Stress, which is the experience of feeling mentally tense or worried about a situation, is a basic survival instinct honed over the millennia of human evolution. It is the body’s natural response to address actual or potential threats and challenges that confront us.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the response to stressful situations could include, among others, feelings of anxiety or irritability; finding it difficult to concentrate, eat or sleep; or experiencing physical discomforts such as headaches, or an upset stomach. Chronic stress has been also shown to worsen pre-existing health problems and lead to, or increase, substance abuse.
Stress can also exacerbate mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, and, if left unaddressed, can affect our ability to function normally. Pressures of modern life means that everyone today experiences some form of physiological or psychological stress in their life. While a little bit of stress is good and can help us better perform daily activities, too much stress can be detrimental to our health and well-being. Recognizing that you are stressed and need to relax is the first step to learning how to cope with this condition.
But, if trying to relax makes you feel even more stressed, then you may be experiencing what is commonly termed as ‘stresslaxing’, and clinically referred to as ‘relaxation induced stress’. Psychologists use this term to describe the counterproductive experience of people, who are already stressed by anxiety or depression, when they force themselves to relax and ‘de-stress’.
Over the process of evolution, the human brain, in particular, the amygdala portion of the brain — which is always on the lookout for potential threats to our safety — has developed to be always ‘on’ and primed to resist any forced relaxation. Studies show that people who live with anxiety, worry, and tend to overthink about situations, often have difficulties with cognitive control, meaning they find it hard to put certain thoughts ‘on hold’.
Mental health experts opine that besides internal body dynamics that lead people to feel ‘stresslaxed’, there could also be external pressures, such as work, study, family, or other commitments that make it difficult for people to relax. These people feel they need to be constantly ‘switched on’ and alert to the outside world, as they subconsciously believe that spending time on relaxing and unwinding can lead to ‘missing-out’ on opportunities.
Sociologists point out that the ‘stresslaxing’ phenomena is increasingly evident in today’s world, where boundaries of work and leisure have merged. This is especially so among people who engage in ‘work-at-home’ routines, where they are often on alert all the time so as to avoid missing a call, message or video link from the office.
Interestingly, there are also people who become ‘stresslaxed’ due to feeling they need to remain engaged on social media 24×7, so as not to miss-out on the latest digital message, clip or gossip, irrespective of whether it is work or leisure time. This constant engagement and the feeling they cannot afford to relax, not only leads to lower productivity and increased anxiety or depression, it also leaves people in a state of chronic stress.
Besides psychological risks, chronic stress caused by not being able to relax can also lead to, or increase, physiological conditions such as high blood pressure, which raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Inability to de-stress can also increase fatigue, ulcers, headaches, backaches, difficulty in concentrating, and irritability.
Doctors point out that depression and anxiety, as well as social, relational and interpersonal difficulties can surge among people who cannot find time to relax and unwind.The state of being in a state of constant alertness causes the nervous system to become over-stimulated, which makes it difficult to elicit a relaxation response in such people.
Appropriate and intentional relaxation practices are then needed to reset the nervous system to its default state. Intentional relaxation counteracts the negative effects of stress and returns our nervous system to a homeostatic balance. The relaxation process can be triggered through visualization, muscle relaxation, massage, breathing techniques, meditation, prayer, and yoga.
However, before engaging in such practices it is important to understand that relaxation is not a passive activity and that it does not come naturally to everyone. There is also a misconception among many people that relaxation equates to ‘zoning out’. While appearing to be similar, they are two different conditions of the mind. Zoning out is the state of not being aware of what is said or done before a person for a period of time.
While ‘zoning out’ certainly gives our brain a break, it does not achieve the real goal of relaxation, which is to ‘downshift’ our nervous system. This downshifting is an active process designed to elicit the ‘relaxation response’, which is the physiological opposite of the fight-or-flight response.
Below are some of the tactics that could get the relaxation process in motion
- Set boundaries between work and home life
- Switch off digital devices early each night
- Make self-care a priority.
- Learn how to live in the moment. Begin by sitting in a comfortable position, closing your eyes, intentionally relaxing all the muscles, beginning at your feet and working up to your head, breathing slowly, for 20 minutes.
- Focus on a ‘done’ list rather than a ‘to-do list’, so you can recall what you have already accomplished. The traditional ‘to-do’ list leads to thinking about the future, which prevents you from being in the present. The ‘done’ list brings you to the present, it celebrates what targets have been achieved and encourages relaxation.
- Engage in five-minute meditation. Studies show that even five minutes of deep breathing, silence, and restfulness can enhance mental and physical functioning..
- Feed your senses and ground yourself in the moment by using the ‘5,4,3,2,1 Technique’, which helps you relax more readily by reducing anxiety. Find five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste, while breathing slowly and deeply.
