Tips to help you relax this august
We believe self-care includes removing the word ‘should’ from our vocabularies. Many of us go through life telling ourselves that we ‘should be’ doing something or feel that needing a break means we are weak. We forget that we create our own expectations of ourselves and thus can adapt to how we feel about taking a break. Some find it easy, others not so much. But it is important to listen to our bodies and minds when they are telling us to slow down.
This August 15th, we wanted to celebrate Relaxation Day. We asked students who found it particularly hard to relax to do some research and experimentation. Below are the six tips we asked them to try…read on to see how each suggestion lived up to the test!
- Breathing exercises
Completing deep breathing exercises regularly will help our overall physical and mental well-being and help in stressful situations. Many free guided meditation apps, online videos and courses will teach you deep breathing and meditation, such as this breathing video by the college.
- Warm baths
Warm baths or steam showers can help relax your muscles and improve circulation, whilst wrapping yourself in a blanket with hot water bottles can make you feel comforted and cosy. Feeling warm and relaxed helps with inflammation and pain and reduces stress and anxiety.
- Soothing music
Music can turn a bad day into a good one and drive many feelings and emotions. A sad song during a challenging time can force us to feel deep negative emotions and process difficult experiences, whilst playing something happy can lift our mood. Calming music like classical, soft-pop, soothing folk music, and nature sounds can help you relax. This playlist created by a music therapist can also help reduce anxiety. Feeling all of our emotions is useful for managing our mental health, so it can be useful to have curated playlists for each emotion at the ready.
- Write
Writing can be relaxing as it forces us to slow down and enjoy the time for ourselves. It can help us reflect and gain clarity about what is troubling us, and exploring our creativity offers it’s own therapeutic practices. You can explore writing creatively for well-being more by joining courses like writing for self-expression.
- Exercise
Even when we feel exhausted, exercise contributes to positive mental wellbeing as it reduces stress hormones and increases the release of endorphins, making us feel happier. For immediate relaxation, walking, gardening, yoga, tai-chi and other forms of gentle exercise can help. A blog written by one of our lived experience tutors introduces how qi-gong can contribute to improved mental health.
- Food
It might seem like a strange one, but food can affect mood. For example, complex carbs contribute to serotonin, which calms the brain; whilst eating oranges can reduce stress hormones. Spinach, tuna, tea, pistachios, avocados, almonds, raw veggies, and milk can also contribute to feeling more relaxed by helping us feel calmer, giving us more vitamins, or breaking down stress hormones. It can also be important to look at the ingredients of factory-made items, as many contain chemicals to influence the texture and taste of an item, which may negatively affect emotions, weight and more.
Having decided who will follow which tip, it’s time to test them! I'll see you in the next post with the results.