Relaxation techniques to reduce anxiety and stress
Stress and anxiety have become a very common condition in today's society, and it is that people live at such a fast pace of life that sometimes they forget to dedicate a space to release tension.
What triggers episodes of anxiety and stress that it is necessary to learn to control to improve the quality of life.
With the use of the appropriate relaxation techniques you will be able to achieve a balance in your physical, emotional and mental health, today we have compiled the most efficient ones for you.
How can relaxation help you?
When people are stressed, the body begins to release hormones that will lead to an increase in blood pressure, and heart rate, basically every organism responds to stress this way.
When you put relaxation techniques into practice you will be achieving the opposite effect, you will get a relaxation response that lowers your blood pressure and your heart rate.
5 effective relaxation techniques to reduce stress and anxiety
The consequences of stress and anxiety on your body and mind range from increased blood pressure, depression, headache, hair loss, stomach pain, just to name a few.
Putting into practice any of the following relaxation techniques is the first step to begin to control these problems.
Progressive muscle relaxation
Through the implementation of this technique you will get to know your body in depth, in such a way that you will easily identify the sensation of relaxation and tension.
To perform this technique, you will have to tense the muscles, and then you will relax them.
Being progressive, you will do it by stage, start by tightening the muscles of the toes and then relaxing them, to gradually work your way up to the neck and head.
Or if it seems more practical, start with the head and end with the feet, just do it progressively.
— The muscle contraction should last for 5 seconds.
— Then relax them for about 30 seconds and repeat.
Autogenous relaxation
The meaning of the word autogenous is "that comes from within you", this relaxation technique focuses on reducing stress through the use of visual images and body awareness.
Basically to put it into practice you must continually repeat words in your mind that evoke relaxation.
You can remember places where you have felt completely at peace.
Concentrate.
Breathe in a relaxed, controlled way.
Relax the whole body, to the point of reducing the heart rate.
This technique is basically focused on meditation, so find a quiet place where you feel comfortable and put it into practice.
Positive visualization
It has the basic principle that the previous technique, which is to visualize spaces or images that take you towards a path of tranquility and full relaxation.
— Do not focus only on visualization, incorporate your other senses, smell, touch, hearing. For example, if your quiet space is on a beach, try to listen to the waves, try to feel the hot sand on your feet.
— Ideally, you should be in a quiet space, where you have privacy.
— Put on comfortable clothes.
— Close your eyes.
— Always have positive thoughts, leave behind anything that disturbs your emotions.
Yoga
This is perhaps the first alternative for many people when they think of relaxation, yoga combines postures with meditation, to achieve relaxation.
There are many yoga postures aimed at achieving flexibility and strength, while you distract your mind, you can start with the simplest, and then increase the difficulty of these.
Tai Chi
Although it originated for self-defense in China, today it is implemented to improve not only physical health, but also mental health, tai chi are low-impact exercises, and although there are a wide variety of styles, they all focus on:
To concentrate.
Take focused breathing.
Carry out careful postures.
Perform slow, relaxed movements.
Try a tai chi class, to see if it suits your needs, in fact, try each of these techniques, you will see that with all of them you will achieve your goal, which is to relieve tension and stress.