Upgrade your Techniques to Relax

Do you find it hard to relax?

Do you feel restless in the evening and have trouble reading a book, watching TV or following a conversation?

Do you feel weary and can’t fully engage in any activity, even the ones that used to bring you joy?

Do you often catch yourself thinking about work during your time off?

Do you return to the office on Monday morning feeling fatigued and exhausted, instead of rested and recharged?

If the answer is yes, then it’s likely that after years of operating at an adrenalised pace, your nervous system has lost it’s natural ability to switch back to rest and recovery mode.

The limit of how much stress a person can endure, before it becomes dangerous and poses a threat to their mental and physical health is highly individual.

And yet, there are typical warning signs, that indicate when the individual limit of a person is exceeded.

Besides experiencing difficulty to fall asleep or sleeplessness, a sign can be finding it hard to relax and recover from the demands of everyday life.

No matter how much leisure time you have to your disposal, it never seems to be enough to reset and fully recharge.

Stress is an adaptation reaction of the body. If life gets dangerous or difficult, the body releases extra energy.

The blood circulation of the stomach and the intestines shuts down: digestion can wait.

Instead the heart pumps more blood into the muscles. They should have enough nutrients and oxygen to run away or fight.

Stress hormones increase blood sugar and blood pressure. When you are stressed out, you can better take on opponents or escape.

Evolutionary, all this was necessary: Without stress humans, just like many animal species, would never have been able to assert themselves on earth.

Even though in our day and age the stress response doesn’t hold the evolutionary significance it once had, a lot of us regard it as something positive, that makes us vigilant and helps us perform in a highly demanding environment.

Some people even become addicted to it and purposefully seek it out whenever they can.

And yes, stress can be exhilarating and helpful when we want to get things done.

The danger for mind and body sets in when stress becomes a chronic condition, from which there is no more escape.

Over time chronic stress can even lead to a mental illness, such as depression or anxiety or a myriad of physical illnesses, like heart disease, strokes, cancer and diabetes.