Today’s modern lifestyle can be busy and stressful. Juggling work, family, social gatherings, being active, and trying to make time for yourself can quickly fill your schedule! Learning ways to relax your mind and body help you recover from the daily wear and tear your body experiences. Today, we’re looking at the importance of finding ways to relax as well as a few methods you can try to integrate into your daily routine. See what works best for you and keep living your best life.
THE IMPORTANCE OF FINDING WAYS TO RELAX
Before we jump into ways to relax your body and mind, let’s talk about why finding ways to relax is so important. It’s not just a vanity measure aimed at living some life of leisure. Sure, you should enjoy ways to relax, but they also help protect and heal your mind and body from everyday stressors. Why is learning ways to relax so important, then?
Finding ways to relax your mind and body helps lower your blood pressure naturally, alleviating excess stress on the heart and helping essential oxygen and nutrients to be delivered more efficiently throughout the body. Easing tension in our minds and bodies helps aid in processes like digestion or flushing toxins from the body, as well. In fact, learning different ways to relax can be an essential part of building a strong immune system and staying healthy.
As we relax, blood flows more easily which can boost energy levels and helps the body heal more effectively. This can be especially beneficial for active individuals like athletes. Finding ways to relax also contributes to positive thinking, concentration, memory, problem-solving, and decision making.
Now that you’ve got a better understanding of why finding ways to relax is beneficial, let’s take a look at different methods for your mind and body.
WAYS TO RELAX YOUR MIND
Experiencing stress affects our minds and emotions. These stressors can lead to fear or anxiety which perpetuates your stress response if left unchecked. Learning ways to relax your mind goes hand-in-hand with effective ways to relax your body. Inevitably, calming one will help the other follow suit. Some of the easiest ways to relax your mind include activities like:
- Practicing positive self-talk
- Creating a gratitude list
- Meditating and breathing exercises
- Listening to calming music
Practicing Positive Self Talk
Simply put, one of the easiest ways to relax your mind is to be kind to yourself! Instead of focusing on pointing out negatives about yourself, think about what you did right in any given situation and what you’ve learned along the way. Reshaping your mindset to positive self-talk not only helps as a way to relax your mind but can also go a long way to elevating your mood and overall mental well-being.
Creating a Gratitude List
There aren’t many better ways to relax your mind than surrounding yourself with recognition of what makes you grateful and happy. Creating a gratitude list helps frame your mind into a positive space, giving your brain a way to relax and let go of negative emotions. Not only are gratitude lists great ways to relax your mind, however, but they also serve as a reminder to spread that kindness and care to others along the way.
Meditating and Breathing Exercises
We couldn’t possibly talk about ways to relax your mind without mentioning meditating and breathing exercises. Learning how to improve breathing with exercises like diaphragmatic breathing or even using a luxury massage chair can go a long way to relax your mind and calm your senses.
Meditation practices like guided meditation and mindfulness meditation techniques help you re-center your mind and calm both the mind and body simultaneously. Studies have shown the benefits of meditation for stress and overall mental well-being. These centuries-old practices can be done anywhere at any time and don’t take a lot of time to provide benefits! Even 5 minutes a day of meditation can make a positive impact in your life and prove to be one of the most effective ways to relax your mind.
Listening to Calming Music
Last up on our list of ways to relax your mind comes listening to calming music. Studies have shown the benefits of listening to calming music before sleep as a way to relax the mind and improve both subjective and objective metrics of sleep quality. Music at 60 beats per minute (BPM) or less is generally considered best for calming the mind and helping you unwind for sleep. Aside from preparing for bed, listening to calming music can be beneficial at any time you’re feeling stressed or need to practice ways to relax your mind.
WAYS TO RELAX YOUR BODY
Just as finding ways to relax your mind helps calm the body, the converse also holds true. Learning ways to relax your body is important to your overall health and well-being. Implementing new ways to relax your body can interrupt the common negative-feedback cycle wherein your mind responds to stress by signaling a physical stress response in the body, too. Some of our favorites ways to relax your body are:
- Using a massage chair
- Practicing progressive muscle relaxation
- Exercising and staying active
Using a Massage Chair to Relax
One of the most effective ways to relax your body is by using a full body massage chair. Today’s models have evolved well beyond the old-school options of decades past, offering a wide variety of different types of massage programs and massage chair features like zero gravity reclining and the benefits of heat therapy. These advancements not only culminate to effectively eliminate any differences between using a massage chair vs human massage, but even improve on the traditional massage experience!
Heated massage chairs add the extra element of dry heat therapy that promotes better blood flow as well as relaxes muscle groups all along your body. The benefits of massage therapy at home are taken another step further with AI massage chairs that use two types of body scanning to deliver custom massage experiences each use.
Whether you’re an active person looking for the best recovery tools for athletes or just want to find effective ways to relax your body from the comfort of home, a massage chair will be your new favorite thing. Try one out and see for yourself the incredible difference they can make!
Practicing Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive muscle relaxation, commonly referred to as PMR, is a relaxation technique aimed at relaxing your muscles. Hard to think of better ways to relax your body than that, right? This technique is executed by slowly tensing and then relaxing each muscle group methodically along the body. While most people start with the muscles in their face and then work their way down, you can go the opposite direction if you prefer. There’s no wrong way to practice PMR.
Exercising and Staying Active
While it may sound counterintuitive, at first, exercising can be one of the best ways to relax your body. Not only does it work out sore and tight muscles, but it’s also an excellent stress reliever. As you exercise, your body naturally produces more serotonin and endorphins, natural hormones that alleviate stress, provide pain relief, and are responsible for that post-exercise high you feel! Experts agree that getting exercise for 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week is sufficient enough to improve relaxation, elevate your mood, and boost your overall health.
As you can see, finding ways to relax is imperative to your well-being. Part of a well-balanced life means making time each day to unwind, relax, and let your mind and body recover. No matter if it’s taking 5 minutes to meditate or choosing a massage chair to combine multiple ways to relax, discover what works best for you and integrate it into your daily routine. You’ll be glad you did!
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