Reduce Stress with Progress Relaxation Exercises for Fibromyalgia
Reduce Stress with Progress Relaxation Exercises for Fibromyalgia
Article by Colin Gibson
According to medical journals, fibromyalgia is a medical condition that affects muscles, joints or tendons where patients experience great pain. Although the real cause of this disease is unknown, many specialists consider stress to be a major factor along with physical illnesses. Aside from the fact that fibromyalgia causes pain, there are other symptoms that patients may experience such as headaches, dizziness, daytime fatigue or sleeplessness. It is highly important to reduce stress during daytime activities. Therefore, performing progress relaxation exercises will help to slow down fibromyalgia symptoms.
What relaxation exercises are effective for fibromyalgia?
Aerobic exercises are recommended for those who suffer from fibromyalgia. There are few aerobic exercises that can help relax the muscles and tendons, relieving the pain caused by this medical condition. Exercises like swimming or brisk walking are proven to give positive results for fibromyalgia patients, by stretching sore muscles and reducing stress as well. However, aerobic exercises are known to be exhausting; therefore, is it highly important to perform them with precaution. Three half-hour sessions every week are more than sufficient.
As mentioned above, stress is the primarily factor that causes fibromyalgia, therefore an exercise oriented to stress reduction should not miss from any progress relaxation exercises program. Deep breathing is an exercise that supplies the body with a higher amount of oxygen, which will help eliminating stress accumulated during daytime activities. It is an exercise that is performed slowly by inhaling air through the nose until the lungs are filled with air. After holding breath for about three seconds, the air can be eliminated as slowly as inhalation. Regardless the position the exercise is performed, it should be done in sessions of ten minutes at least three times a day. Moreover, the breathing exercise should be executed for more than one week in order to be effective.
Another way to relieve the pain and reduce stress caused by fibromyalgia, is to practice a specific form of martial art, called tai chi. According to some studies, tai chi exercises had a big impact on patients who suffered from fibromyalgia, reducing the stress, pain and even sleep disorders. Tai chi is a deep relaxation martial art that focuses on breathing, meditation and self-control. Although it should be practiced for at least 12 weeks, the patients who tried this method had major improvements. This type of martial art can be performed at home by renting or buying DVD’s or educational materials that can be found anywhere on the internet.
Progressive muscle relaxation is one of the easiest exercises to perform. It can be done at home while lying in bed or sitting down by tensing the muscles where the pain is experienced and keeping them tensed for about ten seconds. The exercise can begin from the feet and all the way to the head. It is important to perform it slowly in order to feel relaxation.
What should be considered when starting a fibromyalgia relaxation exercises program?
Many experts recommend that progress relaxation exercises should not be done during or just after the body was subjected to stress such as driving or performing hard tasks because the patients who suffer from fibromyalgia have weak bodies and they can easily be injured. Therefore, it is important to have a rested body before starting any type of relaxation exercise.
http://fibromyalgiaandtreatment.org
About the Author
I retired two years ago after working for the same company for forty years. So I decided to keep fit by doing a lot of walking and lifting medium weights.Then I decided to channel some of my time to writing articles about people problems.
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