Tips and Tricks to Help Manage Anxiety : Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Posted: October 7, 2022

ANXIETY- HOW CAN I MAKE MYSELF FEEL BETTER?

Anxiety starts out as a chemical reaction in the brain, that triggers parts of your Central Nervous System, notifying your brain and body that there is a threat. This is why you feel anxiety both emotionally and physiologically. Thus also being the reason why some of the most effective coping strategies for anxiety are those that trigger the parasynthetic nervous system. When your parasynthetic nervous system is triggered, it sends signals to the brain and body that the "threat" causing the anxiety is gone. Thus, allowing the brain and body to begin decompressing and relaxing making it easier to function. Progressive Muscle Relaxation is a great way to trigger the parasynthetic nervous system, therefore aiding in the management and severity anxiety, negative emotions and addiction based cravings!

Progressive Muscle Relaxation teaches you how to relax your muscles through a two-step process. First, you systematically tense particular muscle groups in your body, such as your neck and shoulders. Next, you release the tension and notice how your muscles feel when you relax them. This exercise will help you to lower your overall tension and stress levels, and help you relax when you are feeling anxious. It can also help reduce physical problems such as stomachaches and headaches, as well as improve your sleep.

HELPFUL HINTS:

Set aside about 15 minutes to complete this exercise
Find a place where you can complete this exercise without being disturbed
For the first week or two, practice this exercise twice a day until you get the hang of it. The better you become at it, the quicker the relaxation response will “kick in” when you really need it
You do not need to be feeling anxious when you practice this exercise. In fact, it is better to first practice it when you are calm. That way, it will be easier to do when feeling anxious

THE TENSION – RELAXATION RESPONSE

Step 1: Tension

The first step is applying muscle tension to a specific part of the body. This step is essentially the same regardless of which muscle group you are targeting. First, focus on the target muscle group, for example, your left hand. Next, take a slow, deep breath and squeeze the muscles as hard as you can for about 5 seconds. It is important to really feel the tension in the muscles, which may even cause a bit of discomfort or shaking. In this instance, you would be making a tight fist with your left hand.

It is easy to accidentally tense other surrounding muscles (for example the shoulder or arm), so try to ONLY tense the muscles you are targeting. Isolating muscle groups gets easier with practice.

Step 2: Relaxing the tense muscles

This step involves quickly relaxing the tensed muscles. After about 5 seconds, let all the tightness flow out of the tensed muscles. Exhale as you do this step. You should feel the muscles become loose and limp, as the tension flows out. It is important to very deliberately focus on and notice the difference between the tension and relaxation. This is the most important part of the whole exercise.

Note: It can take time to learn to relax the body and notice the difference between tension and relaxation. At first, it may feel uncomfortable to be focusing on your body but with time it can become quite enjoyable.

Remain in this relaxed state for about 15 seconds, then move on to the next muscle group. Repeat the tension-relaxation steps. After completing all of the muscle groups, take some time to enjoy the deep state of relaxation.

THE DIFFERENT MUSCLE GROUPS

the progressive relaxation exercise, you will be working with almost all the major muscle groups in your body. To make it easier to remember, start with your feet and systematically move up (or if you prefer, you can do it in the reverse order, from your forehead down to your feet). For example:

Foot (curl your toes downward)
Lower leg and foot (tighten your calf muscle by pulling toes towards you)
Entire leg (squeeze thigh muscles while doing above)

(Repeat on other side of body)

Hand (clench your fist)
Entire right arm (tighten your biceps by drawing your forearm up towards your shoulder and “make a muscle”, while clenching fist)

(Repeat on other side of body)

Buttocks (tighten by pulling your buttocks together)
Stomach (suck your stomach in)
Chest (tighten by taking a deep breath)
Neck and shoulders (raise your shoulders up to touch your ears)
Mouth (open your mouth wide enough to stretch the hinges of your jaw)
Eyes (clench your eyelids tightly shut)
Forehead (raise your eyebrows as far as you can)

QUICK TENSE AND RELAX

Once you have become familiar with the “tension and relaxation” technique, and have been practicing it for a couple weeks, you can begin to practice a very short version of progressive muscle relaxation. In this approach, you learn how to tense larger groups of muscles, which takes even less time. These muscle groups are:

Lower limbs (feet and legs)

Stomach and chest

Arms, shoulders, and neck

Face

So instead of working with just one specific muscle group at a time (e.g. your stomach), you can focus on the complete group (your stomach AND chest). You can start by focusing on your breathing during the tension and relaxation. When doing this shortened version, it can be helpful to say a certain word or phrase to yourself as you slowly exhale (such as “relax”, “let go”, “stay calm”, “peace” “it will pass” etc.). This word or phrase will become associated with a relaxed state; eventually, saying this word alone can bring on a calm feeling. This can be handy during times when it would be hard to take the time to go through all the steps of progressive muscle relaxation.

YOU deserve to create a life worth living, free from the limitations of unmanaged addiction and/mental health concerns.