This article is especially for busy and stressed people. Let’s look at how to relax your mind as let’s face it, nobody wants a busy mind at two in the morning.
How To Relax Your Mind
Do you ever feel amped up? Even wound up or very restless?
Feeling amped up can happen to everyone at some time in life. This is one way that anxiety presents itself. It’s how you deal with the anxiety that makes the difference. How do you soothe your amped up mind?
What Is Anxiety?
Let’s see what the experts say. According to anxiety.org “Anxiety is the reaction to situations perceived as stressful or dangerous.“
The amped-up feeling and restlessness you may feel can be manifestations of anxiety. The world we live in and the hectic pace of our society often leaves people feeling this way. Many wonder how they can learn to relax.
Symptoms Of Anxiety
If you are experiencing any of the following, you could be suffering from anxiety:
- Feeling restless, wound-up, or on-edge
- Being easily fatigued
- Having difficulty concentrating; mind going blank
- Being irritable
- Having muscle tension
- Difficulty controlling feelings of worry
- Having sleep problems, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, restlessness, or unsatisfying sleep
- Grinding your jaw
How To Soothe Your Amped Up Mind
Live Now
Anxiety can be described as worrying about something that is in the future. You are basically so efficient that you are worrying in advance.
Be here now!
What’s happening at this moment? Bring yourself back to the present. This can be done by doing a task that requires all of your attention. For some people, this might be an art project.
Others might find relief from a sport that demands all their focus. For others pausing and reflecting on being present is enough. Find what works for you to bring you into the moment you are in right now and relax your amped emotions.
Take A Break
Sometimes you just need a break. Get out of town, take a day off, or go for a run. Move your body and breathe fresh air. A change of environment or even a change of routine can refresh the soul and relax the mind.
Check-In
Ask yourself if what you are anxious or amped about is reasonable and logical.
Check-in.
Ask yourself if whatever is happening at this moment is even worth investing your energy in. This allows you to train your brain to come up with a rational way to deal with your amped or anxious emotions.
Developing these habits prepares you for the future when you have a similar experience. Having a contingency plan will help you feel calmer in the moment.
Deep Breathing And Meditation
For generations, people who have successfully battled stress have used meditation as their stress relief idea of choice.
Meditation allows us to empty our minds of everyday worries and anxiety and focus on ourselves.
Whether you meditate actively or just take a few minutes to relax in a darkened room, taking this time by yourself can be enormously helpful in battling stress.
Because we give the majority of our time to careers, schedules, family, and the endless details that encompass any given day. Often, we neglect to give ourselves equal time and, consequently, our health falls along the wayside. Ultimately, taking the time for ourselves is the best stress relief idea of all and paramount to relieving stress.
Deep breathing can also help relax many people. This has been working so well that Apps have been launched to encourage people to take time out each day and breathe.
Whether meditation or breathing exercises help; both are excellent relaxation and focusing methods. Search online for various methods to try.
Yoga, group classes, or individual practice may help you with relaxation and self-soothing. All of these activities are excellent for your wellbeing and overall health.
Reframe
Changing the way you look at a situation can change the way you feel about it.
This can be done as an intentional act or be something that happens automatically depending on your mindset, and temperament.
According to a study: “Appraisal theories of emotion suggest that it is an individual’s subjective appraisal of an event—that is, its’ meaning and significance—rather than the event itself that leads to a specific emotional reaction.” (Seeing the Silver Lining: Cognitive Reappraisal Ability Moderates the Relationship Between Stress and Depressive Symptoms, Allison S. Troy, et al, 2010)
How you look at an event can change your emotions about it. If you have a balanced calm mindset, it will take more for you to feel amped up. You will have better distress tolerance and be better able to handle emotions that arise.
You can learn to self soothe using small changes to daily habits and reframing your thoughts. Implementing some of these practices will help you develop techniques to increase relaxation in your daily life, de-stress, and improve your mental health.
Let’s Look At Stress
In todayís society, nothing is more of an enemy to the physical and emotional body than stress.
Stress infiltrates our work, home, financial, and social lives, and can wreak havoc on our overall wellbeing and instigate a multitude of illnesses.
Not surprisingly, there has been a whole economy constructed around each stress relief idea to hit the market. And people are buying; when it comes to relieving stress and giving us a greater sense of control over our lives, there ís not much we won’t try.
One such stress relief idea has been the adoption of holistic therapy into daily life.
For many, this means the use of acupuncture on a frequent basis which has been shown to significantly reduce stress.
Additionally, therapeutic massage has enormous positive effects on physical and emotional wellbeing. There are many different varieties of massage and each one has its own specific benefit.
Swedish massage utilizes a long, slow stroking method to soothe muscles and induces a feeling of calm.
Hot stone therapy is a popular massage technique as of late and utilizes heated river rocks of all sizes to soothe and relax your muscles.
Deep tissue massage is especially popular with athletes and those who work out consistently. It is a more intensive massage therapy that reaches deeper muscle groups and releases stress.
But no matter what type of massage therapy you choose, you will find that you will leave feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
Another idea on how to relax the mind and destress is to utilize exercise to help combat the impact of stress.
We all know that exercise does much to increase our physical wellbeing. But it is important to understand just how much of a positive impact exercise can also have on our emotional health.
Cardiovascular work, weight training, and core work such as Pilates and yoga, all work to lower our blood pressure and give us a natural sense of wellbeing.
So now you should know how to relax your mind and your body. Please comment below if you have anything else to add.
