Learning to Relax

Relaxation is a vital part of life. Without being able to relax, you can have some seriously negative impacts on your mood and sleep. By continuously being aroused by negative or intrusive thoughts, you could wind up being tense and anxious all day. On top of that, these thoughts can prevent you from getting a good nights sleep, which perpetuates the cycle of irritability by raising your blood pressure and increasing your breathing rate.

Luckily, there are a few quick and easy steps you can take at home to ease your mind and make sure you get the restful sleep that you need.

  • First, you can make a list. Making a list not only helps you put your responsibilities and “to-do’s” into perspective, but it can also empty your mind, so to speak. By making a list or writing in a journal, you can get all those thoughts out and place them somewhere else for a bit.
  • You can also try to take five deep breaths. Deep breathing is always a helpful tool in coping with stress and anxiety.
  • Along with those deep breaths, try stretching your toes – it can relax the entire body.
  • And finally, tune into your senses and environment. By keeping yourself in the present, you worry about only what is important at that very moment, not getting caught up the future or past.

Key Points:

  • 1Learning to relax will help to release stress and obtain a better night’s sleep.
  • 2Make a list of the items you are worried about completing tomorrow.
  • 3Get comfortable and concentrate on the things around you. Using your five senses, hone in on your environment. What do you smell, hear, feel? Absorb your environment.


Keep a nightly journal, where you can record any anxieties and frustrations–and then close the cover and leave them on the page for the night.

See the original at: https://sleep.org/articles/learning-relax/


Share

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

User Reviews

Reply

Your email address will not be published

six + nineteen =

Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

View all post by HealthStatus