Your body’s physical condition is influenced by the thoughts and ideas in your mind. To improve your mental condition, you need to improve your physical condition and vice versa. Good health is not just connected to the physical body. Both our minds and bodies are interconnected.
Whenever you are under stress, you feel some sort of physical pain or illness which shows that the mind and the body affect each other to a great extent.
It is very important to improve the mind body connection as it will help in yielding maximum health benefits.
‘How you think’ forms an important part of your body. Your thinking, feelings, and behavior are influenced by your interaction with the surroundings.
“The mind and the body are like parallel universes. Anything that happens in the mental universe must leave tracks in the physical one.”
The prime way to improve your mind body connection is by integrating some lifestyle changes that will help in reducing stress, anxiety and strengthening the body which helps the body in healing naturally.
Following are some of the ways which help in improving the mind body connection:
Do relaxation exercises:
- To reduce stress and tension you need to take out 10-15 minutes in a day to indulge in relaxing your mind and body.
- Sit in a quiet place and start the process of inhaling and exhaling by focusing on your breathing. Take deep breaths and exhale slowly. It will help you to get calm and composed.
- Recall all the happy thoughts and memories.
- Scan your body mentally. Find out the area that is feeling tensed and stressed and then concentrate on healing it and relieving the tension.
- Yoga also helps in keeping your mind calm and relaxed. In addition, it also builds flexibility, strength and improves the connection between mind and body.
Focus on your activities:
Make an appointment with yourself. Dedicate some time after a week or two to evaluate your activities. Find out that whether the activities are balanced to your satisfaction or not. If not, then analyze where you can improve.
Meditation:
Meditation helps in achieving a state of mental peace and calmness by decreasing the overflow of thoughts and ideas in the mind. It helps in improving mood, immune system, memory and attention. It is considered to be the most powerful tool for maintaining a balance between the mind and the body. You will feel a state of restful awareness where your mind is awake but quiet and your body is resting.
Take out 15-20 minutes in a day to meditate. You can go on a meditative walk. The better way is to meditate in nature. Walking in the woods helps in rejuvenating your mind and increases the ability to focus. It helps in eliminating anxiety and chronic pain. You can also learn self-control through meditation.
Determine your priorities:
Make a list of your priorities. Choose between health, education, career, fun, and relaxation. When your priorities will be clear it will help you to remain balanced and you will be able to focus on the things that you really want.
Get frequent massages:
Get a light massage every week. It improves blood circulation and releases stress and tension. The natural healing process of the body improves when you get regular massages.
Connect with your body while using different devices:
Using tech tools like mobile phones for a long period of time can lead to pain in the neck and cut off oxygen to your brain. It will further waste your time as you will be involved in healing yourself and will not be able to focus on the activities that you desire to do.
Use alternative therapies:
Therapies like yoga, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong helps in improving the mind body connection. All these therapies help in sharpening the focus of your mind, increases physical flexibility, improve the immune system of your body and makes you relax.
Write down your worries:
Pen down all the worries and the stress that you deal with in your daily life. Download the worries from your mind and write them on a paper. It will help in reducing the stress which in turn will have a positive impact on your health.
Discover a spiritual activity:
Engage yourself in some church services or meditation and prayer groups. Feeling connected with different people is an amazing experience and it feels good when you work towards a common goal. It helps in reducing stress and anxiety which further improves the connection between your mind and body.
Take breaks:
Your brain should have given a chance to boot up. Whenever you are facing some kind of problem, walk away physically for few minutes. It may help your brain to regroup and then you can solve the problem easily.
Don’t stop reading and learning:
Once your school is over, it doesn’t mean that your education should stop. Give your mind a chance for opening up to new beliefs, interests, and possibilities. Make a habit of reading different books, watch documentaries, attend seminars and workshops, take online classes and watch inspirational videos. Keeping your brain active will help you stop it from losing power. Just like your body, your brain also requires exercise to stay healthy.
Follow your hobbies:
Hobbies are more than just a way of having fun. Picking up your favorite hobby can give you a sense of self-efficacy, keep your brain active and engaged and makes your soul happy. Don’t indulge yourself so much in work that you forget how it feels to dance, paint, swim and write.
SOUND SLEEP:
Restful sleep is a vital component of good health. Sound sleep helps in fighting with stressful situations. Inadequate sleep makes your mind and body restless, disrupt the innate balance of the body, affects the immune system, contributes to depression and obesity. Take 6-8 hours of restful sleep each night to feel energetic and vibrant.
Understand the science behind how the body and mind affect each other. Little things can bring major changes in your life.
Follow the above tips and ensure that you are putting your best of the efforts when it matters the most.
Author Bio:
I’m Jessica Gross. I read and write every day on various topics related to society, culture, academics, business, and lifestyle. Also, I have been working as an academic consultant for Australian assignment help for more than a decade. You can catch me on Twitter.