Stress-Busters: Make it a Relaxation Minute

From the minute you wake up in the morning until the time you lay down at night, the hustle of life can rev up your system. Challenges at work or home can set off alarms in your body’s stress response system many times a day. But there’s good news: our quick relaxation techniques can help you turn off the stress response, so you can begin to control the effects of stress in your life.

Preferred Care wants to make all of the mental, emotional and physical benefits of relaxation as easy as possible for you to achieve. Odds are good that you can find at least one minute, once a day. That’s all the time you need to use one of our simple relaxation techniques:

Releasing Muscle Tension

This technique is especially helpful when you are physically tense. It is a quick version of progressive muscular relaxation (PMR), one of the most extensively studied methods of relaxation.

Begin by closing your eyes. Focus all your attention on the muscles of your body. Start with the muscles in your feet and work your way up, area by area. Tense each area and then release the tension. As you do so, take deep, slow breaths.

Tense and release the muscles in your:

• Feet and Ankles
• Calves and Thighs
• Buttocks
• Belly
• Chest and Back
• Shoulders & Neck
• Upper and Lower Arms
• Hands
• Forehead
• Eyes
• Jaw

Breathing Deeply and Slowly

Although deep breathing is one of the simplest relaxation techniques, it remains one of the most effective.

When you take deep breaths correctly, your stomach should rise and fall. This happens for a simple reason. Beneath your rib cage is a sheet of muscle called the diaphragm. As you breathe out, the diaphragm pushes upward to press air out of your lungs. This causes your stomach to cave in. As you breathe in, your diaphragm pushes downward, making your stomach expand.

• First, close your eyes and put one hand on your stomach. Then breathe out slowly and completely. You should be able to feel your stomach cave in as you breathe out.
• Now breathe in slowly and deeply. You should feel your stomach expand as you breathe in.
• Repeat this sequence for as much time as you have. You’ll probably notice that your breathing naturally becomes slower, and you can “stop” between breaths, as you become more relaxed.
• Continue for as much time as you have available.

Informational Source: Johnson & Johnson
Posted: March 2004