The “Relaxation Response”
Dr. Benson a professor at Harvard was a pioneer in defining the “Relaxation Response”. Dr. Benson has continued with his research today and has founded his own organization dedicated to the “Relaxation Response” and how it affects our daily lives.
"The relaxation response is a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress... and the opposite of the fight or flight response."
Dr. Benson has been a pioneer with intestinal fortitude, studying the physiological changes during meditation techniques since 1968 as a professor at Harvard helping them become acceptable topics of study.
Dr. Benson and Dr. Robert K. Wallace published first study, "A wakeful hypo metabolic physiologic state" in the American Journal of Physiology, 1971
The relaxation response is perhaps one of the most important skills you will use to gain control over your body. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizes the relaxation response as having broad health benefits including the reduction of pain and restoration of sleep.
Just as we have the "Stress Reaction" as a one of the body’s built-in response systems, so there is an innate “Relaxation Response”.
The relaxation response undoes what stress has been doing to you. The relaxation response brings about decreased muscle tension, lowered heart rate and blood pressure, a deeper breathing pattern, calming of the belly, and a peaceful, pleasant mood. The problem we face in managing illness is the stress response is more easily elicited than the relaxation response. The stress reaction happens immediately without any effort on your part. A loud noise at this moment would startle you, and the stress reaction would speed through your body. A stress reaction happens automatically while the relaxation response must be purposefully sought and brought under control. While the relaxation response will occur naturally as when you sit on the beach watching the ocean; most often during illness our stressed bodies and minds find it hard to reach the “relaxation response”. To control our stress during illness we must engage in an intentional practice of creating the relaxation response.
What is the Relaxation Response?
The relaxation response is defined as your personal ability to make your body release chemicals and brain signals that make your muscles and organs slow down and increases blood flow to the brain. Drugs can do some of this for you; however they often have unwanted side effects. You can get your body to relax just as well without drugs while remaining conscious and aware at the same time. To be physically relaxed and mentally alert is the goal of the relaxation response.
The Relaxation Response is not:
Laying on the couch
Sleeping
Being Lazy
The Relaxation Response is:
A mentally active process that leaves the body relaxed
Best done in an awake state
Trainable and becomes more and more profound with practice
There are many ways of achieving the relaxation response.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (tense & relax)
Visual Imagery
Deep Breathing
Meditation
Hypnosis
Yoga
Biofeedback
NexNeuro Auto Relax System
To date, there is no data supporting the idea that one method is any better than any other. What does matter is your willingness to use a particular technique for your own health and your ability to gain relaxation through that method.
There are two different versions of the relaxation response: Progressive Muscle Relaxation (also known as Tense & Relax) and Visual Imagery.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (Tense & Relax Technique)
Everyone has a resting level of muscle tension. Some people have a great amount of tension at rest, others less. When people are under acute stress, their muscles tend to have higher levels of resting tension that can be painful and fatiguing. After you tense and relax muscles, the tension level not only returns to the original level, but will automatically drop below the original level, producing even greater relaxation to the muscles.
Visual Imagery
While some people like tensing and relaxing, others can often become more relaxed by simply imaging a beautiful place. This technique uses your mind to distract you from pain, tension, or problems. It asks you to create images in your mind that are so captivating, so rich in detail, and so all-consuming for your mind, that you get lost in the images your mind creates.