Exploring relaxation and techniques to help you breathe more calmly and deeply can help you look after yourself when you're feeling stressed or worried. Making space in your life for relaxation is only one part of managing your mental health and wellbeing.
The charity Mind provides a range of suggestions for ways to help yourself in coping with stress and anxiety.
Planned relaxation calms anxiety and helps your body and mind recover from every day rush and stress. Calming music, having a bath or simply a walk in the park can often work well for some people, but it's not this easy for everyone.
Some people who need help with learning to relax benefit from taking a meditation class. Others find it helpful to visualise a calm, beautiful place such as a garden or meadow.
Relaxation is one of the most effective self-help activities for good mental health. It can be a useful addition to any other form of treatment as well as being an effective measure to prevent the development of stress and anxiety.
Deep breathing and making the effort to concentrate on your breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress in the body and can have a calming effect and help you relax. This is because when you breathe deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax.
The brain then sends this message to your body. Those things that happen when you are stressed, such as increased heart rate, fast breathing, and high blood pressure, all decrease as you breathe deeply to relax.
The way you breathe affects your whole body. Breathing exercises are a good way to relax, reduce tension and relieve stress.
Watch this animation from Mind including relaxation tips to help you
look after your mental health and wellbeing.
Mind have suggested the following relaxation tips for your mental health:
1 Take a break: Relaxation doesn't have to take up lots of your time. Just stepping away from something stressful for a few minutes or taking time away from your normal routines and thoughts can give you enough space and distance to feel calmer.
2 Try active relaxation: Relaxation doesn't have to mean sitting still gentle exercise can help you relax too. Take a walk, going at your own pace. You might choose to go for a longer walk, but even a few minutes of walking can help you feel relaxed. Look for a class you'd like to try, such as yoga, Pilates or gentle stretching. See the Mind page on physical activity and mental health for more tips.
3 Focus on your breathing: Learning to breathe more deeply can help you feel a lot calmer.
4 Get creative: Getting in touch with your artistic side can help you feel more calm and relaxed: Try painting, drawing, making crafts, playing a musical instrument, dancing, baking or sewing. Try not to worry too much about the finished product, just focus on enjoying yourself. See the Mind page on relaxation exercises for more ideas on how to use creative activities to relax.
5 Spend time in nature: Spending time outside and in green spaces can be great for your physical and mental health:
6 Listen to music: Music can relax you, connect you to your emotions and distract you from worrying thoughts: Listen to your favourite songs. Turn up the volume and dance or sing along, or put your headphones on and close your eyes. Listening carefully and focusing on the music will help to allow other thoughts to fade away.
7 Do a tech check: Technology can be great for helping you feel connected, but if you're using it a lot (for example for gaming) then it can contribute to making you feel busy and stressed. Taking a break (even a short one) can help you relax. Try turning your phone off for an hour (or a whole day if you're feeling brave). Step away from the TV, laptop or other device, or have an evening where you don't check emails or social networks. Use the time to do something relaxing ‐ you could try some of the ideas above.
8 Picture yourself somewhere serene: Even if you can't physically get away, your imagination can transport you to somewhere you feel calm: Think of somewhere relaxing and peaceful. You might choose a memory of somewhere you've been, or a place you have imagined. Close your eyes, and think about the details of this place. What does it look like ‐ what kind of colours and shapes can you see? Can you hear any sounds? Is it warm or cool? Let your mind drift and your body relax.
As well as the above top tips from Mind, you could also try the following:
9 Meditation: The mental health benefits of meditation include better focus and concentration, improved self-awareness and self-esteem, lower levels of stress and anxiety, and fostering kindness. Meditation also has benefits for your physical health,as it can improve your tolerance for pain and help fight substance addiction. Try out headspace.com and see the section further below for local information on meditation services.
10 Progressive muscle relaxation: This involves tightening and relaxing your muscles throughout your body. Progressive relaxation has a variety of benefits, including bringing about a feeling of wellbeing, lowered blood pressure, decreased muscle tension, thereby reducing the body's need for oxygen and reducing fatigue and anxiety.
Relaxation is one of the most effective self-help activities for good mental health. Relaxation reduces stress and the symptoms of mental health conditions like depression, anxiety and schizophrenia.
When we relax, the flow of blood increases around our body giving us more energy. It helps us to have a calmer and clearer mind which aids positive thinking, concentration, memory and decision making.
It can be a useful addition to any other form of treatment as well as being an effective measure to prevent the development of stress and anxiety.
Relaxation slows our heart rate, reduces our blood pressure and relieves tension. It also aids digestion as we absorb essential nutrients more efficiently when relaxed, which helps to fight off disease and infection.
According to The Mayo Clinic, relaxation techniques can not only reduce stress symptoms but can also help you enjoy a better quality of life, especially if you have an illness. Explore relaxation techniques you can do by yourself.
Relaxation techniques are a great way to help with stress management. Relaxation isn't only about peace of mind or enjoying a hobby. Relaxation is a process that decreases the effects of stress on your mind and body. Relaxation techniques can help you cope with everyday stress and with stress related to various health problems, such as heart disease and pain.
Relaxation is an important part of maintaining positive mental wellbeing. Therefore not finding the right opportunities on a regular basis, to take time out for relaxation is very likely to have a negative impact on mental wellbeing. Pressure turns into stress when you feel unable to cope. People have different ways of reacting to stress, so a situation that feels stressful to one person may be motivating to someone else.
The consequence of not relaxing is a build up of stress, which plays a huge role in physical and psychological diseases and disorders.
Taking some time out for relaxation is vital to help your mind and body switch off from various types of pressure you might face, at any age, in your personal or working life (or both), which could stem from anything from school, college or work through to financial difficulties, relationship issues or pressure from being a carer for a relative or friend.
Whatever the cause‐ and there may be more than one‐ it is very important to recognise not only that you are under a level of pressure that is not sustainable but also the impact this pressure and the stress that often results can have on your mental health and wellbeing. If not tackled in the right way, this can soon lead on to impacting your physical health. Some mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression can be caused by too much work and not enough play. Not taking time out for relaxation may make any existing mental health issue worse.
Information from the NHS confirms that stress can affect how you feel, think, behave and how your body works.
Stress causes a surge of hormones in your body. These stress hormones are released to enable you to deal with pressures or threats‐ the so-called "fight or flight" response.
Once the pressure or threat has passed, your stress hormone levels will usually return to normal. However, if you're constantly under stress, these hormones will remain in your body leading to symptoms of stress.
Whether your stress is spiralling out of control or you've already got it tamed, you can benefit from learning relaxation techniques. Learning basic relaxation techniques is easy. Relaxation techniques also are often free or low cost, pose little risk, and can be done nearly anywhere.
For other local services aimed at helping you relax and improve your relaxation techniques, visit yogahub