I haven’t got time to relax – really? Have you got time not too?

Being able to relax is important to achieving optimal performance and health. You name it; being relaxed will increase your productivity in it. If you're not relaxed, everything you do will be a struggle. Relaxation provides mind-body integration necessary for peak performance.

It is important to relax to get your mind clear and your body tension free; to regain focus and to cool down and to help return to a balanced physical state. Relaxation is vital for a healthy mind and is required to maintain motivation and interest in our lives and careers. Not being able to relax and unwind can be damaging to your health. Even when there are huge demands on your life, you may have a large family, an important career, and a home amongst your other weekly commitments - it is still necessary to find your own time and space to relax.

It is very important that throughout the day we find time to relax. Twenty minutes, two or three times a day, is preferred. If you can’t manage twenty minutes, it’s important to realise that whatever amount of time you do manage to get to relax will be beneficial to your mind and body, even if not noticeably so.

When time is short there are a number of things you can do: reading, writing, daydreaming or just sitting quietly. Quite often what ever you do to relax will be personal and work for you, so you need to find what works best.

As a Life Coach I have worked with numerous people with issues relating to relaxation and stress etc. It’s interesting that initially many find it difficult to slow down and see the benefits of taking more time out. However after a few weeks and a couple of life coaching sessions focused on this area, and a bit of commitment on their part, most change their ways and wax lyrical about the benefits to their lives.

Some of the common benefits of relaxation are:

• It improves your ability to concentrate. It will help you in your ability to tune out distractions and gives you better sensory awareness.

• It improves body awareness; you need to know when you are under or over doing it.

• It speeds up healing time following an injury and fatigue, the body needs to recover fully if it’s going to perform at an optimal level in the near future.

• Learning is enhanced, it is much easier to introduce new thoughts and ideas when your mind is clear and you are relaxed. Skills are best learned when you are in a relaxed state and there is an absence of tension.

• It helps you sleep better

• You become more efficient

• It puts your focus back on the present and gives you a sense of control

• It increases energy

If you don’t take the time to unwind and relax regularly, you might be putting not only your own health and well-being at risk but also that of others as well.

In relation to your responsibility to the health and safety of others; we only have to think of driving a car, or operating machinery, and how our ability to do these tasks diminishes when we are tense, tired and stressed. So in fact our responsibility to relax is not just for our own sake but also for that of others.

With regards to our own health and emotional well-being, if we don’t make time to relax regularly we are putting our health and mental health at risk of failure. Some of the effects of lack of relaxation are below:

• Headache, common ones being tension headaches and migraines. Controlling tension and relaxing can help migraines. Tension headaches are susceptible by definition to treatment by relaxation.

• Chronic fatigue, your body is in a total sate of fatigue. You suffer from total lack of energy and motivation all of the time.

• Cardiovascular disorders, high blood pressure and heart disease, heart attack.

• Gastrointestinal problems, diarrhoea, constipation and stomach ulcers as well as indigestion and heartburn.

• Poor immune system, becoming susceptible to illness

Early warning signs that we need to have a break and relax are:

• Yawning/sighing

• Lack of concentration

• Feeling the urge to stretch and move about

• General drop in performance

• Feelings of stress and irritability

• Performing uncommon errors

• Tiredness

If we are aware of the signs and take notice of them and take a break etc, you could avoid a lot of stress and fatigue, you will be more rational and focused, and better equipped to carry on, and be far healthier.

Spending a lifetime of ignoring the signs could impact heavily, not only on your health, well-being and happiness but also those around you. Relationships could suffer as well as your career. On a personal note, the consequences of not taking time to relax over a lifetime could mean you pay the ultimate price.

You say you don’t have time to relax. I say you don’t have time not too. You are your own best resource; you need to take time to nurture and look after yourself.

There is so much talk about meditation and its benefits - but how does meditation work? A lot of study has gone into how exactly meditation brings about the benefits felt by people who practice it regularly. Research studies reveal that meditation induces a healthy relaxed state resulting in a lower heart rate, lower respiratory rate, and lower pulse rate. In fact, it is a wonderfully easy way to rest the body. Meditation increases alertness, creativity and cultivates clarity of thought. There is proof that the benefits of meditation are both psychological and physiological.

Specific Changes That Occur From Meditation:

Meditation works by lowering the metabolic rate of the person, providing them deep relaxation. There is lower consumption of oxygen soon after the person begins to meditate. According to studies, the individual who meditates consumes lesser air and takes lesser number of breaths each minute. The blood pressure falls to normal even with those suffering from hypertension. In the nervous system, there is a reduced amount of activity, making us calmer. In fact, meditation also controls several organs and muscles including activities like sweating, the breathing process, our digestion etc. automatically while we practice it.

Those who begin the process of meditation feeling tense and anxious, experience a lowering of blood lactate levels, thereby calming them since there is an increased blood flow. Because of this, more oxygen goes to the muscles bringing down the production of lactate.

Meditation techniques basically work with the mind. In very simple terms we can even look at meditation as a form of rest. After a hard day, every one needs to relax. Just like the body the mind also needs to relax. Even though sleep helps to an extent, there is still a residue of all the stress we go through in our subconscious mind. These carry over as stress and anxiety. Here is where meditation works. It accesses the subconscious mind when you are conscious and helps you change your entire attitude towards these negative feelings. Meditation gives you a better understanding of your own mind, teaches you how to reach a relaxed and calm state and gives you the ability to assess everything objectively.

The Effects Of Meditation:

So how does meditation work? The first thing you become aware of after you meditate for some time is a sense of stability. Since it deals with breathing, you will find it easy to concentrate on whatever you do without getting distracted. Meditation also brings about a great clarity of mind, letting you arrange your thoughts properly allowing you to think clearly. It brings about an end to stress, through intense relaxation and therefore improves health.

However, those who suffer from serious mental disorders would do well to consult their health care providers before they take up meditation to relieve their symptoms, so that the process of healing is not delayed, since there are cases where meditation without proper guidance can make some symptoms worse.

Certain meditation methods involve exercises in focus while others involve an analysis of the mind, resulting in alertness and giving direction. It quells the wandering mind, urging it to focus on the matters at hand. The mind then connects with the body and through regular practice, meditation can yield great benefits.

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