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This is Why You Need The Relaxation Response

1/24/2019

8 Comments

 

When we encounter a life-threatening situation, a surge of stress hormones prepares us to fight or to flee, an automatic fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. It used to happen in caveman times when there was an immediate danger. But now, we activate this fight-or-flight response every day, several times a day, not because of real danger, but in reaction to situations that are not life-threatening. To everyday stressors.

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The Relaxation Response


The good news is that you have a relaxation response that you can use to counter, prevent or get rid of the effects of the flight-or-flight response. And if you have chronic daily stress that you cannot change, finding ways to relax is your best way to avoid damaging your health.

When you relax, your mind calms and your emotions stabilize. That makes you better able to think through situations and modulate your emotional responses.

When your mind is calm, it’s easier to feel content.

Your brain exhibits certain predictable responses when it is calm. These responses or signals, which activate the relaxation response, are tied to the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve connects the brain to most of the body’s major organs. It tells your brain how your body is doing.

Meditation, mindfulness practices, and deep breathing are simple methods that activate the vagus nerve and its calming effects. These practices teach the body what to do to create a relaxed state.

Once you can reliably create the relaxation response, you won't be held hostage by your stress, and you'll know how to release it, so you can get back to feeling calm. You become a peacemaker in your own life.

There are many methods, techniques and tools you can use to create relaxation, and he one that's best for you is the one you'll keep doing. :)

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about how you can use essential oils to create stress relief almost effortlessly. See you then!

Love, Jeanine


8 Comments
doug link
1/24/2019 05:46:17 pm

Sometimes the response is to freeze. That is the third F word.
I am all for relaxing.

Reply
Jeanine Byers link
1/24/2019 08:46:15 pm

That's true, Doug. That can happen, too. But if we can reach for the relaxation response, we might more easily avoid all three of those possible reactions.

Reply
ginia link
1/25/2019 09:54:46 am

Nicely written post. It is really important to discover ones own methods of relaxation as I am currently feeling tje ill effects of daily stress on my life. Thank you for writing this.

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Jeanine Byers link
1/25/2019 12:32:11 pm

Thanks, Gina! So am I, so I'm working on that as we speak. :)

Reply
Roy A Ackerman, PhD, EA link
1/25/2019 11:53:01 am

I think the relaxation gene either skipped generations or was severely lacking in my genome.

Reply
Jeanine Byers link
1/25/2019 12:33:14 pm

Roy, maybe that's what happened to me, too!! I certainly have struggled to relax deeply enough to offset the stress I have experienced. It is still a work in progress.

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Martha link
1/25/2019 05:52:40 pm

Wait, I'm suppose to relax?? I don't have a clue as to how to make that happen. LOL I have to always be doing something, and even when sleeping my mind is going. Yup, like Roy, this gene skipped me also. Looking forward to your essential oil blog!

Reply
Jeanine Byers link
1/28/2019 04:10:46 pm

I totally understand, Martha! My mind is often still going, too.

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    Jeanine Byers

    Lifestyle blogger & hygge hermit who will help you conquer mornings & create a slower, more family-present lifestyle in a single bound.

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