As I have previously pointed out in a post “stress” is a reaction in the body. It is a response to any stimulus (called a stressor) that the organism considers dangerous, repellant or offensive. The response, also known as the “fight or flight” response is nonspecific. If it gets chronic it can lead to a vast array of health problems.
Our daily life is packed with stressors. They are everywhere and seem to be the backbone of our modern life. Consequently, stress-related diseases are widespread and make up a significant part of our health issues. Is there anything we can do to decrease the disease burden related to stress? With stressors being impossible to evade, what can we do to at least slow down the harmful impacts of chronic stress response?
In the 70s, Dr. Herbert Benson, a Harvard cardiologist, found something that seems very promising in coping with stress. While stress response is, in essence, a hyper-arousal state, Dr. Benson and his colleagues found that by using different techniques, we can provoke a completely different reaction in the body. They called this reaction the “Relaxation Response.”
Some of the characteristics of the relaxation response are desensitization of the limbic system which leads to decreased activity of the sympathetic nervous system, reduced heart rate and a decrease in respiratory rate, oxygen consumption and CO2 elimination, to name only a few. In a nutshell, the relaxation response is a “hypo-arousal state” which is a complete antidote to the hyperarousal state of the stress response.
It is important to remember that relaxation response is not a technique, it is a physiological response to some techniques. Many methods can induce the relaxation response. Some are already known and widely practiced by many people around the world. Different forms of meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, tai chi, controlled breathing, imagery and hypnosis are some of the techniques that can be used to elicit the relaxation response. None of these relaxation techniques have any advantages over the others in producing the relaxation response. Each method may work for some people and fail for others. Any technique that breaks the chain of daily thoughts and makes us concentrate and stay in mental and physical silence may cause a relaxation response.
There are rare reports of some side-effects for the relaxation techniques. These include people with psychotic disorders, major affective disorders, patients on certain medications, and those with dysfunctional thyroid conditions, and delusion conditions. With these groups, the use of relaxation techniques should be done with some precautions. Otherwise, the methods are safe for most people.
Can we use the relaxation response to treat stress-related disorders? Many studies show that “relaxation therapy” has been useful in the treatment or reducing the symptoms or improving the prognosis of many stress-related disorders. The disorders include chronic pain, Irritable bowel syndrome, coronary heart disease, anxiety and panic disorders, hypertension, tension headaches, insomnia, psoriasis and some forms of arthritis. However, this branch of medicine is very new to the scientific world. For many diseases, we still do not have sufficient data as to the effectiveness of these therapies. On the other hand, a disease is a multi-faceted phenomenon, with many factors in play; so it takes time to make sure how these modalities may help. For now, we know that at least for some patients these techniques have been useful. It is essential to remember that all of these techniques are not supposed to replace the regular therapies of the patient. They should only be used as an adjunct to proper medical treatments.
For healthy people, They are like taking a shower, a cleansing method. They remove the effects of stress to start with a fresh mind and body. Now we know that these methods not only have the wisdom of ages, but also the support of the science.
