The “relaxation response” as a health benefit.

In the 1970s Herbert Benson and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School described the “relaxation response” as a mind-body intervention that compensates for the physiological effects caused by stress. It can be understood as a physical state of deep calm, the complete opposite of the stress response. Their studies indicate that we have instructions to provoke this calm reflex and also that we have the ability to train ourselves to achieve it, as it is a natural response of the body.

Resting after a tiring day on the couch, reading a book, listening to music or sleeping does not imply that it triggers the relaxation response. This activity may help, but it does not completely eliminate the activation produced by stress. Doing relaxing activities is not the same as activating the relaxation response. It requires training and practice to be able to activate it because it is not automatic.

If you have chronic pain, sleeping difficulties, anxiety, fatigue, autoimmune diseases, headaches, stress-related illnesses, among others, you can benefit from its practice.

The regular practice of techniques that activate the relaxation response makes it difficult for the sympathetic nervous system to be altered when we interpret that some situation puts us on alert or by external factors. As a result, there is a decrease in blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate and, by keeping our body with less activation, the risk of psychophysiological and psychological diseases is reduced. In addition, it can increase the ability to cope with difficult situations of daily life.

A variety of approaches elicit the relaxation response, including: various forms of meditation (such as mindfulness), progressive muscle relaxation, biofeedback, breathing exercises, guided imagery, hypnosis, visualization.

How is the relaxation response activated?

A simple technique is proposed below:

• Adopt a comfortable posture in a quiet place and close your eyes or direct your gaze to a fixed point.
• Concentrate on your breathing (verifying that when you breathe in your abdomen bulges) imagine that you have a balloon in your abdomen, when you breathe in it fills with air and when you breathe out it deflates. Breathe calmly, softly.
• Progressively decrease the tension in your body, from head to toe.
• Focus your mind on repeating a short phrase or word each time you breathe out (you can count “one” when breathing in and “two” when breathing out or if you prefer to say a comforting word such as “relax”, “peace”). Keep that word, don’t change it.
• When your thoughts or pain distract you, slowly redirect your mind to the phrase or word to focus on.
• When you finish, open your eyes and change position little by little until you stand up.
• Practice daily for 5 to 20 minutes. Make mindful breathing exercises a part of your daily routine. And in difficult or unpleasant moments, the challenges can be eased by focusing on your breathing.

Daily life events constantly activate us and if we do not have the means to face them adequately, the tension will be maintained and may cause injuries to our body.

Start your training and with perseverance you will progressively achieve the benefits of activating the relaxation response.