Manage Your Stress

By: Bruce Strickland

Manage Your Stress

Believe it or not, you need stress in your life. Research shows again and again that the healthiest and most productive people are not those who try to avoid stress, but those who learn to relieve stress and manage it.

You cannot eliminate or avoid stress, nor would you want to if you could. Stress stimulates your physical and mental performance, and actually keeps you healthy. It is a necessary part of living, as important back in ancestral days as it is today. Positive stress (termed ‘eustress’ by Hans Selye, a stress research pioneer) does all this. You want to find ways to keep it at an optimal level so it becomes an increasingly positive force in your life.

It’s the negative stress (‘distress’) that results in unhealthy effects, both short and long term. It is this stress and its negative effects that you can relieve and manage with relaxation massage.

Fight or Flight
The general demands of everyday life, tight schedules, hurrying, as well as emotions like fretting and worrying, cause a physiological response in your body that goes back to the beginning of humankind - the stress response. To appreciate why relaxation massage is so effective in fighting negative stress and its unhealthy effects, it is important to understand the stress response.

Stress begins when demands are placed on you. Your mind evaluates whether or not those demands are threatening in any way, either physically or psychologically. If your mind decides that there is a possibility of harm, it initiates a stress response. This response is also called a fight or flight response because it causes the same bodily changes that allowed our ancient ancestors to fight or flee from predators.

All the physiological changes that happen in your body with this response occur for one reason only: to prepare your body for physical action. Your muscles tense in preparation for activity. Your heart rate and blood pressure increase to get blood to your muscles. Your breath becomes quick and shallow to deliver oxygen. Your digestive and reproductive systems shut down to conserve energy. Hormones are released to keep you awake and alert. Fats and sugars are released into your bloodstream for energy. All these physiological changes to your body are caused by the stress response to get you ready for action - fighting or fleeing.

Effects on You
Unfortunately, fighting or fleeing is rarely useful for dealing with most stresses we commonly face, like money worries, relationship problems, or troubles with co-workers. Because you don’t have a physical outlet, the effects of stress build up in your body, and can take an unhealthy toll on both your body and your mind.

Your body and mind can’t slow down or unwind. Over time, you become caught in a self-perpetuating cycle of stress in which you become less and less able to relax. Tension turns into chronic headaches, or perhaps neck, shoulder, and back pain. You may not be able to sleep well. You never seem to feel rested. You constantly feel tired and have little energy to deal with problems effectively. You may also find that your threshold for handling stress is reduced. It becomes increasingly difficult to cope with even small stresses. Even taking time for recreational activities can seem burdensome. The effects on you - physical and psychological - can eventually pose serious risks to your health as well as your quality of life.

Heed these early warning signs and you can take control of your stress before it starts to affect your health and take over your life.

Relaxation Massage to the Rescue
When you’re under severe or chronic stress, relaxation massage (or table massage) can be a fast and effective way of breaking the vicious stress cycle, relieving bad stress and its unhealthy effects. Relaxation massage triggers a relaxation response. This response counters the stress response and helps your body restore its balance - taking you and your body in a healthier direction.

As the massage progresses and the relaxation response kicks in, you’ll find that your breathing deepens, your heart rate and blood pressure decrease, and your body starts to relax, as tension is gently kneaded out of your muscles. Painful sensations gradually subside. Because your muscles no longer need the energy they did when tense, your body is more energized. Your mind is also positively affected, as you focus on the pleasant sensations instead of your worries. Your feelings of anxiety decrease and your mood improves, likely through the release of hormones called endorphins. You’ll feel an increased sense of tranquility and of physical and mental well-being, virtually right away.

Most Benefits by Long-Term Use
Although the beneficial effects of relaxation massage are immediate, the real benefits come when you use relaxation massage on a regular basis. Research has demonstrated that as you get more frequent relaxation massage, the effects become more pronounced and more long lasting.

Repeatedly experiencing deep relaxation through massage helps you retain feelings of relaxation and tranquility through your daily activities. Relaxation massage also makes you more aware of sensations in your body, allowing you to notice more subtle signs of stress and tension. The overall health benefits to the whole body and mind of relaxation massage - resulting from lowered blood pressure, decreased heart rate, and less anxiety - are especially enhanced when done on a regular basis.

Blow Your Tension Away
When you’re stressed and tense, but you don’t have time to see your relaxation massage practitioner, you can help yourself by using your breath to help release tension. When under stress, your breathing typically becomes fast and shallow. You breathe from your chest instead of taking deep relaxed breaths from your abdomen. This heightens your stress and causes unwanted tension through your neck and shoulders.

You can break this pattern by using deep breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing as it is sometimes called. As you do this diaphragmatic breathing, you will feel the tension releasing from your back, neck, shoulders, and chest. As your breathing becomes more relaxed your mind will relax and you’ll feel less stress and anxiety.

To learn how to do this, place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen and follow the instructions that accompany the illustrations. You can do this either sitting or lying down. Focus on the sensations you are feeling in your body as you breathe. Repeat this sequence six to eight times. If you start to feel light headed stop immediately. Practice this several times a day. Don’t just do this when you’re wound up. If you do this exercise when you are relaxed, you’ll become much more proficient at slowing yourself down when the pressure’s on.

Tranquil relaxation and good health to you!