Most of us can at some point in our lives be accused of rushing through life, on autopilot, working long hours, strained by incessant demands from here, there and everywhere. We read every day about how our mental health is being affected by stress and about the risk of burnout and probably accept the soundness of the advice to find time for relaxation and indeed would endorse it. However, few of us practice it. After all, if we reason with ourselves, relaxation is a luxury we cannot afford.
The importance of relaxation
I invite you to stop, step back, and think. Relaxation should be regarded as a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual necessity. We should recognise just how important a healthy life-balance (which includes time for personal relaxation) is for our mental and physical wellbeing and to our day-to-day sustainable work performance.
Our cognitive brain (cerebral cortex) has evolved over millions of years and allowed us to survive and flourish more than any other animal on the planet. It has made us clever enough to know when to fight or flee, when to conserve energy and when to tap into it.
Our brain also never sleeps, and neurons (brain cells) transmit information through electrical and chemical signals 5-50 times a second, and around 60,000 thoughts a day. It’s a massively hard-working, sophisticated and complex machine. But our autopilot can become overloaded with too many thoughts, too many conflicting demands and too much pressure.
We need to give our brains a break from time to time. A mind that is relaxed has a greater sense of perspective, greater ability to absorb new information and a greater capacity for clear thinking. Relaxation allows the cognitive processes to recover, to prepare for new demands calmly and thoughtfully. When we are tired, stressed and pressured by time we find ourselves making hurried decisions, often regretting them later.
Therapeutic effects of Mindfulness
Currently we are experiencing an alarming rise in the sheer number of people who are experiencing mental health issues. These have a profound impact on our relationships, our friendships, our ability to socialise or indeed to work. How we think and feel about ourselves impacts on our behaviour and how we cope in tough times. It affects our ability to make the most of opportunities. In brief, it is key to living a fulfilling life. We know that 1 in 4 people will experience mental health problems in any given year and that stress, depression or anxiety (as well as musculoskeletal disorders which often are linked to stress) accounted for the majority of days lost due to work-related ill health, 17.9 million and 8.9 million respectively in 2020.[1]
Too many of us are paying far too high a price in our relentless attempt to be everywhere, do everything, multi-task and push ourselves beyond our limits and our brains into overload simply to survive in this fast moving and complex world. We cannot go on like this and we need to do something about it before it is too late. Relaxation is therefore a necessity, a critical advantage, and not simply an indulgence. Stop brushing it aside and find the time to relax, deeply and fully.
Relaxation does not come naturally or easily for most of us. We must work at it, find those activities or exercises which allow rest and recuperation. One approach you may find works for you is Mindfulness.
The impact of Mindfulness
Mindfulness is an integrative, mind-body based approach that helps people to manage their thoughts and feelings. It is becoming widely used in a range of clinical and therapeutic settings and it is recommended by NICE[2] as a preventive practice for people with experience of recurrent depression. In one study, research has found that online mindfulness courses reduced anxiety by 58%, depression by 57% and stress by 40%[3].
Mindfulness meditation has been shown to affect both the structure and the functioning of the brain particularly in the area of the brain associated with positive emotion, the pre-frontal cortex, which is generally less active in people who are depressed.
There are many different types of mindfulness meditation applied specifically to mental health issues. For example, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) helps people cope with stress, and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is designed to help people with recurring depression. These are now seen very much as part of “mainstream” therapeutic interventions widely prescribed by GPs and Behavioural Psychologists and Psychiatrists.
But Mindfulness is not just a clinical therapeutic intervention.
It is a way in which everyone can develop the ability to slow down, relax and be more focused and more conscious of what we are doing. By incorporating mindfulness into our daily lives, even if it is only for a few minutes each day, we can build up our personal resilience which helps us to be self-aware during tough and challenging times. Mindfulness relaxes the brain and makes us more conscious and more thoughtful, which in turn enables us to make better decisions. Like anything, to get the most from this activity aim to practice it every day, embedding mindfulness as a habit.
Rather than having a ‘mind full’, you can be mindful in so many ways – walk mindfully and notice the sounds around you, take photos in the mind not on a Smart phone, and notice the small things in life; eat a mindful meal and explore the texture, smell and colour of the food, take a leisurely bath and enjoy the feel and sound of the water. Living in the moment allows us to focus, to give single-minded attention to one activity and to quality time.
In conclusion
Mindfulness is not a cure-all; life still presents challenges and throws up the unexpected and the unwanted but being more mindful provides many people with confidence and strength to manage what happens. Give it a try – find a local group if you can or follow some of the excellent on-line resources now available. You may find it works for you.
[2] National Institute for Clinical Excellence
[3] https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/mindfulness
Photo by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash
