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When you think of relaxation, do you imagine yourself lounging by the pool with a refreshing drink or curled up with a good book?
Aside from vacationing, most of us tend to underestimate the importance of rest. Sure, we love to chill on the couch or spend way too much time sick in bed, but that’s not necessarily the same as real rest. You may be sitting still, but are you actually relaxing your body and mind?
For real restoration, you have to activate your body’s built-in relaxation response. When you move away from the typical stress response of your sympathetic nervous system, your parasympathetic nervous system will slow down your heart rate and breathing, lower your blood pressure and support good digestion. It’s in this ‘rest and digest’ state that regeneration and healing can occur.
The great news is: you can produce this relaxation response whenever you want to. All it takes, is doing something that both releases tension from your body, slows your breathing and quiets your mind. Think of yoga and meditation, for example, but simpler practices like vividly visualizing relaxing scenarios also work.
If you find it difficult to stop the thoughts running through your head and let go of tension in your body, the Flowly app can help out. In this patented relaxation training, you go through different relaxation exercises in beautifully calming Virtual Reality. In the Virtual Reality experience, you get to see your real-time heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) in front of you. Then through guided breathing and voice-over, Flowly will show you how to control your heart and nervous system so you can transition to a state of ‘rest and digest.’ This type of experience is called biofeedback. Flowly teaches you how to easily tap into that state of deep rest and to better regulate your nervous system.
So if you’d like to really relax and recharge this season, get inspired by these 10 relaxation quotes to put more ‘me-time’ on your to-do list!
Do you make enough time for real rest and relaxation?
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