Is Deep Relaxation And Meditation The Perfect Antidote
To Stress?
There is a point of balance between work and play
for everyone. When this point is not working for you, especially if you
work too much, not only will stress be constant but you will be unable to
relax properly when you have time off.
There is confusion about what good relaxation is. You may think that
watching the television is relaxation, but it’s passive relaxation. Good
relaxation techniques are active - they release tension and pressure from
your body.
You may also think that what is euphemistically called ‘playing hard’,
which can mean drinking alcohol, smoking and clubbing, is relaxing too.
Well, you may feel good at the time, but drugs, cigarettes and alcohol
ruins your health and increases stress levels.
Deep relaxation has many benefits. They include, relaxing your mind by
allowing your brainwaves to slow down, releasing the build-up of tension
from your muscles and a completion of the ‘relaxation response’.
Very often when stress hits you, in response to a stressful situation or
circumstances, the conditions that allow the relaxation response to
‘kick-in’ are not possible. You need time and space for relaxation to
occur. It isn’t always possible in our busy lives.
This creates an imbalance in our mind and body and a build-up of stress.
There can be many side-effects of this, not least of which is a
deterioration of our health. Diabetes is a good example of imbalance in
our body as this is your where insulin and blood sugar levels are out of
balance.
Laughter is an excellent and natural form of stress relief and promotes
relaxation both mentally and physically. It’s a great way to achieve
relaxation, especially when time is short. Better still, rent a funny
movie or visit the cinema and watch a funny film.
These days you don't even need to visit the
cinema or video store, you can download all the best movies to your PC or
MP3 player and watch them from your armchair. Here's a good place to
download your movie.
Meditation is a very powerful form of deep relaxation. It relaxes your
mind and body and can have a profound effect on all aspects of your life.
Just one of the benefits of meditation is the solitude. The daily practice
of solitude can change your life by creating real contemplation and
thinking time.
It’s always a refreshing break from a busy
schedule and meditation is much easier to learn than you might think. Once
it works for you - you'll be hooked. It can be very addictive, but a
positive addiction though. Here is an excellent
meditation
program that will get you started very quickly.
There are also a variety of exercises or techniques to release muscle
tension and so promote deep relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation is
one technique that works especially well and is both quick and easy to do.
A new report has just been released - "A
step-by-step guide to beating stress", which includes, what happens to
your body, situations to avoid, 15 instant stress busters, 13 stress
management strategies and creating a plan of action.
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