Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation: Use, Phases And Effects
In the last decade, the rise 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 pace of life that human beings have been incorporating as a habitual way. of daily operation.
These types of practices aim to act not only as a type of intervention in reducing personal stress, but also become an effective alternative in preventing its appearance. Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation is one of the most used; Below we will see its characteristics, its phases and how it is carried out.
Relaxation is considered a response opposite to the tension or stress response.
In the stress response, there is an activation of the sympathetic branch of the Autonomous Nervous System (ANS). The SNA It is the part of the body that controls involuntary actionssuch as heart and respiratory rate, contraction and dilation of blood vessels, digestion, salivation, sweat, etc.
The Antonomous Nervous System is divided into the sympathetic nervous system (which prepares the individual for action) and the parasimatic nervous system (which performs opposite functions to the first, such as maintaining a body state of rest after an effort, reducing the stress level of the individual. body).
Relaxation produces activation of the parasympathetic branch of the SNA. Therefore, relaxation can be considered a state of hypoarousal.
What is relaxation?
The definition given from the psychology of emotions proposes conceptualizing relaxation as the physiological, subjective and behavioral state that is experienced during the occurrence of an intense emotion but of the opposite sign (especially with respect to unpleasant emotions such as anger, stress or aggressiveness). Therefore, relaxation allows us to counteract the effects of physiological activation 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 They consist of: improvement of blood flow, blood pressure and heart rate, optimization of brain wave function, regulation of breathing rhythm, promoting muscle distension, increasing the feeling of calm and general vitality, enabling a higher level of attention. In short, relaxation has the ability to provide the body with a state of general well-being by facilitating adequate synchrony between the physiological and psychological functioning of the individual.
More specifically, relaxation has the following fundamental objectives: reducing or eliminating daily tensions, increasing general well-being, promoting self-knowledge, increasing self-esteem, enhancing the performance of the subject’s activity, improving coping with disturbing situations or conflicts. certain personal, and derived from this, opt for more satisfactory interpersonal relationships.
First of all, one aspect that must be taken into account when putting this type of technique into practice is the fact of thinking 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 increasingly better results after the exercises, so practice is an essential requirement to assess its effectiveness.
The time allocated to relaxation exercises ranges between 30-40 minutes daily during the first two weeks and then reducing the duration of the activity to about 10 minutes or spacing it every two days, for example.
When putting the training into practice, it must be taken into account that relaxation must be done as a priority in a quiet and quiet roomfar from interruptions, and with a pleasant temperature and moderate light (although it is not exclusive). Additionally, it is recommended that the person wear comfortable, loose clothing.
Effects of these techniques
When the objective of relaxation is to calm the high physiological activation in an intense anxiety-inducing situation, shorter relaxation procedures adapted to the specific type of situation are used. When the goal is to reduce the level of general activation, it is recommended to perform the longest 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 controlling stressful situations and in maintaining a general relaxed 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. Usually, relaxation techniques are applied as one more component of a more complete psychological intervention where the emotional, cognitive and behavioral areas are worked more deeply.
On the other hand, it should be noted that depending on the individual, the practice of relaxation can cause them to experience new sensations that are not familiar to them. Since it is a completely common aspect, it is only recommended that the person knows the type of reactions that may occur 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; sensation of swelling in the extremities; as well as tingling, a feeling of immobility or abandonment of the body, etc.
This technique was developed in 1929 and today it is one of the most used. It consists of 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, training is carried out 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, neck, back, chest, abdomen, legs (thighs and calves).
The tension phase is carried out 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 that they have to relax. This muscle tension allows the muscles to relax even more than if they had previously been relaxed and tense. At the end of the training, you will learn to relax the muscles directly without first putting them under tension.
Phases
In Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation The following phases are usually followed:
During the first two weeks, you will practice tensing and then relaxing the 16 muscle groups every day.
In the third week, the time to relax is reduced.
During the fourth week, you learn to relax directly without previously putting the muscles into tension.
In the fifth and sixth weeks you learn to be relaxed while doing various activities while sitting and also while standing and walking.
In the last week, you practice rapid relaxation many times a day in non-stressful situations.
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-distension exercise the user must tense a muscle group for about five or eight seconds. Subsequently, you will focus your attention on the sensation you are experiencing due to this muscle 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 area.
Regarding the posture to maintain during the activitythis can be done in three different positions:
Application of Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation
Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation focuses on teaching the person who practices it 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 muscle groups.
From that moment on, the subject will be able to optimally control which everyday situations cause each of the tension-distension sensations and how they should proceed to relax the muscle groups if they notice excess tension. Tense situations usually, when related to less pleasant emotions, they decrease with trainingso that the state of emotional and psychological well-being of the individual tends to increase progressively.
Example
As an example of the application instructions, the following formulas can be used:
In a comfortable, quiet place with little distracting stimulation, some calm-inducing phrases are introduced such as “You are comfortable and relaxed, you can hear your breathing, no noise can be heard, only silence…”. Subsequently, starting to work the first muscle group, follow the following instructions:
1. Direct attention to the right armwith your right hand in particular, close it, shake it tightly, and observe the tension that occurs in the hand and forearm (for about 5 or 8 seconds).
2. Stop exerting forcerelax your hand and let it rest where you have it supported. Observe the difference between tension and relaxation (10-15 seconds).
3. Close your right fist tightly again. and feel the tension in your hand and forearm, observe it carefully (10-15 seconds).
4. And now relax your muscles and stop straining allowing the fingers to spread and relax. Note 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, neck, back, chest, abdomen, legs (thighs and calves).
In short, training in Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation requires, as has been observed, the systematic, structured and well-sequenced application of the set of procedures that have been exposed in order to achieve an adequate level of effectiveness. It is understood, therefore, that it is the practice maintained over time that will allow greater improvement in its performance, in such a way that this type of exercises become internalized as a new daily habit.
