The relaxation response can be accessed anytime anywhere in a few simple steps.
Thankfully, our second lockdown week will end soon. We will re-emerge and reignite our lives. For some of us, lockdown is respite, timeout, time to bake or read, sleep-ins and TV viewing. For others, it is stressful and chaotic. Managing work or worse, having no work, keeping a family fed, comforted and schooled, checking on our friends’ mental health and generally keeping the merry-go-round going.
Stress is sneaky. You can feel that you are surviving okay then suddenly you hit an invisible wall, feeling overwhelmingly fatigued, demotivated, sad or anxious. Living in a stressed state for extended periods taxes the body and mind.
We have always lived with stress. It is a natural fight-or-flight response to protect us. Stress is a human response to life-threatening situations when our stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, are produced. Blood vessels constrict, pupils dilate and blood pressure, heart and breathing rates increase. It is powerful. Once in the bloodstream, cortisol induces metabolic changes in the liver, resulting in increased glucose concentrations in blood and tissues which ultimately provides enough energy to escape the danger.
We have understood the mind and body connection for over 100 years since Harvard physiologist Walter Cannon first described the fight-or-flight response. Cannon identified a consistent set of physiological changes that occur when animals and humans are exposed to stress. This autonomic response makes up the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system and is essential and proportionate in times of acute danger. These systems work in balance rather than in opposition to the other. The sympathetic will dominate in times of stress and the parasympathetic will allow for rest, digestion, and reproduction in relaxed states. However, in the modern world without tigers to run from and bears to wrestle, our supercharged response happens daily from work, illness, relationships and traffic jams.
So while our cave-dwelling predecessors may have experienced intermittent episodes of imminent danger, today many of us live with chronic stress as a permanent state. This persistent heightened state can lead to health problems including headaches, gastrointestinal issues, insomnia, trouble concentrating, anxiety, depression, increased body weight, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Evidently, we cannot eliminate stress. We need our flight–or–fight response because it is literally a lifesaver. However, we can consciously engage in a ‘relaxation response’ to reduce the instant stress reaction when it is not required. We can train our systems to recognise different types of stress and ultimately react with an appropriate physiological response.
What is the relaxation response?
The theory was first published in 1975 by professor and cardiologist, Dr. Herbert Benson. Benson describes the relaxation response as an autonomic reaction elicited by a cognitive device and a passive attitude. Benson examined many cultures and religious traditions to develop a formulaic process of achieving the same effect of traditional forms of meditation through the relaxation response. This personal device can encourage the body to release chemicals and brain signals to slow down muscles and organs and increase blood flow to the brain. Benson demystified meditation through visualisation, progressive muscle relaxation, breathing techniques and prayer or mantra to initiate the relaxation response in the body.
Often meditation is presented as magical or mystical, with candles, incense, beads, smoke, religious icons or complex prayers and songs. These practices may work for some. For most of us, meditation is far simpler.
As Benson showed us, meditation is the removal or separation of the mind from everyday thoughts or worry by focusing on one thing such as a word or breathing pattern which allows the body’s natural and intricate positive response to conscious relaxation. Benson explains simply when practiced regularly, meditation can prevent stress-related health issues.
Meditation is simple and effective. You can even sit at your desk in a suit in a small office and meditation to relaxation is minutes away. Watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR0bUf2jwOg to see how simple it is.
Traditional meditation is only one way to consciously relax. You can use other techniques to effectively separate your attention from your mental daily grind, you're regular thoughts and worries. If the technique enables you to concentrate on just one thing it can work. Exercise can do this too. Exercise enables you to focus on your body movements, such that your mind is released from all other distraction. It becomes a circuit breaker. Other techniques include yoga, stretching, walking, jogging, golf, playing an instrument, fishing, playing with a pet. Almost anything can work if you solely focus on and pay attention to that one task in that one moment.
Your relaxation response.
Given our chaotic and stressful lockdown lives, remembering our stress triggers and using ‘relaxation responses’ can help. I choose exercise for a couple of reasons; I get outdoors, into nature and the cold fresh air, I feel the effects of increased blood circulation and I get the long-term benefits such as improved cardiovascular fitness and the relaxation response. The exercise is my circuit-breaker and it works for me.
So, your only decision is, what relaxation response works for you?
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