Active relaxation – an umbrella term that encompasses health practices to promote overall wellbeing.

Active relaxation is essentially any activity that relaxes your mind and body while still engaging them.  It takes elements of both leisure and productivity and turns them into something calming, and grounding. Note, it is unlike passive relaxation, which includes activities like watching TV, surfing the internet, and scrolling on your phone.

In this blog we will discuss the benefits of active relaxation and different techniques.

Benefits of Active Relaxation

The goal of active relaxation techniques is to decrease the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for increasing arousal, stimulation of body systems, and stress. Active relaxation techniques focus on inducing a relaxation response, which can help:

• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Decrease pain
• Improve mood
• Lower blood pressure
• Control heart rate and breathing
• Decrease muscle tension

Active Relaxation Techniques

You can use a combination of active relaxation techniques to help manage stress and increase relaxation. Current research does not suggest that one method alone is superior to another. It is about what works for you!

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a technique that involves tensing and relaxing muscle groups. This approach uses all the major muscle groups from your toes to your head to promote overall body relaxation, focusing on tension and stress relief when muscle tension is released.

This technique is often used with other behavioral therapies and will enable your body to respond to anxiety better.

Diaphragmatic & Box Breathing

Both Diaphragmatic and box breathing are breathing techniques used to increase the activity of the diaphragm to take bigger longer breaths. This increases the amount of oxygen in the body by allowing your belly to expand outward with each breath.

These breathing techniques can help decrease sympathetic nervous system activity and interfere with the transmission of pain signals to the brain. They also help lower blood pressure and reduce the production of stress hormones, and improve lung function.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is a technique that involves focusing attention on the present moment without judgement and with openness and acceptance. This means attuning to your senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. Mindfulness meditation helps increase awareness of your external surroundings and internal sensations to help promote relaxation and reduce stress and pain. Check out our new online bitesize mindful sessions.

Yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi

Yoga and pilates are mind-body practices that focuses on different movements and postures combined with a focus on the breath, posture, meditation, and relaxation. Tai Chi combines deep breathing and relaxation with slow and controlled movements. Both types of exercises can help promote relaxation and decrease stress.

Massage

Massaging tight (short) and stressed muscles can provide physical pressure to ease muscle tension, which can help relieve stress and chronic pain. A workplace massage means getting away from your desk for a short time and returning feeling energised, invigorated and happier. Head over to our website to see just how easy it is to introduce our reward day massage services into your business.

Summary

Active relaxation techniques are mind-body practices that focus on directing your thoughts to initiate the relaxation response and as a result boost your overall wellbeing. They can help reduce stress, anxiety, pain, muscle tension, and blood pressure. The key is to select what works for you and programme into your DAILY routine.

Although it seems counter-intuitive to rest and relax when deadlines are looming, the aim, as Steven Covey put it, is to “sharpen the saw.” If you manage your rest appropriately during the day you will avoid these troughs in energy and become far more efficient – as well as more creative and healthier too.

Think about it – when powering through a 60 hour week, people often get through the day in zombie-like states. Tempers easily rise and the general mood can be low.  Active relaxation has its place in every workplace wellbeing programme. For more info on our well@work programmes please connect with us.