Actively Relax |
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The opposite of stress is relaxation. The body response to both stress and relaxation are as different as laughing and crying. The stress response includes increase in heart rate, blood being moved away from the skin and most organs, and increase in sweat production.
The relaxation response can reduce heart rate and blood pressure, movement of blood toward your internal organs, and decrease in sweat production. The term relaxation response was developed by Harvard researcher Herbert Benson. Benson believed that you could actively bring the beneficial calming effects of relaxation response by engaging in relaxation techniques.
You may wonder can this be possible if you are in such a nervous or agitated state to begin with. The fact is that you can learn techniques to relax your body and your mind. Just engaging in these techniques, you actually train your body to experience the physical effects of relaxation by calling upon the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls bodily functions during periods of rest and relaxation.
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