Why you need to relax - the low down on winding down

Home > Psychology Articles > Hypnosis and hypnotherapy > Why you need to relax - the low down on winding down

Understand the difference between hypnosis and relaxation and why we need to relax

We need to relax more, not just as individuals but as whole societies and cultures. Times have changed.

Biologically we need to go slow sometimes, to zone out and relax.

Culturally life demands we be constantly focused and active.

If not properly managed, these cultural pressures can wreak huge damage on our health and efficiency.

Of course, better technology brings all kinds of advantages, but while it clearly can reduce some pressures we encounter in life, it can also create new, unanticipated, pressures. Cars are wonderful in some ways, but trying to rush to work while stuck in a traffic jam is not such a good thing.

Since the invention of the clock we have been busy breaking our lives down into time segments. A wonderfully useful thing to do, which has enabled human beings to achieve what would once have been impossible feats. But if we allow the clock to drive us, we become nothing more than tools of the clock itself – nothing more than 'slaves to the machine'.

Time related stress and ultradian rhythms

Time related stress is very common; the feeling that you are playing catch-up all the time; that there just aren't enough hours in the day. Being driven by an external mechanical clock means we pay less attention to our own highly evolved yet intricate and subtle internal biological clocks.

For example, every 90 minutes or so, it's natural for the dominance in brain function to switch from left hemisphere to right hemisphere focus.

This happens so we can update new information, housekeep the body and recoup lost energy and focus. We experience this as a 'zoning out' or just 'switching off' for a few minutes (actually it should be about twenty).

This is not a sign of weakness to be fought, but a vital part of recouping lost energy and re-focusing. The so-called 'power nap' improves focus and productivity precisely because it allows for nature's natural cycles.

These shifts are known as 'ultradian rhythms'. These rhythms flow and ebb within us and if we don't heed them and relax every ninety minutes or so, then stress hormones kick in.

Effects of not heeding nature's imperative to relax

Of course, you can't always stop what you are doing every hour and a half. However, if you continually and constantly ignore nature's imperative to take time out, you will eventually find yourself suffering:

• increased uncontrolled emotionality (with all the damage that can do to your work life and relationships)
• loss of productivity
• increased likelihood of stress-induced physical illness.

More time pressures, steadily rising volumes of email, constant voicemails and text messages, more competiveness at every level - no wonder so many people find it hard to wind down.

Millions use TV, music, alcohol or drugs to change their mood in a desperate attempt to relax. The trouble is, these 'attempted solutions' to the problem of overwhelming stress tend, in the long term, to cause extra stresses themselves.

Putting boundary constraints around your time pays you huge mental and physical health dividends.

Continue reading this Hypnosis Master Series article on relaxation and discover what relaxation can really do for you.  You will also learn how you can relax quickly and deeply and really calm down when you need to.

Back to Therapy Techniques articles

blog comments powered by Disqus