Relaxation Techniques For Reducing Stress

Life is full of stressful moments. Even for someone fortunate enough to have their needs met at a premier skilled nursing and rehabilitation center like Elmwood Hills Healthcare Center, life comes with times of stress. This is why it’s important to learn relaxation techniques, which can help you weather the stormy situations without losing your composure.

Stress and Your Health

Stress isn’t only difficult to deal with in the moment. It can also be dangerous for your health. According to the Mayo Clinic, stress can affect your body, mood, and behavior. Common effects of stress on the body include chest pain, sleep problems, and fatigue among others.

Relaxation Techniques

There are many techniques for relaxation. As a general rule, you should find what works for you and practice it.

In this post, we’ll have a look at two common and proven methods to help you stay calmer in times of stress.

Deep Breathing

Deep breathing, like it sounds, involves breathing deeply. There are other names for this form of breathing too. You may have heard of diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing, for example. The idea is to slowly breath in through your nose and let the air fill your abdomen. Then you breath out, generally through your mouth as your abdomen contracts. It’s not too complicated. But, then again, who said it had to be?

Mindfulness

For the purposes of this post, we’ll define mindfulness with the definition of mindful.com:

“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”

Mindfulness can help you reduce your stress in a number of ways. According to Melli O’Brien, “mindfulness treats the very root of the problem. It gives us the ability to be at peace with ourselves and experience happiness despite an increasingly demanding and overwhelming world.”

Although the concept is quite simple, being mindful can feel challenging at first. But you may find the effort worth your while. There are even benefits of mindfulness for seniors that you can take advantage of. Thankfully, there are resources available and practice is the key. All you have to do is start.

What helps you relax when experiencing stress?

Please share in the comments below.