Relaxation: Stress increases muscle tension, which causes anxiety. By relaxing your muscles, you can help to reduce your heart rate and blood pressure. To help reduce stress and anxiety you can use the following relaxation technique - tense individual muscles or muscle groups for several seconds and then release the tension, allowing the muscles to gradually relax; this process can be repeated as needed.
Deep Breathing: Proper breathing is essential for good mental and physical health. The next time you feel stressed, take a few moments to practice deep breathing. Do this by getting into a comfortable seated position and taking deep measured breaths (inhale while counting up from 1 to 4 and then exhale while counting down from 4 to 1) and repeat numerous times. Deep breathing assists in relaxation by increasing the amount of oxygen that circulates through the body.
Visualization: Sometimes we become tense and overwhelmed by thinking about all the things we need to get done or what we didn’t get done. When we do this, we are giving ourselves negative messages which can stress out our bodies and our mind. Instead, we can use the power of imagination to refocus our minds on positive images. We can do this by getting into a comfortable position, closing our eyes, and visualizing a place associated with safety and relaxation. It doesn’t matter what you visualize, as long as it’s calming to you. As your mind relaxes so does your body.
|