How To Erase The Effects Of Stress

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How To Erase The Effects Of Stress, From Harvard Medical School

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=63056

Exercises that elicit the relaxation response can help your body

erase the cumulative effects of stress, according to " Stress

Management: Techniques for Preventing and Easing Stress, " a new

report from Harvard Medical School. The report explains that stress

has been linked with such physical problems as heart attack, stroke,

gastrointestinal problems and asthma, as well as emotional problems

like depression, anxiety and an inability to enjoy life.

The relaxation response, the opposite of the stress response, is a

state of profound rest and release. A number of physiological

changes occur during the relaxation response. When a person

meditates, for example, heartbeat and respiration slow down. The

body uses less oxygen and produces less carbon dioxide. Blood

lactate levels, which some researchers believe are linked with

anxiety attacks, decline markedly. Blood pressure tends to stabilize

in healthy individuals and drop significantly in people with

hypertension. Studies have shown that this decrease in blood

pressure persists with regular meditation.

Meditation is only one way to elicit the relaxation response. Other

methods include deep breathing exercises, yoga, tai chi and

repetitive prayer. What's crucial is that the method enables a

person to interrupt everyday thoughts by focusing on a word, phrase,

prayer or repetitive muscular activity. The report recommends

practicing relaxation techniques once or twice a day, for a total of

10 to 20 minutes daily. Evidence suggests the more often a person

practices these techniques, the better the outcome.

" Stress Management: Techniques for Preventing and Easing Stress " is

a 40- page report edited by Herbert Benson, M.D., founder of the

Mind/Body Medical Institute Associate and Professor of Medicine at

Harvard Medical School.