5 Simple Ways to Relax Your Mind and Muscles to Reduce the Effects of Stress

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Let’s discuss how to reduce the effects of stress on both your body and your mind. Stress is a difficult illness for doctors to treat and manage because it can present differently for different people and of it’s not easy to get rid of what may be causing stress in a person’s life. It’s a condition that we are all likely to suffer the effects of at one point or another in our lives. Stress can have so many effects on the body and mind. 

Some common examples of illnesses and conditions caused by stress are:

  • Chest pain
  • Sleeping problems
  • Muscles tension
  • Stomach and GI Upset
  • Elevated Blood Pressure
  • Heart Disease
  • Headaches
  • Anxiety
  • Depression

Causes of Stress

There are three main causes of stress:

Emotional

Almost all of us have experienced emotional stress in our lives. it can be caused by negative events, worrying about family, jobs, finances, and numerous other things.

Physical

Physical stress can be caused by injuries, illness, dietary issues, bad posture, poor sleeping positions. Often emotional stress can also manifest into physical stress.

Environmental

Environmental stress comes from events outside of our control, for instance current events or local disasters such as the recent fires.  In today’s world, many bad things are going on that can cause us to be afraid of the future. Is it safe to go out? Is it safe to travel? Will my town be next to experience something horrific? Often times, we are not able to control our environmental stress, which in turn will exacerbate both physical and emotional stress

Reduce the Effects of Stress

Now let’s look at great ways to process that stress by relaxing your mind and muscles with these 5 simple techniques.

With many of us starting the New Year with vows to better take care of ourselves, reduce stress and improve your overall health, what better time to tell you my top tips for achieving this.

Chiropractic

Chiropractic treatment is more than a massage, although with Directional Non-Force Technique® it feels like it. Chiropractic is designed to improve the functioning and well-being of your musculoskeletal system by realigning your vertebrae so there is no longer tension and stress in the nerves that also creates tension in the muscles.

When a muscle is knotted and tense, often times it means it’s not able to turn off to relax. Chiropractic can reset the communication from the nerves to the muscles so that they can turn off, resulting in less tension in the neck, in between your neck and shoulder, and throughout your body.

The adjustments also help your body switch from the sympathetic stress cycle to parasympathetic relax cycle while relieving pain, tension, as well as headaches and referral pain.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medicine that relies on balancing one’s energy canals to stimulate health. When an illness arises, the philosophy behind the practice believes it is due to a blockage in the meridians. By stimulating pressure points, acupuncture aims to clear them and stimulate your qi flow, or life force.

Acupuncture is a relaxing experience that puts your mind at ease while treating the aches in the body. It improves sleep and emotional wellbeing, as well as digestive processes.

Massage

Is a great way to reconcile the body and the mind. By strategically pressing your skin and tissue in all the right places, this type of therapy effectively reduces the incidences of pain, stress and tension, resulting in a greater quality of life.

In addition, massage can help diminish symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, headaches, fibromyalgia, joint pain, and digestive issues among others.

Aromatherapy

The practice of aromatherapy has been used by humans for calming and healing purposes for over 5,000 years. It is a type of alternative medicine employed for its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic properties.

The main focus is on the handling of numerous fragrant essential oils obtained from a wide variety of herbs with amazing restorative abilities. Using an oil diffuser or placing in your bathwater, or applying directly to your skin are all popular approaches to receiving their benefits.

When purchasing oils be sure to go for quality over quantity as a little goes a long way.

Meditation

The benefits of meditation are many. A 2013 study has demonstrated that mindfulness reduces the inflammation caused by stress, while research conducted in 2012 on 2,466 participants uncovered that it lowers anxiety levels as well. Self-reflection is an excellent promoter of emotional health, and it unwinds the muscles in the process as well.

Furthermore, when compared to all the other techniques on this list, it is the best one to pursue at home. To help you get started there is a myriad of resources online or apps on your phone.

Summary of How to Reduce the Effects of Stress

While we cannot always prevent stress there are ways we can mitigate its impact.

Treating musculoskeletal ailments and soothing the mind in the process is within reach especially with the five therapies detailed above. All of these techniques also have the added benefit of working synergistically with each other as well to help reduce the effects of stress.

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