How it works?
When we worry, adrenaline is released into the blood. As a result, breathing becomes faster and shallower. To calm down, you should do a simple physiological “trick”: first hold your breath, and then - deliberately slowly - exhale. As a result, your heart rate will INEVITABLY slow down.
During the exercise, a pleasant “side effect” appears. You need to count down the seconds, focus on breathing - and this calms the nervous system. Following this, the body relaxes.
“The speed and strength of the effect is similar to anesthesia.”
Bingo!
Which part of the body is best to start relaxing from?
There is an opinion that in order to completely relax the whole body, you need to work sequentially with each part of the body and start with the feet and then rise to the head. This is highly ineffective. Why? Yes, because the main muscle tension is concentrated in the jaws and facial muscles, and not in the legs. And while you move from your feet to your head, all this time your body will experience significant tension in the facial area, and relaxation will be ineffective.
No other part of the body holds as much tension as the jaws! Not only are the jaw muscles very strong, but many modern people have a bad habit of clenching their teeth, including in their sleep. Some people constantly keep their jaws tense and don’t even think about relaxing them. This causes bruxism, or “teeth grinding,” which wears down teeth and causes other health problems, such as:
- tooth pain,
- headache,
- pain in the cervical spine,
- ear pain,
- tinnitus (ringing in the ears),
- dizziness.
Thus, the first thing you need to completely relax is your jaw! It will take a few seconds, but will allow you to get the maximum effect from any relaxation actions that follow.
By the way! To enhance the effectiveness of your meditation, immediately before beginning, briefly focus your attention on your jaw and facial muscles to completely relax them or make sure they are not tense.
Stress and insomnia: the relationship
Insomnia can bother a person for several reasons: somatic diseases; age-related changes - menopause in women or insomnia in older people; sleep disturbance due to frequent travel; intake of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. But the main cause of insomnia is psychological problems. And stress comes first here.
Thus, first stress gives rise to insomnia, and then insomnia itself becomes stress. After all, a sleep-deprived person experiences problems from the very morning: he has decreased activity during the day, his physical well-being becomes poor, in addition to emotional depression. Having problems sleeping, the human body cannot fully rest from its stressful state. Now he is driven into a vicious circle of “insomnia - lack of sleep - broken state - stress - insomnia.”
If a person is unable to relax before going to bed: he constantly scrolls through negative thoughts in his head, tries to solve pressing problems, then sleep cannot be healthy and complete. Being in a stressful state, people fall asleep for a very long time; literally from exhaustion and fatigue they manage to fall asleep, but that’s not all, because sometimes they can wake up in the middle of the night. Like an alarm bell, something wakes them up and they jump, often in a cold sweat, not immediately understanding the reason for awakening.
This way of life resembles a nightmare, and in the literal sense of the word. Nightmares, by the way, are another companion for people living under stress and experiencing insomnia. As a result, the body is under stress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He does not get proper rest, everything falls out of his hands, it seems that all this will never end.
Types of insomnia
Based on the amount of time insomnia lasts, three main types can be identified:
- Situational - when insomnia occurs against the background of a single stressful situation, for example, moving to another city, a new team at work, passing exams, etc. As a rule, a person experiences problems with sleep only during the period of adaptation to a new situation, and as soon as the stressful situation passes, normal sleep returns.
- Short-term - when insomnia bothers a person in connection with more serious problems, due to which the psychological blow is felt stronger and longer. For example, death of a loved one, loss of income, divorce, etc. This insomnia may last for several weeks or months.
- Chronic is insomnia that accompanies a person for quite a long time. It can be caused by serious psychological disorders, or by taking medications that cause insomnia. Such insomnia should be treated under the supervision of a doctor, along with the primary source of its occurrence.
Other sleep problems caused by stress
- Narcolepsy is the name given to a sleep disorder that results in a person being unable to control his or her drowsiness and can fall asleep at any moment, even if it is not the most appropriate time and situation (for example, at an important meeting or while driving a car). This illness appears due to extreme emotional stress.
- Apnea is stopping breathing during sleep. This happens due to snoring, or hypertension, as well as problems with excess weight. It can occur in both men and women of any age.
- Nightmarish dreams. Constant stress affects the functioning of the brain, which paints scary pictures in the imagination - in the form of terrible dreams at night.
- Sleepwalking. Due to improper functioning of the brain under stress, all functions except motor functions are inhibited during sleep. Therefore, a person can move around the apartment in his sleep.
Relaxation for the mind
Relieving muscle tension is quite important to getting a good night's sleep, but your mind also needs to be prepared for a night's rest.
In order to “disconnect” from everyday and work worries, you need to use simple tips. By relaxing, you can quickly immerse yourself in the arms of Morpheus, get a good night's sleep and protect your nervous system from stress.
Let's take a closer look at practices aimed at stabilizing the psyche.
- Visualization in detail.
Psychologists recommend this calming training to both adults and children. It helps to completely isolate yourself from problems, tune in to the positive, provides quick relaxation before bed and calms the nervous system.
Before performing visualization, we take the most comfortable position in bed. Next, we think about a place on the planet that we really want to visit, or where we have already been. We try to imagine it in the smallest detail, recreating the details in our brain, down to the rustles and smells. It is desirable that this be a picturesque corner. At first, disturbing thoughts may distract you from your activity, but only when you catch yourself that you have “fell out” of visualization, return to it again.
At first you will not be able to completely abstract yourself from everyday troubles, but if you work on yourself, then after a few weeks you will be able to mentally transport yourself to the most interesting places on the planet.
- Let's put our thoughts in order.
We often worry that we won't have time or forget to do something. Anxious thoughts tend to pop up in your mind just before you go to sleep. In order not to be distracted by worries, you need to make a list of planned tasks every day. In the evening before going to bed, cross out from it what you managed to accomplish and make a new list for tomorrow. This way you can “unload” your mind.
If you are worried about some more important problems, write them down in a diary - by transferring your experiences to paper, you will free your mind from them.
- We learn to “switch off” in time.
Often we cannot sleep, even if we are very tired. Insomnia occurs due to mental overstrain, which is why people who work late into the night on complex projects have trouble getting enough sleep.
To teach your consciousness to “switch off” in time, you need to completely leave all work an hour before the night’s rest, you shouldn’t think about it either, convince yourself that in the morning you will take care of everything, and now is the time allotted for relaxation.
- Create a calming environment in the bedroom.
First of all, start using your bedroom only for its intended purpose, stop watching TV in it, playing on the computer, reading newspapers, eating and doing other things. Your brain needs to understand that this room is special and you need to rest in it. A comfortable temperature for sleeping is 17-20° C, try to maintain it all night, if possible, open the window for ventilation.
Choose a quality comfortable mattress, pillow, bed linen and pajamas, nothing should cause you discomfort. Use blackout curtains to avoid light pollution, and close the door to your room to prevent noise from disturbing your rest.
You can listen to quiet classical music before going to bed; this also helps some people fall asleep.
- Create a bedtime ritual.
Our brain is a unique system; it can create associative connections with certain actions. We can use this for evening relaxation. Create a ritual for yourself in preparation for a night's rest. This may include taking a shower or bath, applying cosmetics, brushing your teeth, and other routine activities. However, they must be performed in the same sequence every day. After a few weeks, you will be surprised to notice how quickly your mind switches to rest after performing the preparatory ritual.
