REDUCING STRESS PART 2

MUSCLES TENSION EXERCISE

When you are feeling anxious, your muscles become tense. When your muscles remain tense for long periods, you'll start to develop aches and pains, fatigue, headaches and difficulty breathing. 
Take a few minutes to do this exercise. It will assist you understand how muscle tension can cause pain and fatigue. 

1. Hold a bit of paper in your hand and stretch your arm call at front of you. 
2. Keep holding the paper for a couple of minutes without moving your arm. 

You will probably notice that your arm feels tired after only a couple of minutes and should even start to ache in some places. Imagine how your arm would feel if you continued to carry that piece of paper for variety of hours. Although the paper isn't heavy, keeping your muscles tense for any length of your time can cause pain

MUSCLES RELAXATION EXERCISE

This exercise helps to scale back physical and mental tension. Practise this exercise regularly and at the primary signs of muscle tension. 

1. Sit during a comfortable chair during a quiet room 
2. Put your feet flat on the floor and rest your hands in your lap 
3. Close your eyes 
4. Do the slow breathing exercise for 3 minutes
5. After three minutes of slow breathing, start the muscle relaxation exercise below 
6. Tense each of your muscle groups for 10 seconds, then relax for 10 seconds, within the following order:

 Hands: clench your hands into fists, then relax 
 Lower arms: bend your hands up at the wrists, then relax 
 Upper arms: bend your arms up at the elbow, then relax 
 Shoulders: lift your shoulders up, then relax 
 Neck: stretch your neck gently to the left, then forward, then to the proper , then backwards during a slow rolling motion, then relax 
 Forehead and scalp: raise your eyebrows, then relax 
 Eyes: close your eyes tightly, then relax 
 Jaw: clench your teeth, then relax 
 Chest: inhale deeply, then exhale and relax 
 Stomach: pull your tummy in, then relax 
 Upper back: pull your shoulders forward, then relax 
 Lower back: while sitting, roll your back to a smooth arc, then relax 
 Buttocks: tighten your buttocks, then relax 
 Thighs: push your feet firmly into the ground , then relax
 Calves: lift your toes off the bottom , then relax and 
 Feet: gently curl your toes down, then relax. 

7. Continue slow breathing for five more minutes, enjoying the sensation of relaxation 
8. As you become better at relaxation, it are often more interesting to mix these exercises with memories of relaxing situations eg. lying on a beach or doing a favorite activity. 

A full session of relaxation takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Once you're good at relaxing your muscles, start relaxing tense parts of your body during the day while you're going about your daily activities.