Using Progressive Muscle Relaxation to Ease Stress

Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique that can help you ease stress by relaxing one muscle group at a time. You can use the technique at home, at work, or elsewhere. Here are some easy instructions.
Relaxing your muscles step by step

Following these directions can help you ease stress through muscle relaxation:

• Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down for a few minutes. Take off your shoes and loosen any tight clothing so that you can relax completely.

• Take a few deep breaths. Breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose, then exhale slowly through your mouth.

• Hold out your right arm, make a fist with your hand, and tense your entire arm for a slow count of 10. Then relax your right arm and fist for a slow count of 10.

• Repeat the preceding step using your left hand and fist.

• Continue to tense and relax all of your muscle groups: shoulders, legs and feet (holding your leg out if you’re sitting), stomach, neck, face, and buttocks. When you are tensing one group of muscles, all the others should be relaxed. You may have to work a bit to get your arms to relax while tensing your shoulders.

• Finish by tensing your entire body all at once, including your face, to a slow count of 10 and relaxing it to a slow count of 10.

If you have a physical problem, such as arthritis, tense the body part that is affected only to the point that it does not cause pain. Skip the muscle group altogether if it is painful.

Doing this exercise three or four times a day can help you keep stress from feeling overwhelming. You can do a shortened version of it (relaxing only your arm muscles, for example) while sitting on a bus or at a desk or standing in line at a store or movie theatre.

Once you’ve been doing this exercise for a while, you’ll know what it feels like when certain muscles are tense and relaxed. This will help you notice tension earlier and take steps to deal with it before it becomes a problem.
Exercises to do at your desk or workstation

You can adapt progressive muscle relaxation exercises for use at your desk or workstation. Here are two variations:

• Head-to-toe relaxation. If possible, turn down the lights or close the blinds near your workspace and play relaxing music on a portable music player with headphones. Then sit in a comfortable position at your desk or workstation and relax each muscle, starting at the top of your head. Slowly continue relaxing your muscles, moving from your scalp to your forehead, your jaw, and other parts of your body until you reach your toes.

• Relax a specific muscle group. If you don’t have time for head-to-toe relaxation, you may find it helpful to relax just few muscle groups. For example, if you often feel tension in your neck and shoulders, try relaxing only the muscles between the top of your head and your shoulders.

You may want to try both of these techniques at home so that you’ll know which would work better for if you have a tense day at the office.

If you need other ideas on using muscle relaxation to ease stress, or on managing stress, contact LifeWorks.

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