You can’t feel stressed and relaxed at the same time. Actively relaxing your muscles dissolves the tension in your body and calms your mind, making it easier to cope with whatever life throws at you. 

Dr Neera Dholakia will be guiding you through a practical session on deep muscle relaxation in this Episode 5 Impactful 10: Progressive Muscle Relaxation.

Your Better Mental Wellbeing is a weekly podcast helping you to manage stress and build resilience with easy evidence-based tools.

We're your hosts, Neera and Soen.

Dr Neera Dholakia is a GP for Boots Online Doctor and the NHS. She is an expert in mental wellbeing and has extensive experience designing mental health services whilst working for NHS England, Healthy London Partnership and mental health trusts. As well as promoting self-care, she also works to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Soen Trueman is a full stack developer with Boots Online Doctor, specialising in graphics design, user experience, and user behaviour. Soen’s interests in behavioural analysis extends to psychology and further to neuroscience, which he is currently studying at Harvard University.

This week's tools:

This muscle relaxation will reduce the body’s stress reaction and so reduce your heart rate, your blood pressure, your breathing rate, and your startle reflex. And as your body feels less stressed, your thoughts will also be calmer, more logical and rational. By reducing muscle tension, you can also dial down pain that has developed as a result of built-up tension. This deep relaxation helps to relax your body and restore your mind into its calm, resting state. 

You move progressively through your whole body from one muscle group to the next, tensing and releasing. By focusing on the sensations of tension and relaxation, you learn how your body feels when your muscles are tense and relaxed, and which areas you might need to concentrate on more. You only need to tense to a moderate tension, avoiding discomfort or cramp. 

You can do this in the moment when you need it, or practise it regularly to build up its beneficial effect. Many people find it helps them to sleep too.

[00:56] Understanding the Benefits of Muscle Relaxation

[02:29] Guided Progressive Muscle Relaxation Exercise

[08:28] Final Relaxation

Join us next week when we discuss: Taming your Worries in Today's World

Find our more:

For transcripts visit our website: https://yourbettermentalwellbeing.show

For great health, lifestyle and wellbeing information visit: https://onlinedoctor.boots.com

The information in this podcast is not intended to replace your own GP or other doctor’s professional medical advice.