All of us lead extremely busy lifestyles these days. When people start talking about anything even remotely close to relaxation, we often feel that we won’t have time to fit it into our schedules.
But did you know that relaxation is one of the healthiest things you can do for your body? Yes, daily struggles of life produce stress, and stress takes a huge toll on both your mental and physical health.
Relaxation has different forms for different people. For example, you can use natural bath salt for a soothing bath at the end of a hectic day, or you can light a scented candle and listen to your favourite music. Whatever it is, there are some pretty long-lasting benefits that we will explore in this article.
Top Benefits of Relaxation
Many people have this notion that relaxation is all about gaining peace of mind, but it isn’t just that. There are so many more ways in which relaxation can boost your health.
It Improves Concentration
When the amount of stress in your life surpasses a certain level, it becomes difficult for your body to perform other functions as efficiently as it used to. One such function is your ability to focus or concentrate.
When you cannot concentrate, it will affect all your day-to-day work, and you might even find yourself in a position where you cannot complete the simplest of tasks.
Relaxation techniques like meditation can be of great help in these situations, helping your mind gain clarity.
It Lowers Your Blood Pressure
Most adults nowadays suffer from hypertension. Even though your blood pressure isn’t supposed to stay at the same level throughout the day, it can definitely be problematic if it remains high for a prolonged time period.
When the blood is putting pressure on the arteries for a long time, it is quite natural for them to get damaged. This eventually increases a person’s chance of a stroke and other types of heart diseases.
High blood pressure is often called a silent killer because it doesn’t have any specific symptoms as such – you will know about it mostly when you visit your doctor for a checkup.
If you are not taking adequate measures to keep your blood pressure under control, you are only setting yourself up for more problems in the future.
Relaxation can help keep your blood pressure under control. But for this, you need not become a couch potato – you simply need to follow relaxation techniques that will help you reduce the amount of stress hormones in your blood.
It Calms Your Mind
Have you ever thought about the number of thoughts that are racing through your mind at any given moment? There must be plenty. Take a moment and stop. Take a few deep breaths. Continue breathing like this for a few minutes and see the difference.
You will automatically feel a lot better. Always remember that your mind and body are connected. Doing some simple aerobic exercises followed by some breathing exercises will help your body loosen up and lower your stress.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by something, you can also practice mindful meditation.
It Improves Digestion
This might not be an obvious benefit of relaxation, but there are several ways in which your digestive system benefits from relaxation techniques.
Your autonomous nervous system is also responsible for controlling other functions of your body, like your digestive system. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are, in turn, part of the autonomous nervous system.
So, when you are under a lot of stress, your sympathetic nervous system is active, and it redirects blood away from the digestive system so that your body is in a flight response. At this moment, your parasympathetic nervous system is suppressed.
But you can activate it by simply slowing down your breathing and taking deeper breaths. Remember that relaxation is a voluntary practice.
Conclusion
It is very unfortunate that most people see their leisure time as something during which they can simply flop onto the couch. But relaxation is a far greater concept, and you must develop a holistic approach to it.
If you find time to relax, instead of watching Netflix or simply lying on the couch, practice relaxation so that your body can rebalance itself, and your health will automatically improve.
Written by Sofia Alves
