What does it mean to really relax?
When you hear “relaxation,” what image does that evoke? What is a good way to relax after work?
Spreading out on the couch in front of the TV after work may come to many minds. Some food, snacks, and beer or soda. That’s what we’ve been taught relaxation looks like. Or maybe it means chatting with a girlfriend in a cozy café, meeting colleagues for a drink at the pub, going for a jog…
While all of these can have positive effects on you, the question is, is this the true relaxation for your body?
True relaxation means that contracted muscles loosen, and emotions that have been shut down and shoveled off are released. Right, at first, this may not sound like great fun. But eventually, it is! With this kind of release, the body and mind don’t have to hold onto any redundant stuff. Kilograms including.
This type of relaxation is found on a yoga mat, in a slow, restorative yin yoga class. There are some other greatly relaxing practices such as meditation, yoga nidra with a body scan, or reiki, however, these won’t give you the deep tissue release.
Why would relaxation help to lose weight?
The short answer is stress reduction. True relaxation changes the chemistry of your body. This can be felt like a change in one’s subjective experience but also tested in a lab, by measuring one of the stress hormones, cortisol.
Cortisol is a molecule produced in the adrenals, glands that sit on top of your kidneys. This hormone on its own isn’t bad, it is helping us regulate the stress response.
The trouble comes when cortisol levels are high often and for a while. It causes fat to be stored around the waist, not only making for a “muffin top”, but also interfering with appetite control and increasing blood pressure.
Another unpleasant effect of constant and lasting stress is that to meet the life challenges, the body starts saving energy and so it slows down the metabolic rate. It means under pressure you crave unhealthy foods but your body is burning them even slower. You understand the problem.