The Power Of Relaxation
You have the capacity to have a profound effect on your health and wellbeing, according to research.
A study at Harvard University found that people trained in relaxation response techniques were able to affect gene expression.
This research is very important as it demonstrates that people can influence how their genes work in the body, how the body deals with stress and the potential impact we can have on many medical conditions.
The relaxation response is the ability to decrease sympathetic arousal, or fight or flight mechanism, in favour of the parasympathetic nervous system activation, which has many beneficial effects.
Twenty volunteers were trained for 8 weeks in a number of relaxation response techniques, including meditation, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, breathing exercises and guided imagery.
Genetic analysis of the participants blood found that 1561 genes were affected after the 8 weeks.
874 genes were ‘turned up’.
687 were ‘turned down’.
It was found that 2209 genes were affected amongst people who had been practicing these techniques long term.
In his book ‘How The Mind Can Heal Your Body’, David Hamilton describes this turning up and down as being a bit like a dimmer switch on a light.
Many of the genes that were affected had a role to play in how the body responds to oxidative stress.
When we experience stress, including mental and emotional stress; for instance worry and upset, the body produces free radicals.
Free radicals cause damage to the body- called oxidative stress and this has a negative effect on many health conditions.
The research demonstrated that the relaxation techniques can consequently have a positive effect on many medical conditions and that the benefits come after a short period of practice.
Why Is This Important?
I have encountered people with ME/CFS who believe that:
- ME/CFS is caused by a virus
- There is not much that they can do about this condition
- They have to wait for researchers to find a cure
- They are at the mercy of their genes as it has been suggested that there is a genetic component.
Whilst there is a need for more research to see exactly how these techniques impact ME/CFS sufferers, it does make a strong case for the importance of practicing these techniques and the benefits of doing so.
As I state in my free report, of course what is going on when we are not meditating or practicing relaxation techniques is also important, as we now know how physical, mental and emotional stress is affecting the body.
I also suggest that periods of feeling worse may be due to stress.
Of course, this is obvious to many people!
However, what is often less obvious to people, based on many conversations I have had with people with ME/CFS, is that the periods of feeling better may be related to periods of feeling relaxed.
You have probably noticed improvements in wellbeing, but may not have linked the improvements to a lack of stress/feeling relaxed.
So pushing yourself too much physically, worrying, feeling upset and frustrated will have an impact on your body.
Conversely managing oneself physically, mentally and emotionally are going to be beneficial.
So for example, getting things off your chest by talking to someone you trust or being part of a supportive group can help.
I have written an article about the importance of rest which explore strategies for managing our energy.
You can read it here
Positive Steps
So consider what steps you are already taking and can build on, or can take to practice some relaxation techniques.
The more consistent you are, the greater the potential benefits.
So are you committed to daily practice, once, twice or three times a day?
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SIMON PIMENTA is a hypnotherapist, coach and trainer working with people to boost resilience and performance, and minimise stress. After working in a demanding job as the Director of a Housing Trust, he went off sick and remained unable to work for the next 8 years. He discovered a pioneering approach to resolving health issues and quickly got back his health, and now trains others using these same techniques, to help them become happier, healthier and achieve their goals.
This makes total sense to me! Stress has a terrible effect on most illnesses (especially the chronic variety). The better I deal with stress, the better I tend to feel.
It does, doesn’t it Lara? I agree with you, I believe that handling stress has an impact, and it is the basis of how I work with people.