Listen or Download Podcast Version:
Citation
Esch T, Fricchione GL, Stefano GB. The therapeutic use of the relaxation response in stress-related diseases. Med Sci Monit. 2003 Feb;9(2):RA23-34. PMID: 12601303.
4 FUNDAMENTALS
1. Essential Background Material
Negative stress can be defined as mental or environmental challenges that trigger the nervous system's sympathetic (fight-or-flight) branch.
If chronic, this stress can be harmful in immunological, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases and mental disorders.
The relaxation response (RR) is the opposite of the stress response. It serves as a protective mechanism against excessive stress and might help in the prevention or treatment of stress-related diseases.
The RR is triggered when someone performs a repetitive mental or physical activity and passively ignores intruding thoughts (like meditation, etc.)
Primary characteristics of the RR include decreased oxygen consumption (hypometabolism), lower heart rate and blood pressure, and slower breathing rates.
This paper aimed to look at how the RR helps in many stress-related diseases and see if there are any common mechanisms that explain its benefits in these diseases.
2. What Did this Research Do?
This was a “speculative review,” not a systematic review or meta-analysis. Thus, there were no specific inclusion criteria. Instead, they synthesized peer-reviewed studies on all aspects of the RR and stress-related diseases.
They ended up with over 150 peer-reviewed studies to support their analysis of the RR and stress-related diseases, which they grouped into three categories:
Immunological Diseases
Cardiovascular Diseases
Neurodegenerative Diseases/Mental Disorders
Then, they provided speculation as to why the RR might be helping these chronic conditions to better understand the common mechanisms underlying the benefits of the RR in stress-related diseases.
3. What Were the Major Findings?
Overall, the RR benefits many diseases (see below) for a few common reasons. In general, it counteracts the harmful effects of stress, which play a central role in many diseases.
More specifically, the RR reduces the release of stress hormones such as norepinephrine and cortisol. These hormones can cause damage if they remain elevated in the bloodstream for prolonged periods.
Related to this lowering of stress hormones, the RR also reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, which play a crucial role in many diseases.
The RR also activates brain areas associated with memory, attention, and motivation, which can benefit neurodegenerative diseases and mental disorders.
Lastly, the authors speculate that the RR might result in therapeutic levels of nitric oxide (NO) production, which is beneficial in many diseases.
For those reasons, this study found that the RR is beneficial in:
Immunological Diseases
Infectious diseases
Autoimmune diseases
Cancer
Cardiovascular Diseases
Hypertension: shown to be as effective as some drugs
Endothelial dysfunction
Atherosclerosis
Coronary artery disease
Heart attacks
Neurodegenerative Disease and Mental Disorders
Alzheimer’s disease
Anxiety and depression: RR might qualify for clinical use most readily here
The authors note that the RR will be most helpful in the prevention or early stages of all these diseases. Of course, it will never be harmful to elicit the RR, but to get the maximum benefits, it’s best to start using it early.
4. Why Do These Results Matter?
Stress is a significant contributor to many chronic diseases and complications. Moreover, chronic stress prevents our bodies from performing their natural healing processes.
Here, we learn that a simple mind-body approach acts to counter the adverse effects of stress and can help in many disease states.
Thus, the RR may be a therapeutic (and free) tool for combatting stress-related diseases, specifically immunological, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases and mental disorders. However, the RR’s benefits likely extend beyond these categories because stress harms virtually every health condition.
1 BIG TAKEAWAY
Regularly eliciting the relaxation response can counter the adverse effects of stress and serve as a free therapeutic tool in many chronic diseases, especially immunological, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative/mental disorders.
1 PRACTICAL APPLICATION
The RR is generally elicited when you perform a repetitive mental or physical activity and passively ignore intrusive thoughts. Thus, it can be elicited during breathing, meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, walking, and so on.
Although the paper doesn’t give specific instructions, the easiest way I’ve found to elicit the RR comes from Dr. Herbert Benson’s book, Timeless Healing:
“To evoke the relaxation response, you need to follow only two basic steps. You need to repeat a word, sound, prayer, phrase, or muscular activity, and when common everyday thoughts intrude on your focus, you need to passively disregard them and return to your repetition.
…
The choice of a focused repetition is up to the individual. … If you are a religious person, you can choose a prayer; if you are a nonreligious person, choose a secular focus.”
So, if you chose the word “peace,” here’s what you can do:
Sit comfortably with a straight back or lie down.
Focus on your breath, and say “peace” in your head with each exhale. Extend it to match the length of your exhale, for example, “peaaaccceeee.”
When thoughts intrude, passively disregard them: say to yourself, “oh well,” and return to your word/phrase.
Do this for 10-20 minutes daily.
For more benefits, combine it with your slow breathing practice (that’s what I’ve been doing for about 6 months). For example, my practice currently uses a 6-second inhale, and an 8.6-second exhale. So, I inhale for 6 and then silently draw out my focus phrase in my head for the 8.6-second exhale.
It's one of my favorite ways to perform slow breathing.
Give it a try and enjoy getting all the stress-busting benefits of the relaxation response.