Jump Start: Self Care September: Day 20

It’s the 20th day of the whole Jump Start, and Day 6 of our Relax and Sleep Better Week. Today, like the man said, we’re looking at how some people might need some tension to relax.

In particular, let’s look at Progressive Muscle Relaxation. No chanting, no hippy stuff, you can systematically just tense and relax all your main muscle groups in turn and it should help you to feel a lot better.

It goes without saying that if you’re ill or injured in any way you shouldn’t strain any muscles, but if in doubt then please always check with your GP before doing any exercises.

For everyone else, it should be pretty straightforward. Progressive muscle relaxation has been in the public domain for many years and there are plenty of instructions for it available for free.

For example, there are written instructions at:

• Patient.co.uk
• AnxietyBC.com
• cci.health.wa.gov.au and various other places

If you prefer to download a podcast, there’s one at:

• University of Limerick

And  there are also some free YouTube videos, such as:

• InnerHealthStudio (search ‘progressive muscle relaxation’ to find others)

And free, simple apps such as:

• Relax Me for Android
• Relaxation App – Guided relaxation for iOS

Try it for a few minutes and see how you get on. If you like it, try to do it more regularly.