Relaxation Exercises

Without relaxation, there can be no rest. Unless you're both physically and mentally relaxed, you're not going to get to sleep.

While being relaxed at night is necessary in order to sleep, relaxing during the day can also impact whether or not you'll be able to sleep at night. During the day, stress causes certain hormones to be released into your blood stream which will make it more difficult to sleep at night. So practicing relaxation during the day will also help you to fall asleep at night.

During relaxation, the brain-wave pattern emitted resembles that of Stage 1 sleep, the stage that transitions you from being awake to being asleep. So, by practicing relaxation exercises at night, you are already on your way to being asleep. Practicing relaxation will also make it easier to enter the vital deeper sleep stages as well.

People who wake up during the night have an easier time getting back to sleep if they are practitioners of relaxation and tend to sleep longer and enjoy deeper sleep.

Finally, of course, there are physical benefits to the stress reduction resulting from practicing relaxation. Lower stress means a lower risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.

There are two basic types of relaxation exercise - progressive relaxation and relaxation response.

Progressive relaxation exercises require awareness of the state of tension in your body's muscles, and an awareness of the opposite state of relaxation. Knowing and recognizing the difference allows you to slowly learn how to control the level of tension in your body. What's wonderful about this type of exercise is that once you become skilled at it, you will be able to go straight into relaxation mode. You will be able to determine where there is tension in your body and target those areas with relaxation.

Relaxation response is similar to progressive relaxation, but does not require the initial awareness of tension in your muscles. It has you relax your entire body using various thought processes and methods. There is usually a sequence to follow (head to toe or toe to head, for example), and you may find it easier to use a tape – either one you make yourself, or one that you have purchased. A tape or CD takes away the need to keep track of where you are in the sequence and may make relaxing easier.

Both methods are effective and will hopefully have you to falling asleep before you finish them! Which type of exercise you choose will simply depend on what you are most comfortable with. For instance, if you have problems with muscle soreness or spasms, then you may find progressive relaxation exercises, which ask you to tighten those areas, uncomfortable and may prefer to use relaxation response exercises.

You might feel a sensation of warmth, heaviness or tingling in various parts of your body. Some people feel as if they are floating but others feel nothing specific.

Your breathing will slow and so will your heart rate. With practice, quieting any distracting thoughts will become easier and thoughts will slow and drift.

If you find yourself worrying about things while practicing these exercises, just acknowledge the thoughts, let them go and return to observing your breathing or performing the exercise steps.

Relaxation exercises can and should be a part of your everyday life. At first, the feelings of relaxation gained through exercise may be short lived but - don't give up! Simply work relaxation exercises into your daily routine and try to dedicate a minimum of 10-20 minutes each day to practicing some form of relaxation exercise. In time you will see an increasing benefit from your practice and the more consistent you are in exercising, the greater and longer-lasting the benefits will be.

Start by trying this progressive relaxation exercise. If you have any physical limitations or pain, take it slowly and don't force things.

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