Being too stressed is not good for the body and your health; you need to find a way to find relaxation. There are several stress relieving exercises that you can do to find relaxation and help manage your stress.
Stress can cause you many health problems, such as headaches, weight gain, insomnia, anger and back pain. Stress causes the body to produce more cortisol, glucocorticoid and adrenaline, cortisol is known as the stress hormone. Increase of cortisol in the body is also known to help increase weight and retain fat around your middle.
One simple, very simple thing you can do to relieve your stress, is to smile and laugh. Laughing and smiling for 15 minutes a day really gives the body a boost, this is because the act of laughing and smiling helps reduce the hormone cortisol and helps to increase endorphins, the happy hormones. Laughter also helps the body release any tension and brings the body stress levels back to normal.
Endorphins are also release whilst doing physical exercise – yoga is one such exercise that you can do. Yoga original came from the East, India about 5,000 years ago and now the West is just starting to see the benefits that yoga can provide for our bodies. Yoga is not just one straight forwards idea; it is a combination of different elements, some are more stress relieving exercises than others. Pranayama or breathing yoga and Dhyana known as meditation yoga are the two that will help best with stress and the third one is Asana, yoga postures some of which are relaxing.
Pranayama helps you to breathe better, to use your whole lung capacity. Nowadays because of our hectic, stressed lives we do not breathe properly even though breathing is the main element of life, providing oxygen to the body and brain. Pranayama teaches you how to breathe, to re-energize your body. It also prepares you to practice Dhyana, meditation and Asana. Whilst practicing yoga postures you need to know how to breathe correctly to get the most out of the posture.
One stress relieving exercise that you can use for when you are feeling fear or anxiety is to just breathe deep into your stomach slowly otherwise you will make yourself dizzy if you do it too fast. Your body can not remain tense when you take your breath down into the stomach. Feel your lungs fill from the bottom up and watch your stomach expand for that stress relieve.
Meditation is another way to relieve stress because it is a way to calm the mind and silence the ever talking inner self. There are numerous ways to meditate including as a yoga practice or simply just sitting and focusing on one thing or object. Again breathe can be the “thing” to focus on, but with meditation there is no wrong or right way to do it. With meditation it can take just five minutes to how ever long you want and as many times a day that you want to perform it.
Why not try one of the above stress relieving exercises, to feel happier and less stressed!!
