3 exercises to relax and relieve emotional stress

If you often hear from loved ones the phrase: “You look tired, it’s time for you to rest,” you feel overwhelmed in the morning, irritable all day, and you have insomnia at night, it’s time to take action and learn how to do relaxation exercises.

For many, to relieve stress is to lie on the couch after work and watch a series. But this is an illusion of rest, as the brain and sense organs continue to work. To effectively and quickly relax, you need to perform breathing exercises, play sports, and meditate. It is also important to observe the daily routine, get enough sleep and eat right. We have prepared 3 effective exercises that will help reduce anxiety and tension in the moment.

Breathing exercise

Movies often show an episode in which the main character begins to breathe slowly to calm down. This way really works. When a person is under stress, breathing quickens and the body simply does not have enough oxygen. If you start to inhale and exhale deeply, the brain will receive the necessary amount of air for normal functioning.

Breathing practice: Sit or lie down, relax the muscles of the arms, legs, face and upper chest muscles. Start slowly inhaling and exhaling air through your nose while counting to four.

An exercise to relax the muscles of the body

Muscle relaxation is a technique that aims to tense the muscles of the body and then relax them. Simply put, to relieve stress, you must first tighten your muscles strongly, and then concentrate as much as possible on the feeling of relief.

A set of exercises: Start breathing slowly, try to focus on breathing. Then, while inhaling, tighten the muscles of the hands, clench your hands into fists, while exhaling, relax and concentrate on the process. Then make circular movements with your neck, then raise your shoulders to your ears, and tilt your chin to your chest – as you exhale, feel the pleasant sensations. Then, in turn, strain the muscles of the face, chest, abs, back, legs and catch the moment of relief.

Meditation

A lot has been written about the benefits of meditation, it really helps to get rid of anxiety, feel calm and inner freedom. The practice takes 15-20 minutes a day, but you will immediately feel the effect.

Practice: Find a quiet place, sit comfortably, preferably in the lotus position. Choose a point on which you will concentrate. You can meditate with your eyes open or closed. At the beginning, it will be difficult not to be distracted by extraneous thoughts, so the dot will serve as a support for you. It is important that the point be the center of calm – a beach with the ocean if you are meditating with your eyes closed, or a candle if you are doing the practice with your eyes open. Try to fully experience the presented picture, abstracting from the outside world.

Stress adversely affects health, in advanced cases it can lead to emotional burnout and psychological distress. Don’t take yourself to extremes, take the free 45-minute Stress Management course. You will understand the nature of stress and be able to apply stress reduction techniques.