Stress is unhealthy. At least, if that stress is long-lasting. Unfortunately, we don’t get to choose when and how often we are stressed. What we can do is actively try to relieve our stress with a relaxation exercise. For example, a breathing exercise, or a body scan, in which you slowly relax all your body parts one by one, starting with your toes. But how much effect does such an exercise have?
Exercises work the moment you do them
The moment you bring your body into a state of relaxation, your heart rate and breathing slow down, your oxygen consumption decreases and the amount of stress hormones in your body decreases. Such a relaxation exercise therefore has a direct effect. But is there also a long-lasting effect? Or are you just as stressed right after as before?
‘In principle, a relaxation exercise is only effective for that moment,’ says stress coach Liana Verberg. The exercise only lowers stress the moment you perform it. The effect will not last long after. Your breathing and heart rate can rise again quite quickly, and so can the amount of stress hormones.
“Of course it gives you confidence that you can relax when you want to.” But according to Verberg, relaxation exercises are mainly after work. ‘If you don’t tackle the cause of your stress, you will indeed quickly be stressed again.’ So if you really want to do something about your stress, look for the cause, and see what exactly it is that keeps this stress going, advises Verberg.
You can learn to relax
But what if you kept up such a relaxation exercise day in and day out? That can really pay off in the long run. A 2011 Massachusetts General Hospital study showed that the effect of a relaxation exercise is stronger in people who have a lot of experience with it.
The scientists looked at stress levels before and after an eight-week course of relaxation exercises for subjects previously unfamiliar with the techniques. They compared this group to a group of seasoned relaxers. The latter group of test subjects had been using the techniques for four to twenty years, three to seven days a week and fifteen to sixty minutes a day.
The results showed that psychological stress and anxiety symptoms (both measured with a questionnaire) after a relaxation exercise were significantly lower in the experienced subjects. The same was true for the levels of stress hormones in the blood. After the eight-week course, the greengrocers had caught up somewhat in the area of relaxation.
Working relaxed daily for years
Relaxation exercises can even induce genetic changes. Again, the effect is greater if you do it daily for years. The same research group from the aforementioned study discovered this, but in 2013. The scientists again compared the differences between inexperienced, novice and experienced relaxers.
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The study found that relaxation exercises appear to activate genes that play a role in our immune system and energy metabolism. These are processes that can positively influence our health.
At the same time, the exercises turned out to actually decrease the activity of ‘unhealthy’ genes involved in inflammatory reactions and stress-related mechanisms. The effect was strongest in the experienced relaxers, but it was already visible after an eight-week course.