our brains, specifically in an area called the amygdala that controls our emotions. When the amygdala senses danger or other stressful stimuli, it sends a message to the hypothalamus, which communicates with our bodily functions. The hypothalamus then activates our autonomic nervous system.
1. Stress and the Nervous System
Our autonomic nervous system has two components—the parasympathetic nervous system that keeps us calm and the sympathetic nervous system that riles us up. During times of stress, our sympathetic nervous system takes over, triggering what is colloquially known as our fight or flight response.
When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, our adrenal glands launch a physiological response that includes a quickened heartbeat, an increase in lung capacity, and a flood of energy—in a word, stress.
2. The Physical Effects of Stress
In order to redirect your stress in a healthy way, you can start by understanding the symptoms and negative effects of mismanaged stress.
Stress can display itself mentally, physically, and emotionally–which can make it difficult to detect and understand the root cause. These side effects are often intertwined, and one can cause a reaction from the other.
When people think about being stressed, it’s common to think about the mental effects. Many don’t realize there are multiple physical effects and potential health problems that come along with it.
Stress is a major risk factor for heart disease because there is a link between stress and hypertension. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, can exist in the body with few to no obvious symptoms outside of a headache. However, when high blood pressure is left untreated, it can weaken the heart and damage the lining arteries surrounding the heart.
Among other concerns, high stress levels can also contribute to medical conditions like migraines and even insomnia.
3. The Emotional Effects of Stress
Often, the emotional and cognitive effects of stress can be overlooked or wrongly dismissed as anxiety. The emotional effects of stress may include feeling agitated or moody, having difficulty concentrating, or constantly worrying, just to name a few.
It is essential to address any stress you may be dealing with because your emotional response can be just as draining as the physical effects of stress. Fortunately, there are many techniques to help you feel more relaxed and calm, as well as possibly strengthen your mental focus, which we will explore below.
How Can I Relax My Body?
When you are feeling tense and stressed out, it can feel overwhelming, so it’s important to find a relaxation strategy that is simple to do. You also want it to be a technique that doesn’t take too long. Set aside five minutes in your day to focus on yourself and practice a relaxation technique.
Physical relaxation is one way you can try to interrupt and possibly reverse the body’s stress response. It can also help stop a negative-feedback cycle which is when your body signals a physical stress response because of the mind responding to stress. There are several effective relaxation exercises you can try to relax and relieve tension in your body.
1. Breathwork
Breathwork is a powerful and proven technique to relax your body. The physiological changes you may see while practicing breathing exercises may include reduced blood pressure and lowered cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands when your body is triggered by stress.
Some breathwork techniques have an energizing effect on the body, but 4-7-8 breathing can have a calming effect on the body. Many claim that it helps them fall asleep.
It is most often done while laying down while you breathe in for a count of four, hold for a count of seven, and then breathe out with a whoosh sound for a count of eight. This breath cycle can be repeated four to eight times.
2. Exercise and Yoga
There are multiple forms of yoga, and relaxation is an outcome with most of them. Yoga often includes mindful meditation and different breathing techniques with each pose, which can relax your body as you become more centered in the present moment.
It’s been reported that yoga can boost your body’s production of oxytocin and endorphins, which can decrease stress and improve your body’s ability to manage physical pain.
Studies show that deep breathing, like the style practiced in many yoga classes, can effectively relax the body by activating the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system helps promote healthy digestion as well as relaxation.
Similar to yoga, exercise may also reduce your body’s stress hormone levels. As adrenaline and cortisol lower, you may notice an increase in endorphins. These are responsible for the “runner’s high” many people get as well as feelings of relaxation that may come as you complete your workout.
Whether you are taking a group exercise class like tai chi or going solo at the gym, taking the time to get away from the stress of the day and focus on yourself and your body can give you a feeling of relaxation. Working out is a solid way to reconnect with yourself and relax, and it can help improve your stamina as well.
3. Massage and Muscle Relaxation
For many, when you are feeling stressed, it’s not just mental. You can also feel it in your body. Stress can cause muscle tension in the body, and it can feel quite relaxing to get a massage to release that tension. When muscles contract due to stress, they can compress nerves around them and cause pain. Massage can help release the nerves and stretch out the muscle.
Massage can also help relax your body by increasing blood circulation and releasing endorphins. The setting for most massages often allows the body to relax with calming music and peaceful surroundings.
Often, mental stress can cause you to feel physically stressed as well. Another option to relax your body is progressive muscle relaxation. This meditation technique can be very effective in relaxing the body and reducing anxiety. Studies show that the average anxiety score given by participants was significantly reduced after practicing progressive muscle relaxation.
The calming exercise of progressive muscle relaxation is typically done while laying down on a soft surface like your bed, a carpet, or a yoga mat. Then, you tense up one part of your body at a time and slowly release it. You can start at the top of your body and work your way down through each muscle group or vice versa.
How Can I Relax My Mind?
The experience of stress can have a profound effect on your mind and emotions. Training your mind to calm down and relax is not too difficult. The more you work at it, the more you can help avoid higher levels of stress and its effects in the future.
You can try many different techniques to relax your mind, and when you find the one that works for you, it’s best to maintain consistency.
1. Gratitude and Positivity
Keeping a gratitude journal is a simple yet profoundly effective way to relax your mind and improve your emotional well-being.
A recent study found that when participants wrote down what they were grateful for weekly, they were more optimistic about the future and expressed a more positive outlook about their lives as a whole.
To engage in this technique for yourself, jot down what you’re grateful for in a notebook or journal. You can also listen to a guided journaling meditation to help lead you through your daily or weekly journaling.
It can be difficult at first, but positive self-talk can profoundly affect your mental well-being. It has been shown that affirmations can decrease stress, increase your overall well-being, and help you be more open to a change in behavior.
When you speak about yourself in a positive manner, your mind will not have room for negativity and can improve your stress level and help you be more prepared to deal with future stressors.
2. Body Scans
Taking the time to scan your body is an effective way to release any tension you may be holding on to that you didn’t even realize.
A body scan involves focusing on one body part at a time and recognizing the sensations in a gradual sequence from your head to your feet. Focusing your mind on each body part will help clear out any outside distractions and can help you feel more relaxed.
3. Meditation
Meditation has been proven to have positive effects on calming and relaxing the mind. If you are new to meditation, it can be best to begin with guided meditation as it can take all the guesswork on how to focus your attention on your breath and how to allow your thoughts to come and go without judgment.
It only takes a few minutes of connecting the mind and your breath before you start feeling its effects. With regular practice, you can try meditation for longer sessions to see longer-lasting results.
The link between your attitude, thoughts, and behaviors with your physical health is known as the mind-body connection. The brain is a remarkable, complex organ that serves as the body’s command center, which further proves that the mind is deeply intertwined with the body.
5 Meditation Practices To Relax Your Body and Mind
If you’re working towards a calmer body and mind, give these five practices a try.
- Restless Night w/ Manoj D.: Calm a restless mind and ease the stresses of the day with this soothing meditation (23 Minutes).
- Ease Anxiety w/ Allison S.: Embrace physical and mental relaxation when you’re anxious and return to a state of serenity (7 Minutes).
- Soothe Sunday Scaries w/ Allison S.: Need a break from the tension? Clam your nerves with self-compassion and intentionality (8 Minutes).
- Grateful and Happy w/ Manoj D.: Allow yourself to appreciate the moments in your life that make you the most grateful (10 Minutes).
- Sleepless Morning w/ Renee N. H.: Didn’t get much sleep last night? Calm anxiety and fill up your cup with this practice. Soundtracked by Half Waif (7 Minutes).
Many scientific studies have shown that the hormones and neurotransmitters that are released due to emotions can also have physical effects on the body, like blood pressure and heart rate. It can also affect your quality of sleep which is important to both the mind and body.
Managing your stress in a healthy way can be simple, quick, and enjoyable when you find a technique that works for you. As Manoj would say, “Whichever path you choose, follow your breath and let your heart be your guide.”
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