Yoga for Stress Relief

            The article on Yoga for Stress Relief by Baxter Bell M.D, discusses how yoga can help with the relieving of stress for someone who is very busy in their daily lives. Life can be very stressful for anyone who has no time for rest, exercise or relaxation. Whether the stress is due to work, family problems, or other issues it is important to have an outlet and yoga can be a very good outlet for stress. Sometimes stress can effect physiological aspect of ones life. These effects can be life threatening at times, effecting a person’s heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood flow to the muscle groups. Many stress related issues can cause great risk to ones health if they are not dealt with.

Yoga can counteract the bad effects of stress by lowering a person’s heart rate, blood pressure, and energy consumption.  Yoga is a practice like an examination or refuge for the human body and mind when being practiced to get rid of stress. When practicing yoga you will encounter some difficult positions that may lead you to think, how will I get my body to look like that. While participating in yoga you are encouraged to watch how the body reacts to the different positions, fears, or frustrations as the mind and thoughts response. While participating you are instructed to be attentive and mindful during the process. As this is happening you should take in a softening deep breath and letting go of the world around you.

I feel that Yoga is a wonderful way to get rid stress and it would count as a form of exercise if you did it for just 30 minutes a day to help relax and bring your body and mind back to reality. I have tried yoga in the past but I feel that it’s not for me due to all the different positions. Also, due to health reason, I’m not able to participate in activities like that. Even though stretching is very relaxing at times and very similar to yoga, it deals with less movement and less positions.

Massage: It’s Real Medicine

A massage can be one of the most relaxing things to do. Having a massage done can boost one’s immune system, help with sleep, and even help with recover after surgery. There are six reasons why a massage is wonderful to have done. For example, a massage will relieve pain. Getting a massage while at the chiropractor or having acupuncture done will help reduce stress, and it will send a feel-good response throughout the body. Also, a massage will help increase blood flow to muscles, thus helping them to heal. At the same a massage will block the pain receptors in your nervous systems. Massages also tend to help an individual get better sleep and studies have shown that getting a 15 minutes chair massage can increase brainpower.

Another finding is that they will help get rid of such aliments as the common cold. It helps the body do this by helping the body to get rid of those bugs that make the cells weaker in the body. Still yet, another positive aspect of a massage is that they help to get rid of the blues and depression one has by decreasing the activity on the right side of the brain, and increasing the functioning on the left side. Lastly, massage will ease the pains of PMS by reducing water retention and mood swings.

One type of massage is a Swedish massage which is done by using long gentle soothing stokes with the hands and fingertips. Another type is Deep Tissue, also know as a sports massage, which is done just like Swedish massage but it uses more pressure. There is also a massage known as Trigger Point Therapy, which is done by focusing on specific areas that are tense, but using the knuckles or elbow and pressing deeply into the muscle to relieve tension. Finally, there is a massage known as a Hot Stone Massage, which is done with the use of hot stones. The stones are moved over the body in an attempt to increase blood flow to the muscles.

Massage is one of my favorite kinds of relaxation methods. The method that I favor most is the hot stone massage because of the heat from the stone being placed on certain spots of the body. I also enjoy getting a Swedish massage. It is very relaxing due to having muscle tension relieved from some stressful things while laying on the table and being massaged from head to toe.

Humor Gets The Last Laugh                                                                                       

Humor is one of the greatest and simplest things that allow us to get rid of stress. You could be having a bad at work and then all of a sudden you get a joke from someone in your email. You read the email and send it out to other friends to cheer them up if they’re having a bad as well. By laughing the day away you’re getting rid of frustrations and any stress that has been brought on from the day. Laughing is a wonderful thing for everyone to experience even if it’s someone sending a joke by email, watching a funny show, or reading a funny cartoon in the newspaper. Laughter is showing the golden age of a people due to the rise in technology now because more people are sending more laugher through the airways.

People can get access humor in many ways. For example, by radio, TV, friends and family, internet access, newspapers, books, magazines and movies or even going out to see a favorite comedian. According to Loretta LaRoche, people today are taking over the technology in the world. Cell phones, computers, fax machines, and digital cameras, are all used on a regular basis by people. Through the love of technology people forget to stop and take a break and just have a good laugh.

I think that having a good laugh everyday is a wonderful thing to do in order to relieve stress. Even if you’re only laughing for five minutes you are releasing feel-good endorphins into your body that help to relieve stress. Also, when you laugh it catches on and everyone around you can be affected in a positive manner.

References

Bell, B., (2007). Yoga For Stress Relief. Share Guide.

Lewis, K.K., (2007). Massage: It’s Real Medicine. Time Inc.