Mindfulness - 3 effective methods against stress

If you succeed in calming your body, then you are. Able to better cope with mental stresses. Master. The keyword here is: mindfulness

Mindfulness – that stretches behind it

Mindfulness is a term that has only developed in recent. has been established for decades.

You can call mindfulness the natural medicine of man. This medicine will help you relieve stress. Mindfulness helps you recognize early signs of stress or strain.

For science it is an exciting. question of how we can strengthen mindfulness in a targeted and sustainable way. The American scientist Jon Kabat-Zinn has developed an effective method for this. He calls it Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.

The goal of the course, which lasts several weeks, is to become aware of the breath and to be able to observe thoughts with equanimity. To consciously trace and perceive an aroma is also part of it. For example, how often do we drink a cup of coffee for the sake of drinking a cup of coffee, rather than with pleasure?

The active practice of mindfulness is the focus. Likewise deepen relaxation.

Studies have shown that in this way our resistance to stress can be strengthened.

Mindfulness and anxiety

Regular meditation can change the activity in the batches of thought processes in the long term. Emotions and physical sensations can be regulated.

This is what brain researchers have found out.

Meditation strengthens the thalamus. This is the brain area for sensory input. These are bundled there and attention is focused.

In addition, the amygdala, the source of fear, can be dampened.

The amygdala. Is always active when you feel stress or are tense.

Mindfulness and relaxation help you alleviate stress-related physical ailments. These include, for example, headaches, sleep problems or circulatory disorders.

If you exercise regularly, you can specifically reduce arousal even in stressful situations.

What options are available to you for this?

Autogenic training

Johannes Heinrich Schultz was a German psychiatrist. He noted in the 1920s how people put themselves ( autogenic, that is, without external intervention) into a kind of trance.

A state of deep inner calm, warmth in the limbs. These individuals felt refreshed afterwards.

As a result, he has developed exercises with which everyone can, for example, regulate their breath, influence the heart rate and create a feeling of warmth.

In doing so, he always gave the same scheme.

The person practicing repeats phrases in the mind with a calming sensation. E.g. “The heart beats calmly, “The left leg is heavy”.

After only a few weeks of training, these suggestions produced the desired effect in most people: relaxation, warmth and calm.

Experienced people should also find it easier to become calmer in stressful situations and thus be able to act with confidence.

Progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive Muscle Relaxation, abbreviated PMR, is about the targeted tensing and relaxing of the muscles. As a result of tensing, relaxation is perceived more intensely.

For example, gradually tense and relax all parts of the body.

The face, arms and legs, hands, feet, torso. Today, the simplified variant of Jacobson is widely used. Here, too, the goal is to be able to perceive more and more precisely in which degree of tension the individual muscles are.

Whether PMR influences the activity in the central nervous system as assumed could not be clearly proven so far. What is clear from research, however, is that active muscle relaxation reduces pain sensitivity and trained individuals react more calmly in stressful situations.

Meditation

During meditation, a relaxation reaction occurs in the body.

This state counteracts a stress reaction, the body regains its balance. The blood pressure and pulse rate decrease, while breathing slows down.

Internally, a sense of calm sets in and the negative effects of stress slowly recede. With regular meditation even permanently.

Scientific studies show that meditation changes our brain in the long term.

Using a brain scan, scientists were able to demonstrate how new pathways form in the brain just 11 hours after meditation.

This change enables people who meditate regularly to react more calmly in stressful situations and prevent stress-related illnesses.