Ease your muscles

It’s bye-bye time for muscle tensions. Muscle tension is a very common issue which could have several causes and the best way to deal with it is to know what triggers it for you. Stressed out muscles is one such way of our bodies telling you to ‘stop, and take a break’. WTN is here with certain tips to relax your muscles.

What is muscle stress?

Muscle tension is often the result of poor circulation, inflammation and stressful conditions. When undergoing anxiety, body produces stress response, which oozes stress harmones into the bloodstream.  As a result of this response, the muscles contract and become even more resilient to attack in dangerous situations.

When stress responses occur either too dramatically or frequently, the body enters a state of emergency readiness and becomes hyperstimulated – causing muscles to remain tense throughout.  The tension can be felt in the face, jaw, neck, shoulder, chest, arms, legs, hands lower back and stomach elimination tract, groin, and even feet muscles.  Though short-term muscle pain is apparently harmless, it could sometimes lead to excruciating pain.

Some remedies

Muscle tension is often manageable. So, why live with it when there are ways to cure it. Check out these tips on getting over with muscle tension.

·   Sleep well: Ensure you sleep for full eight hours and wake up feeling fresh. This way you can alleviate and prevent tight muscles.

·   Stay hydrated: Muscle tissues have 75 per cent of water. Staying hydrated keeps the cells supple and flushes out the toxins.

·   Breath deep: Breathing techniques breaks down lactic acid and improves circulation. Try the abdominal breathing technique with one hand on the chest and the other on the stomach when you are heading for stressful conditions like meetings or examinations. Some of the other breathing exercises are, alternate nostril breathing, equal count breathing and kapalabhati.

·   Take breaks: You must essentially de-stress and take breaks between hectic schedules. If required just going to a nearby resort or some place where you are simply ‘out of range’ will be really helpful.

·   Have a pet: Pets are excellent stress-busters and great companions. They offer unconditional love, churn your emotional chord and distract you from your problems. Spending time with them sometimes could give better results than discussing troubles with best friends or spouse.

·   Dietary supplements: Muscles crave for protein. Hence having spinach, almonds and nuts, fish, poultry, lean meats, nuts, lentils and quinoa will help nourish your muscles. While anti-oxidants reduce and heal muscle damage, magnesium relieves muscle tension.  Similarly, potassium can be found in beans, yams, potatoes, bananas, greens and cooked tomatoes. Reduce sugar and replace white flour products with whole grains, vegetables and legumes.

·   Try massage, acupuncture or acupressure: A complete massage for the body or particular tensed muscles from a certified therapist helps stress dissipate from your muscles. The professional will help nutrient-rich blood to flow through and work on all the pressure points to release knots and contractions. Magnesium based creams and lotions can also be helpful.

·   Practice meditation: Meditating everyday for 20 minutes and throwing positive energy, sending positive and healing vibes to the muscles is another way to rejuvenate your body.

·   Stretch a little: Every few hours gently stretch and bend to easy your body. Do not try rigorous methods as the muscles could contract later and worsen the pain.

·   Yoga wonders: Yoga gently relaxes the muscles by improving postures and provides strengthens them. The age old practice is one of the best ways of easing the tension while simultaneously working on your breath.

·   Bathe with warm water: Enjoy a warm bath. This will loosen the muscles. However, a hot water bath can increase the body metabolism. Also, try magnesium rich bath salts on a regular basis.

–windowtonews