|
WHAT
IS TENSION?
Tension
is a skeletal-muscle reaction that ordinarily facilitates
movements such as walking, talking or writing. However under
the pressure of a stressful situation the fight or flight
reaction often results in excessive and unnecessary muscle
activity, which is "Tension." Since stresses occur continuously
in life, the resulting muscle reactions may develop into
an extended over-tense state which can be dangerous to your
health. Tension is contraction of the skeletal muscles
of the body. A state of over-tenseness may produce various
pathological bodily reactions.
THE
RESULTS OF EXCESSIVE CHRONIC TENSION
The
prolonged over-tenseness of continued contraction of the
skeletal muscles may contribute to high blood pressure,
a heart attack, rapid heart beat, gastrointestinal problems
such as duodenal or peptic ulcers, ulcerative colitis, spastic
colon, or spastic esophagus. Pain is a primary reaction,
often occurring in the form of headache, backache, leg pain,
or possibly an arthritic condition. Psychiatric reactions
include anxieties, "nervousness," phobias, depression, insomnia,
chronic fatigue and bruxism (clenching of the jaw or teeth
grinding).
There
are techniques aimed at relieving tension by allowing you
to control your physical reactions and to achieve a better
mental attitude toward the pressures of life. One of these
is a neuromuscular relaxation technique known as Progressive
Relaxation, a medically validated system of untensing muscles.
Clinical Progressive Relaxation can often undo much of the
physical or emotional harm resulting from over-tenseness.
There are many other techniques offered to help you control
your tension. These include modified forms of Progressive
Relaxation, Autogenic Training, and biofeedback training,
but Progressive Relaxation is the original technique, and
the most thoroughly validated. To understand how relaxation
can be accomplished, we must first understand what happens
when we become tense.
THE
DEVELOPMENT OF TENSION
When
stress strikes, several things happen immediately. First,
the skeletal muscles contract and the hypothalamus, a small
neural center in the brain, reacts. The hypothalamus, among
other organs, influences the autonomic nervous system, which
involves involuntary activities of bodily organs. It also
mediates activity in the pituitary gland, which releases
hormones into the bloodstream. Under stress, as the muscles
tense, breathing becomes faster and deeper. The heartbeat
quickens. Some blood vessels constrict, raising the blood
pressure and almost closing the vessels right under the
skin. The throat muscles and those in the nostril force
those passages wide open. The stomach and intestines temporarily
halt digestion. Perspiration increases, and secretion of
mucous and saliva decreases. The pupils of the eyes dilate
involuntarily.
At the same time the adrenal glands release two hormones
- epinephrine and norepinephrine - which affect circulation,
elevating heartbeat and blood pressure. These hormones signal
the spleen to release more red blood corpuscles. They enable
the blood to clot more quickly, and encourage the bone marrow
to produce more white corpuscles. They also increase the
amount of fat and sugar in the blood.
While these events are occurring, the pituitary gland secretes
two more hormones, abbreviated TSH and ACTH. TSH and ACTH
increase the rate at which the body produces energy and
which reinforce the signals sent to the adrenal glands through
the autonomic nervous system. ACTH also causes the adrenals
to release about 30 other stress-related hormones.
While the autonomic and hormonal systems answer the call
to fight or flight, the muscles of the skeletal system are
reacting also. It is the response of the skeletal muscles
- the striated muscles attached to the bones - which we
must thoroughly examine in order to understand how to alleviate
stress and tension related disorders.
THE
MUSCLES REACT
The
accepted scientific and clinical definition of tension is
the contraction (shortening) of muscle fibers. Relaxation
is defined as the elongation (lengthening) of muscle fibers,
the absence of tension.
There
are some 1,030 separate skeletal muscles in your body, almost
half your body weight. When you perceive an intensely stressful
event, these muscles immediately contract. You can thus
understand how that enormity of muscle can develop considerable
tension in you and that numerous volleys of nerve impulses
can be generated in the tiny receptors embedded in the muscle.
These neural impulses generated by muscle tension are then
transmitted to the brain along sensory control fibers. When
the neural impulses enter the brain, extremely complex central
nervous system events result, following which additional
neural impulses return to the muscles along motor control
fibers. When the motor neural impulses from the brain reach
the muscles there is further muscular contraction, resulting
in new volleys of neural impulses being directed to and
from the brain. Obviously this muscle-brain-muscle circuit
can become a continuous condition of over-reacting in which
one can develop a chronic state of over-tension.
A
lifetime of injudicious reaction to stress with resultant
over-tension can lead to malfunction of various bodily systems,
including cardiovascular problems, general aches and pains,
and fatigue. There is no quick and easy cure. However, since
the excessive tension state is a circular muscle-to-brain-to-muscle
reaction, it is possible to interrupt the circuit by simply
relaxing the skeletal muscles. One can thereby produce a
state of rest in all the neural and muscular components
of these neuromuscular circuits, including the brain itself.
But achieving a state of relaxation takes time and dedicated
learning. Just as we have spent our lives learning to systematically
misuse our muscles, it is reasonable to expect that it will
take time to re-educate them. On the positive side, though,
cultivation of a state of bodily rest and relaxation can
be achieved in much less time than it took to learn to misuse
your muscles in the first place.
::
TOP ::
|
