the Relaxation Response

We've all heard of the fight or flight response.  We get stressed or scared and the heartbeat speeds up, blood pressure rises as arteries constrict, we breathe shallow, quick breaths, we start to sweat, adrenaline pumps, and we are ready to protect ourselves from danger. 

These days the "danger" is something like a meeting or a deadline.  The problem is that if we are continually stressed and eliciting this response, the body is working much harder than it needs to and we're burning energy like crazy, making us pretty tired at the end of the day.

The less famous counterpart to this is the relaxation response. If you're feeling calm and peaceful, you tend to breathe more deeply and slowly, the heart beat is slower, arteries open, blood pressure drops, and energy is burned at a slower pace, meaning we have more for the projects we want to get done when we're not burning it being nervous.

 You can elicit this response willfully by doing some deep breathing.  After 15 to 20 minutes of sitting quietly and focusing on the in and out of breath, studies have shown that the relaxation response takes effect and the body relaxes, more oxygen gets to the brain, and you can focus in a calm way. The more often you practice, the greater the effects.

 

There's a book - the Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson