Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation: use, phases and effects

In the last decade, the boom in the prescription of relaxation techniques in the field of clinical and health psychology is attributed to the palpable evidence of an acceleration in the rhythm of life that the human being has been incorporating as a habitual way of functioning daily.

This type of practice is intended to act not only as a type of intervention in reducing personal stress, but also as an effective alternative in preventing the appearance of it. Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation is one of the most used; Next we will see its characteristics, its phases and how it is carried out.

Basics of relaxation techniques

Relaxation is considered as a response contrary to the tension or stress response.

In the stress response there is an activation of the sympathetic branch of the Autonomic nervous system (SNA). The SNA is the part of the body that controls involuntary actions, such as heart and respiratory rate, contraction and dilation of blood vessels, digestion, salivation, sweating, etc.

The Antónomo Nervous System is divided into the sympathetic nervous system (which prepares the individual for action) and the parasimatic nervous system. (which performs functions opposite to the first such as maintaining a body state of rest after an effort, reducing the stress level of the organism).

Relaxation produces an activation of the parasympathetic branch of the SNA. Therefore, relaxation can be considered as a state of hypoactivation.

• Related article: "6 easy relaxation techniques to combat stress"

What is relaxation?

The definition given from the psychology of emotions proposes to conceptualize relaxation as the physiological, subjective and behavioral state that is experienced during the occurrence of an intense emotion but of the opposite sign (especially regarding unpleasant emotions such as anger, stress or aggressiveness). Therefore, relaxation allows to counteract the physiological activation effects derived from this type of emotions, as well as becoming a very useful resource to reduce anxiety, fears or symptoms of depression.

Other benefits of relaxation consist of: improvement of blood flow, blood pressure and heart rate, optimization of brain wave function, regulation of breathing rhythm, favors muscle distension, increasing the feeling of calm and general vitality, allowing a higher level attention for. In short, relaxation has the ability to provide the body with a state of well-being facilitating an adequate synchrony between the physiological and psychological functioning of the individual.

More specifically, relaxation has the following fundamental objectives: reducing or eliminating daily stresses, increasing the general well-being, promotion of self-knowledge, increase of self-esteem, enhancement of the performance of the subject's activity, improvement in coping with disturbing situations or certain personal conflicts, and derived from this, opting for more interpersonal relationships satisfactory.

General considerations of the procedures

First of all, an aspect that must be taken into account when putting this type of technique into practice is the fact that it is a set of learning that will be perfected as they are applied. The process requires a training phase that allows you to achieve better and better results after the exercises, so practice is an essential requirement to assess its effectiveness.

The time spent on relaxation exercises ranges from 30-40 minutes a day for the first two weeks to later reduce the duration of the activity to about 10 minutes or spacing it every two days, for example.

When putting the training into practice, it should be taken into account that relaxation should be done as a priority in a quiet and quiet room, away from interruptions, and with a pleasant temperature and moderate light (although it is not exclusive). In addition, it is recommended that the person wear comfortable and loose clothing.

Effects of these techniques

When the goal of relaxation is to calm the high physiological arousal in a situation intense anxiety, shorter relaxation procedures are used, adapted to the type of situation in which concrete. When the purpose is to lower the level of general activation, it is recommended to carry out the most extensive exercise in terms of time in a calm context free of environmental stimulation.

As the training phase is completed, the individual increases your perception of self-efficacy in handling stressful situations and in maintaining a relaxed general state of high well-being, reducing the probability that new episodes of increased anxiety level may occur.

Training also allows greater self-control of disturbing thoughtsSince, as indicated above, the physiological and psychological states are closely related to each other. Relaxation techniques are usually applied as one more component of an intervention more complete psychological area where the emotional, cognitive and behavioral.

On the other hand, it should be noted that depending on the individual, the practice of relaxation can cause him to experience new sensations unfamiliar to him. Since it is a totally common aspect, it is only recommended that the person know the type of reactions that may take place previously and the reason why they occur. Some of these sensations may consist of: heaviness of a part of the body or the opposite, a feeling of lightness; Cushioning sensation in the extremities; as well as tingling, feeling of immobility or abandonment of the body, etc.

Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation

This technique was developed in 1929 and today it is one of the most widely used. Consists in learn to tense and relax the different muscle groups of the body.

Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation is based on the fact that the stress response generates a series of thoughts and behaviors that cause muscle tension in the person. This tension increases the subjective perception of anxiety. Progressive relaxation reduces this muscle tension, and with it the feeling of anxiety.

At a procedural level, the training takes place over a minimum of seven weeks. During this period, the user will have to learn to tense and relax 16 muscle groups throughout the body: hands, forearms, biceps, shoulders, forehead, eyes, jaw, throat, lips, neck, nape, back, chest, abdomen, legs (thighs and calves).

The voltage phase is done for the user learn to perceive the sensations associated with the appearance of anxiety or tension, these sensations being the ones that will indicate to the person to relax. This muscle tension allows the muscles to relax even more than if they had previously relaxed tense. At the end of the training, you will learn to relax your muscles directly without putting them under tension.

Phases

In Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation the following phases are usually followed:

1. For the first two weeks, tensing and then relaxing all 16 muscle groups will be practiced each day.
2. In the third week, the time to relax is reduced.
3. During the fourth week, you learn to relax directly without putting the muscles previously in tension.
4. In the fifth and sixth week you learn to be relaxed while doing various activities while sitting and also while standing and walking.
5. In the last week, quick relaxation is practiced many times a day in non-stressful situations.
6. Finally, relaxation begins to be applied in anxiety-provoking situations, starting with those situations that cause less anxiety. Once anxiety is reduced in this situation, we move on to the next one.

Realization

More specifically, in each tension-strain exercise the user must tense a group of muscles for about five or eight seconds. Later, he will focus his attention on the sensation that he is experiencing before this muscular tension. After these seconds, the person will relax this group of muscles for ten or fifteen seconds, to then concentrate on the sensations that he experiences in the relaxed zone.

Regarding the posture to maintain during the activity, this can be done in three different positions:

• Sitting in an armchair, with your head supported, as well as your back and feet resting on the floor. The arms are relaxed on the thighs.

• Lying on a hard surface, to have the whole body supported and the head slightly elevated.

• Coachman's posture, sitting in a chair, with the body leaning forward, the head resting on the chest and the arms on the legs.

Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation Application

Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation focuses on teaching the practitioner to distinguish between the sensation of tension and distension in the different parts of the body in which the training is distributed, in total 16 groups muscular.

From that moment on, the subject will be able to optimally control which daily situations cause each of the feelings of tension-distension and how you should proceed to loosen muscle groups in case you notice an excess of tension. Tense situations usually, when relating to less pleasant emotions, they decrease with training, so that the state of emotional and psychological well-being of the individual tends to progressively increase.

Example

As an example of the application instructions, the following formulas can be used:

Inductive phrases are introduced in a comfortable, quiet place with little distracting stimulation calm like “You are comfortable and relaxed, you can hear your breathing, no noises are heard only the be quiet...". Subsequently, starting to work the first muscle group, the following instructions are followed:

1. Direct attention to the right arm, to the right hand in particular, close it, shake it with force, and observe the tension that is produced in the hand, and in the forearm (for about 5 or 8 seconds).

2. Stop straining, relax your hand and let it rest where you have it resting. Observe the difference between tension and relaxation (10-15 seconds).

3. Clench your right fist again and feel the tension in the hand and forearm, watch it carefully (10-15 seconds).

4. And now loosen muscles and stop straining allowing the fingers to relax relaxed. Notice once again the difference between muscle tension and relaxation (10-15 seconds).

And so on with the rest of the muscle groups: hands, forearms, biceps, shoulders, forehead, eyes, jaw, throat, lips, neck, nape, back, chest, abdomen, legs (thighs and calves).

In short, training in Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation requires, as has been observed, the systematic application, structured and well sequenced of the set of procedures that have been exposed in order to achieve a level of effectiveness suitable. It is understood, therefore, that it is the practice maintained over time that will allow further improvement in its realization, in such a way that these types of exercises are internalized as a new daily habit daily.