Ep.50 Mental Health Mini Series #3 Progressive Muscle Relaxation

This episode in the Mental Health Mini Series, I, your host Amber-lee, take you through one of my favourite techniques, Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). This technique nourishes your mind and soul having a deep impact on your mental health and physiological responses to stress. Motherhood introduces unique psychological stresses, making us vulnerable to conditions like depression and anxiety. Yet, PMR stands out as a versatile tool, offering relief and resilience across life's stressful seasons; from depression and anxiety, sleep issues to managing chronic pain, stress, and more. PMR enhances emotional regulation and physical relaxation. This episode doesn't just highlight the science behind PMR's benefits; it also guides you through a practical PMR exercise by This Way Up, designed to equip you with a technique that can transform your mind and body in the perinatal period.

Join me from 7:38 in to begin PMR.

 

Disclaimer: While the content of this podcast is intended to provide support and guidance, it is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice. The techniques and practices discussed here are general in nature and may not be suitable for everyone.

If you are experiencing significant distress, mental health concerns, or trauma, I encourage you to seek support from a qualified mental health professional. Additionally, if at any point during this episode you feel overwhelmed or triggered, please turn it off and talk to someone or do something that is helpful to you.

 

Finding Support in Australia:

PANDA.org.au 

1300 726 306

COPE.org.au

Beyond Blue 1300 224 636

Gidget Foundation

Black Dog Institute 1300 851 758

 

Resources and References:

The Way Up: https://thiswayup.org.au/ (your mental health professional can give you free access to ThisWayUp’s resources and courses as long as they have an account).

Abera, M., Hanlon, C., Daniel, B., Tesfaye, M., Workicho, A., Grima, T., Rasmus, W., Andersen, G., Fewtrell, M., Filteau, S., & Wells, J. C. (2022). Effect of relaxation interventions in pregnant women on maternal and neonatal outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. *medRxiv*. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.17.22282468

Ahmadi M, Rahimi F, Rosta F, AlaviMajd H, Valiani M. Effect of Progressive Muscle Relaxation Training on Postpartum Blues in High-risk Pregnant Women. J Holist Nurs Midwifery. 2019; 29(4):192-199. https://doi.org/10.32598/JHNM.29.4.192

Tan, X. Y. J., Choong, S. Y. X., Cheng, L. J., & Lau, Y. (2021). Relaxation interventions for improving sleep outcomes in perinatal women: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Midwifery. Volume 103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2021.103151

Toussaint L, Nguyen QA, Roettger C, Dixon K, Offenbächer M, Kohls N, Hirsch J, Sirois F. Effectiveness of Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Deep Breathing, and Guided Imagery in Promoting Psychological and Physiological States of Relaxation. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021 Jul 2;2021:5924040. doi: 10.1155/2021/5924040. PMID: 34306146; PMCID: PMC8272667.

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Today, we're going to be doing one of my favourite exercises for your mental health. I love, love, love this exercise. I'm going to be taking you through a sequence of progressive muscle relaxation. I know it's a bit wordy, but I promise you, you're going to thank me later. So progressive muscle relaxation, or otherwise known as PMR, it works by engaging the body's natural relaxation response. So that involves activating the parasympathetic nervous system. So that's the rest and digest, the branch responsible for calming the body. After stress or danger subsides, right? So when we experienced stress that the sympathetic nervous system often referred to as the fight, flight, freeze, fawn response, that becomes activated leading to an increased heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, among many other physiological changes.

Progressive muscle relaxation counteracts this stress response by systematically tensing and then relaxing different muscle groups. This process triggers a cascade of physiological responses that promote relaxation throughout your body and hopefully your mind. And as muscles relax, your heart rate decreases, your breathing becomes deeper and slower, your body blood pressure lowers, and the stress hormones like cortisol diminish. And these changes signal to the brain that the perceived threat has passed, shifting the body into a state of rest and recovery. So over time and with regular practice, PMR can help retrain the nervous system essentially. That's pretty exciting if you ask me, so you can actually teach your Stress response or your brain to respond more calmly to stresses this not only reduces immediate feelings of tension and anxiety, but also promotes that long term resilience against stress deal and cope with stress a little better.

So I thought PMR would be a really great one for mums to be doing and practicing. Now this is something that I did when I laid down in bed at night because I found it really difficult after my second born to fall asleep and I just felt wired and heightened and I definitely was tense. It was like I was stiff as a board on my mattress. It's like I didn't, I was so stiff I couldn't feel my mattress. That's how I would describe it. So this is something that I. Incorporated into my daily routine. So every night when I went to bed, I would do a progressive muscle relaxation from head to toe, and I loved it. I felt my body sinking deeper and deeper into that mattress until I fell asleep. And sometimes I wouldn't even finish because I was just so calm and so relaxed that I would fall asleep. So that is my hope for you.

Now, progressive muscle relaxation has lots of evidence to show that it helps with depression and anxiety. So I hope that with you practicing this, you actually feel those changes within your body and within your mind.

I want to say that this is not something that I would say is a cure necessarily. It's just a really great way to manage stress. It's a really great way to decompress to defuse and to put ourselves back in that parasympathetic nervous system state without further ado, let's get started. I will say that this progressive muscle relaxation is the actual one that I practiced and you also can do a progressive muscle relaxation technique in a matter of 30 seconds. Don't feel like you've got to be doing this all body experience. It's like I remember driving in the car. And I would be clenching my fists and then relaxing my fists and just even doing something as basic as that would trigger my nervous system to go, Oh yeah, I am safe and Oh yeah, I can calm down and everything's going to be fine.

So I'm giving you the full blown PMR technique today. But. Take it as you will. I have taken this particular exercise from ThisWayUp. I did that course quite a number of years ago. A psychiatrist gave me like a login for it and I loved it so much for perinatal mental health. So a big shout out to ThisWayUp.org.au They are incredible with what they're doing.

Let's get started. Just find a quiet space where you feel like you won't really be interrupted for a couple of minutes. Dim the lights if possible. Now there are no rules. You can leave your eyes open or you can close them. Close them, whichever you prefer, and also try not to tense your muscles too tightly.

So this should not be uncomfortable or painful. So we only want to go to about 60 or 70 percent capacity. Okay. So just keep that in mind while you're doing this exercise. And don't worry if your mind wanders during this exercise either. I always say, don't put too much pressure on yourself. When you're doing something like this, we can kind of get all worked up in our head about how we're not doing it right, or how maybe we're failing at it or that we can't relax. I don't want you to get caught up in those thoughts. I just want you to come as you are and just allow yourself to be impatient. Allow yourself to feel the way that you feel. You may also feel like this is a waste of time. And that may be because you're not used to feeling relaxed.

So I just want you to pay attention to what your body and your mind are saying and doing throughout this exercise. Cause it can be really interesting if we get curious about ourselves.

Okay. First, find a comfortable position and allow your attention to focus on your It's only on your body. Close your eyes.

Let them rest lightly on a spot in front of you. Let's start with a few relaxing breaths. Take a deep breath through your abdomen. Hold for a few seconds and exhale slowly.

Again, as you breathe, notice your stomach rise and your lungs fill with air.

As you exhale, imagine the tension in your body being released and flowing out of your body.

And again, inhale

and exhale.

As you go through each step now, remember to keep breathing.

Now let's begin. Move your attention to your forehead. As you inhale, tighten the muscles in your forehead by raising your eyebrows as high as you can. And just hold here.

And release. As you release, feel the muscles of your forehead relaxing.

Breathing in and out.

Next, tighten your eye muscles by squinting your eyelids tightly shut. Hold for about five seconds. And release.

Keep breathing in and out.

Move your attention to your facial muscles. Thorough your brows, and purse your lips together tightly. Try to pull all of your facial muscles forward, towards your nose. And hold here

And release. As you release, feel that relaxation of those facial muscles. How good does that feel? Are you noticing what's tight?

Remember to breathe. Now smile widely. Feeling your mouth and your cheeks tense. And hold here.

Now release. Just appreciate the softness in your face right now.

Now bring your awareness to your jaw. Clench your jaw tightly. Feeling the tension surrounding muscles of your jaw.

And now release. Feel the tension in your jaw just now. Ebb away.[00:11:00]

Bring your focus now to your neck and shoulders. Gently pull your head back as if to look at the ceiling and hold here.

And now release. Feeling that tension just melt away.

Now shrug your shoulders towards your ears. Feel the tension in the surrounding muscles and just hold here.

And as you release, just let go of all of that tension and stress.

And let yourself sink further into your surface, your chair or [00:12:00] your bed. And keep breathing.

Now bring your awareness to between your shoulder blades. Tense your upper back by pulling your shoulders back, trying to make your shoulder blades Just touch, and just hold here,

and release.

Take in a breath, now,

and just feel that tension leave your body.

Now move your attention to your arms,

tightly, but without straining, clench your fists, and hold,

and release.

Now flex your biceps. Draw your forearms forward towards your shoulders, switching on your bicep muscles. One at a time if you like. Feel that build up of tension. And just hold here.

Now release. And just enjoy that feeling of limpness.

Now tighten your triceps by extending your arms out and locking your elbows.

Hold here

and release. Just let your arms fall down.

Now bring your attention to your upper chest. Tighten your chest by taking in a deep breath

and hold.

Exhale. Blowing out all of the tension.

Now gently arch your lower back and just hold here.

Take in a breath if you can. And as you exhale, just relax.

Just feel that limpness in your upper body. Letting go of all that tension and stress. And just enjoy relaxing. Now

bring your awareness to the buttocks area. Squeeze your glutes together. Tightening those muscles. And just hold.

And now release. Feel that tension fall away. Imagine your hips falling loose.

Now bring your attention to your thigh muscles. Tighten your thighs by pressing your knees together, as if you were holding a penny between them.

And just hold.

Now release.

Coming back to the breath. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Go at your own pace.

Now bring your awareness lower down to your calf muscles. Tighten your calf muscles by pointing your toes. And hold.

And now release.

Just enjoy that feeling.

Now bring your focus to your feet. Flex your feet. Pulling your toes forward. Towards you, and feeling the tension in your calves. And hold.

And now relax. Just feeling the weight of your legs sinking down.

Now tighten your feet by curling your toes towards the ground. And hold.

Just feel that tension.

And now release. Feeling it flow away.

Now imagine a wave of relaxation slowly spreading throughout your body, beginning at your feet, and moving all the way up through your body to the top of your head. And just feel the weight of your relaxed body, breathing in and out, in and out, in and out.

Is there any tension left in your body? If there is, go back to this muscle group and tense. Holding for five seconds before releasing. Remember to breathe.

Thank you for joining me today in your progressive muscle relaxation. Make sure, make sure that you check the show notes. You can come back to this episode at any time and try it again. Love to know what you think of this exercise. As you know, it is one that is personal to me and I love it. So until next time.

Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you're listening and would like to share your story with us or feel compelled to talk about issues surrounding women's health, please don't hesitate to reach out. We would love to hear from you. You can find us at the power of birth on Instagram and Facebook or on our website, thepowerofbirth.net. If you loved this episode, we would love it if you left us a review on whatever podcast platform you're listening on and share us with your family and friends. The conversation has to start somewhere. Thank you again for listening and we hope you join us in the next episode.