Sunday 1 April 2018

Five Ways to De-stress as you go through the day

Here are some simple ways to de-stress and release tension as you go through your day

1.  Breathe in and sigh out - a nice, deep breath
2.  Include your shoulders, so: Breathe in and raise your shoulders; sigh out and let your shoulders drop downwards and relax
3.  Stretch any muscle and hold the stretch for 8-10 seconds
If you hold your left hand (palm towards you) in your right, then gently bend the hand backwards at the wrist, away from you.  This will stretch the muscles of your inner forearm.  Hold the stretch for 8-10 seconds.  You can do a few of these, alternating right and left.
This example was explained to me by Alison Trewhela (of the Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs Institute).  If you are very stressed, your muscles are very tense; your brain responds to this, interpreting danger and is therefore on high alert, sending messages to your messages to be ready for action/tense.  So you have a vicious circle of tension - tense body - tense brain - tense body!  To begin to break this cycle, stretch any muscle for 8-10 seconds a few times.  Then your body/mind can begin to calm down.
4.  Breathe out noisily.  Sighing is good as mentioned above, but any noisy exhaling helps to release tension.  Try humming, for example.  Breathing out noisily means that you breathe out for longer, which in turn, has a soothing effect on your whole system.
5.  When you are ready for sleep or a rest, breathe so that your out-breath is longer than your in-breath.  Counting helps: count to 3 as you breathe in, count to 4 (or longer) as you breathe out.

Try to build these techniques into your day and enjoy the feeling!

Best wishes from Susan