The doctor who first defined the relaxation response (the opposite of the ‘Fight or Flight’ stress response) was Herbert Benson, a pioneer of mind-body medicine. It’s what happens when the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, causing you to feel safe. As it can block the effects of your body’s response to stress, the relaxation response is good for your mental and physical health.
Stress
When stressed, your heart rate increases. But the relaxation response lets your body know it’s safe. A hormone called acetylcholine is released that slows your heart rate down.
As well as your heart rate speeding up, stress also causes a tightening of your blood vessels which temporarily raises blood pressure. The opposite happens when you experience the relaxation response. As a result, techniques like breathing, gentle exercise and mindfulness are often used to help lower blood pressure. (But don’t stop taking prescribed medications for blood pressure – these techniques are tools to help alongside that medicine.)
Fight or flight reaction.
When stress causes the ‘Fight or Flight’ reaction, blood moves toward your larger muscles and your digestion is put on hold. This is what causes the feeling of ‘butterflies in your stomach’. Relaxation reverses this process. It also lowers inflammation that can hurt your gut. That’s because stress plays a role in many digestive problems, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Breathing
“Take a deep breath,” is often the advice given to someone who’s in a panic. There’s a good reason for this; when you’re stressed, breathing speeds up. This may soon lead to low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood, which could make you dizzy and weak. But relaxation, including through controlled breathwork, slows your breathing rate down.
Muscle tightness
The body stiffens when you feel threatened, whether from a bear in the woods or a deadline at work. Usually, muscle tension eases when you calm down. But long-lasting stress can lead your muscles being tense nearly all the time.
Relaxation doesn’t get rid of your aches, but it can turn down the volume a little. Relaxed muscles hurt less. Relaxation prompts your brain to release endorphins, chemicals that act as natural painkillers.
Another effect of stress hormones is to make your blood sugar rise. And if you have diabetes, the effort it takes to manage your condition may actually ramp up your stress. Relaxation, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep can help you manage your blood sugar (though it can’t take the place of medicine).
Long term stress
Long-lasting stress also makes it harder for your body to fight off infections. In contrast, deep relaxation can help your immune system to recover. You can move towards this with the help of techniques like progressive muscle relaxation where you tense, then relax, each muscle group one by one. It’s even more important to manage your worries as you age since your immune function naturally declines over time.
Insomnia
Do you ever find it hard to doze off even when you’re worn out? This ‘tired but wired’ state is a sign you’re still in ‘Fight or Flight’ mode. Since relaxation techniques like deep breathing can help switch on your relaxation response, they’re sometimes used as a treatment for insomnia.
By addressing how you are thinking and feeling, I’ll help you develop an awareness of how, in the body, psychological events and physical sensations are closely connected. Without this awareness, we can get stuck in a vicious loop which I call ‘the cycle of suffering’.
As The Mind & Body Guide, my aim is to explore these connections to help you gain insight into yourself. This could be looking at present problems or those that are more deeply seated: things you’ve been told or events you’ve experienced which have shaped who you are now.
I have decades of experience in health care. Years spent working as a senior physiotherapist in the NHS. I’ve taught Pilates to hundreds of people. And I’m a qualified psychotherapist with a suite of therapy skills to draw on.
My approach to therapy is to help you to understand yourself mentally and physically. Then, working together, we can plot your pathway to a healthier, happier life.
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